Aussie specialists to review safety of 787 `Dreamliner

Australian specialists will review the safety of Boeings 787 Dreamliner after claims the plane could smash apart and emit toxic chemicals if it crashed.

Sydney, Sept.19 : Australian specialists will review the safety of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner after claims the plane could smash apart and emit toxic chemicals if it crashed.

he Civil Aviation Safety Authority today said the plane would not make it to Australia if it failed strict US safety reviews, and a team of safety specialists were standing by.

"The aircraft will be certified with the Federal Aviation Administration in the US, and of course, can't enter commercial operations until that certification process is complete," said CASA spokesman Peter Gibson.

"Once it has been certified it will then need to go through another review with each country's airline that wishes to operate it," he said.

"We have assembled a team and been working precisely for this since early this year."

Qantas is set to become the world's biggest airline operator of the 787 Dreamliner, having ordered 65 planes with options to buy 20 more and rights on another 30.

But the aircraft will have to undergo severe scrutiny from both the CASA and Qantas engineers long before the first commercial passenger steps aboard.

CASA's team of inspectors had spent time observing the construction of the plane and talking to Boeing's engineers in the US, Gibson was quoted by news.com.au, as saying.

David Cox of EGM Qantas Engineering said the airline's experts would also be testing the Dreamliner.

Concerns over the Dreamliner's safety were aired by former Boeing engineer Vince Weldon in an interview with journalist Dan Rather to be broadcast in the US tonight.

A spokesman for Boeing said Mr Weldon's claims were not valid and the materials used were safe.

ANI