Now Boeing has problems with 787 engine fire switch

Now there’s a possibility of a critical fire extinguisher switch failing on Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

Boeing says only about 1 percent of the switches could be defective and anyhow the chance of an engine fire is remote. The switch apparently does three things; it initiates the fire extinguishers, cuts off fuel and cuts off hydraulics to the engine (to prevent the fire spreading). Boeing says not to worry; carry on flying! But in a case like this the probability of failure must be infinitely small. What’s the point of having such a switch if it doesn’t work 100 percent of the time.

Another Boeing design flaw probably related to cost saving but such a critical system should have a backup; a second switch or a manual override etc. (I’m getting wary of flying on any Boeing airplane built after the original 777.)

Roger Sayer

Mukilteo