Flight safety group defends Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Passengers react to recent scares

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Seattle, Washington 1. Wide of check-in desks at Logan International Airport 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Adam Welch, Passenger: "And I specifically flew, I'm going to Seoul, but I picked the route that goes through Tokyo because I wanted to fly on the 787." 3. Wide of ANA (All Nippon Airways) sign at check-in counter 4. SOUNDBITE (English) Adam Welch, Passenger: "I've been listening to the stories this morning and I was just hoping they didn't ground the plane I was supposed to fly on. I'm really not concerned about the safety issues, I was only concerned about having the opportunity to fly on it." 5. Wide of passengers at Japan Airlines counter Boston, Massachusetts 6. Wide of Japan Airlines 787 on runway 7. Mid of logo on tail 8. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Crump, passenger from Boston to Tokyo on 787: "You know, I think that the problems they've had have been minor. I think that there are a lot of start-up problems, break-in problems and, you know, I don't think that it's anything that's been serious." 9. Wide of luggage crew in belly of 787 10. Mid of gate sign with Japan Airlines logo 11. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Daiki Sakai, Passenger: "I heard that the windows and the aisles are wider." 12. Wide of 787 taxiing 13. Wide of 787 stopped on runway 14. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Daiki Sakai, Passenger: "I am not aware of what kind of technical issues they had, but I know that it was supposed to be ready for the Beijing Olympics." 15. Wide of 787 taxiing Washington, DC 16. SOUNDBITE (English) Kevin Hiatt, Flight Safety Foundation President and CEO: "New airliners all have operational issues that crop up in their first months of operation, but this aeroplane is built so well with a lot of redundant systems that it's really no serious concern, except for the APU (auxiliary power unit) battery situation which we've got the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) taking a look at, so I believe that it's going to be ok to fly." Boston, Massachusetts 17. Mid of luggage crew underneath 787 Washington, DC 18. SOUNDBITE (English) Kevin Hiatt, Flight Safety Foundation President and CEO: "The passengers should be happy that this is taking place to further allay any type of misconceptions about the airplane." Boston, Massachusetts 19. Wide of 787 on runway preparing to take off STORYLINE: The US government has stepped in to assure the public that Boeing's new 787 "Dreamliner" is safe to fly, even as it launched a comprehensive review to find out what caused a fire, a fuel leak and other worrisome incidents this week. But the litany of bad news for Boeing didn't seem to stop travellers from wanting to take a flight on the new plane. "I'm going to Seoul, but I picked the route that goes through Tokyo because I wanted to fly in a 787," said Seattle passenger Adam Welch. "I'm really not concerned about the safety issues, I was only concerned about having the opportunity to fly on it," he added. The 787 is the aircraft maker's newest and most technologically advanced airliner, and the company is counting heavily on its success. It relies more than any other modern airliner on electrical signals to help power nearly everything the plane does. It's also the first Boeing plane to use rechargeable lithium ion batteries, which charge faster and can be moulded to space-saving shapes compared to other airplane batteries. The plane is made with lightweight composite materials instead of aluminium. A fire ignited on Monday in the battery pack of an auxiliary power unit of a Japan Airlines 787 empty of passengers as the plane sat on the tarmac at Boston's Logan International Airport. It took firefighters 40 minutes to put out the blaze. Donald Crump, a passenger from Boston to Tokyo on a 787, agreed. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/8b96271545e01ce19aeaf4d86ecf9a18 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork