Yesterday my blog Plane Talking published images of the aftermath of a fire that caused the emergency landing of Dreamliner No 2 at Laredo Texas on November 9. Today Crikey was ordered to remove the images, a directive also given to the Seattle Times and two aviation blogs in the US:

Dear Mr Sandilands

Photographs – 787 Flight Test

Last night photographs from an internal Boeing report about a 787 flight test incident were posted on Crikey.com…

We request that these photographs be removed from the website immediately, as they contain Boeing proprietary information.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter

Yours faithfully

Allison Bone
Communication Director
Australia / NZ

One image shows there was an intense fire in the thermal blanket immediately adjacent to the laminated fuselage structure comprising sheets of carbon fibre reinforced plastic glued together with epoxy resin. The very important question is to what extent that structure, which is behind the trailing edge of the wing, was damaged, and if it has to be repaired, how the repairs in this type of structure will work, for the very first time, in real life rather than in theory.

Another image, the second in the series circulated to media, shows the destruction of alloy components that occurred in a blaze that Boeing says lasted only 30 seconds.

The report itself is strongly recommended for those trying to form an opinion as to the effect of that incident on the certification program for the 787, beyond the indefinite suspension of all flights pending further investigation of the damage and its safety implications for the test and certification fleet of six Dreamliners.

The Boeing statements so far have been brief, and as pointed out earlier, evasive as to whether the incident revealed deficiencies in design redundancy and overall performance in an electrical fire in a structure using thin loading bearing carbon fibre reinforced plastic assemblies on an unprecedented scale for an airliner.

There is a public interest in the flammability, durability and reliability of airliners, as demonstrated by Plane Talking and without objection by Airbus in the case of our recent illustrated coverage of the damage done to QF32 on November 4.

The 787 is a substantially plastic airliner, has promised many things to airlines and air travellers over the course of its delay plagued development and testing and certification process. Whether it delivers or not, it has won more than 800 orders, including 50 from the Qantas group, making the Dreamliner story one of considerable importance, including the good days and the bad days.