
Boeing removed lightning protection from 787 as a cost-cutting measure - toomuchtodo
https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-removed-lightning-strike-safety-feature-787-dreamliner-faa-report-2019-12
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kayfox
The Seattle Times article is more clear whats going on:
[https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-
aerospace/faa-e...](https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-
aerospace/faa-engineers-objected-to-boeings-removal-of-some-787-lightning-
protection-measures/)

After analysis of lightning strikes, it was determined that the probability of
strikes in some areas of the wing were overestimated. The design of the
aircraft was adjusted to reflect that and Boeing seeked approval from the FAA
which wanted more analysis of the probability.

It must be fun to be an statistician for these people, with all the second
guessing going on.

~~~
erentz
This is a much better article.

> Facing the prospect of not being able to deliver those airplanes, Boeing
> immediately appealed. FAA managers reversed the ruling exactly a week
> later...

That is an amazingly quick review of an appeal for something that is pretty
complicated.

It's amazing how much schedule is pushed over safety at Boeing. I believe this
attitude only flies because if safety is compromised resulting in deaths, the
executives pushing this know they will have have cashed out and won't face any
consequences.

~~~
FussyZeus
> That is an amazingly quick review of an appeal for something that is pretty
> complicated.

In general the way large corporations have gotten so friendly with their
regulatory oversight should be a cause of concern for everyone in every
industry. The FAA and Boeing don't necessarily need to be at each other's
throats, but I would argue that a professional-level adversarial relationship
would be ideal. That's not what's happening here.

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mooman219
So Boeing requested permission to do it, they were rejected, then built the
planes without it anyway, then asked for them to be certified to fly, and then
was approved. That's horrifying.

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toomuchtodo
Mods: Article title was long, did the best I could.

