The carbon‐composite hull of a 787 Dreamliner seems to be easier to fix than an old‐school aluminium aircraft. In fact, a Boeing team was able to fix one Dreamliner in just four to five days, after a catering truck punched a hole in the fuselage, said Vice President of Customer Support Mr Lynne Thompson. The 787 is the first commercial jet with a body of carbon composites, which are stronger and lighter than the traditional aluminium skin but hadn’t been tested in the daily rough and tumble of an airport tarmac. Just 66 Dreamliners have been delivered. Mr Thompson spoke at the pre‐Paris Air Show briefings, and publicists quickly discouraged her from sharing more details. But Mr Thompson said the composite fuselage of the 787 did much better than a comparable 767, for instance would have. “We tried to analyze what type of damage would have happened to a 767 with the same type of impact,” she said. “That airplane would have been on the ground for a long time because of the impact with the catering truck.”
Source: Puget Sound Business Journal
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