00:00Dreamliners. This is a name that is associated with Boeing. Boeing Dreamliners making its entry
00:07into several countries of the world. Water cannon. Welcome for those Dreamliners. Something
00:14that was the dream of the aviation industry and now we see how it has come crashing down
00:20in Ahmedabad, the city, the ill-fated city of India. Over 240 passengers were there on that
00:28ill-fated Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner which crashed this afternoon in Ahmedabad, the western city,
00:39a city in western India based in Gujarat. And this sudden plane falling off the skies just 60 to 80
00:50seconds after the takeoff from the Ahmedabad International Airport heading to London
00:56raises a lot of questions. The question is if the Dreamliners took so much time to come into
01:02picture, if the Dreamliners were the dream come true for the civil aviation experts, then why is it
01:09that there is a litany of controversies? Not one, not two, but many, several of them especially coming
01:16for Boeing 787 Dreamliners. A lot of controversial phenomena that we have seen in the past 8 to 10
01:25years that has been tagged with these Dreamliners. In the first variation, a variant of the 787 Dreamliner
01:34family, it was 787-8. It was officially launched in 2004 with its maiden flight on December 15, 2009
01:42and entered commercial service in October 2011 with all Nippon Airways ANA. Now, Boeing and controversies,
01:52Boeing and crashes, Boeing and aviation disasters are not very new. We have seen it in the past as well,
02:02the international mishaps that have happened, how those Boeing made planes, one of the planes' door
02:09came off while it was mid-air. The another one also had a setback. These two incidents I am mentioning
02:16right off my memory which have happened in the recent past. If I refer to examples here, then
02:22there would be a lot of examples. Now, coming back to 787 Dreamliners once again, it's the first
02:30variation of 787 Dreamliner family which is the 787-8, the make of the plane which crashed today.
02:39It was officially launched in 2004 as mentioned earlier. The 787-8 typically seats around 210 to
02:48248 passengers in two-class configuration and offers a range of about 7305 nautical miles which
02:54is 13,530 kilometers in one go. It enables airlines to operate both short and long-haul routes
03:00efficiently. This is what Dreamliners are all about. The 787-8 is the extensive use of the composite
03:12material which makes up about 50% of the primary structure including the fuselage and wings and this
03:18composite construction reduces the aircraft's weight significantly. So, the composite material that
03:25is used to make this plane makes it light also and the traditional aluminum designs they are quite heavy
03:33but this one is not so heavy resulting in improved fuel efficiency and lower operating costs but at this
03:40thing there are a lot of things that get compromised also. So, the fuselage is constructed from one piece
03:46composite barrel sections instead of multiple aluminum sheets reducing the number of fasteners and enhancing
03:52structural integrity. These are some of the technical things. Then there is engine and how it performs
03:58but the controversies as I mentioned earlier the list is long and the recent notable incidents involving
04:06Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner United Airlines flight to US 613 incident that happened in as early as January 24,
04:142025. Then we had again United Airlines Boeing 787-8 Rapid Altitude Shift January 24,
04:212025. British Airways nose gear incident June 2021. Then we have the technical man function. So, all in all
04:30basically Boeing must take note of such things. There have been whistleblowers also who have been bringing
04:36about these lacunes in the aircraft but it has gone unheard. Now we see more than 240 people are feared dead
04:47or they have perished. We hope that as many souls can be rescued and they would have survived but it
04:56raises a huge huge question on Boeing as a manufacturer and Air India and several other airlines as the buyer
05:04for this Dreamliner which has come crashing down today.
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