Aircraft Industry: Was the battery to blame? Dreamliner investigation narrows

The Battery Plagued Boeing Dreamliner

Federal aviation investigators are focusing in on manufacturing or design problems with the batteries of the Boeing Co.'s 787 Dreamliner as possible causes of overheating, according to the head of the National Transportation Safety Board.

NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman told the Wall Street Journal that the board is "looking at the battery manufacturing process" including searching for possible "internal defects" that could have caused a short circuit. However, the safety board has yet to definitively identify the root cause of the battery fire on board the Japanese 787 in January. GS Yuasa Corp in Japan manufactures the batteries.

Dreamliners were grounded in mid-January. The groundings could cost Boeing up to $5 billion.
Boeing Defense, Space & Security, based in Hazelwood, is a $32 billion business with 14,730 local employees. Chicago-based Boeing reported full-year 2012 revenue of $81.7 billion, up 19 percent from 2011.

Read more: Was the battery to blame? Dreamliner investigation narrows - St. Louis Business Journal