Boeing says flaw could affect 55 Dreamliners
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About 55 Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner jets may have a recently discovered flaw in the fuselage, the company said on Wednesday, while reiterating that the world's first carbon-plastic passenger plane is safe to fly.
In the latest in a series of glitches in developing the revolutionary jet, Boeing (BA.N) earlier this month reported signs of "delamination" on a support structure in the rear fuselage. Delamination occurs when repeated stress causes laminated composite materials to begin to separate.
The company is examining a backlog of assembled Dreamliners to see whether they show similar signs of stress, which it has blamed on incorrect "shimming" -- a process planemakers use to fill tiny gaps when aircraft are built.
"All the airplanes that were built up to plane 55 have the potential for the shimming issue," James Albaugh, chief executive officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, told reporters during a media roundtable in Singapore.....
