The FAA & Boeing
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced today that they are giving Boeing, the makers of the famous 7X7 (x=0...7) series of planes greater autonomy in self-certifying their own planes. This gives Boeing the ability to qualify their own new designs and technologies with less bureaucratic interference from the powers-that-be in the FAA.
Setting aside the obvious issues of having a company safety test their own equipment (which is probably the largest function the FAA serves), this brings up the very troubling issue of the Boeing 787, which has seen numerous safety delays ever since it's 2007 rollout. Originally planned to launch in 2010 to compete with the Airbus 380 superjet, the 787 hasn't even successfully completed *preliminary* safety checks, let alone final certification checks. This is a plane that has never flown, even in tests. Certainly sucks for Boeing and the money they have to be losing hand-over-fist at this point, but safety checks are there for a reason and I certainly don't want to be put into a situation -- as a pilot, passenger or controller -- where my life at risk because checks got bypassed.
Generally speaking I have faith in Boeing, they have a solid track record for safety and the 7X7 planes are simply legendary birds worthy of all the praise they receive. However, anytime any company is given authority over its own certification process, questions arise. The entire point of having an outside certification process is to (in theory) not give the contracting company any leverage over the safety inspection personnel. Obviously having the the inspectors directly on your payroll is counter to that purpose.
Now I'm not saying that the 787 will be a dangerous plane to fly, as I'm sure Boeing does NOT want to be associated with an unreliable plane by any stretch of the imagination... but all the same I think I'll avoid flying on them for a while and stick to more proven planes.
Source: http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/faa_boeing_certification_201034-1.html
Note: Even though the initial planned launch of the 787 line was 2010, that's assuredly not the case now. Even though Boeing has gone on the record as saying they will fast-track 787 production once safety certifications are passed, I wouldn't expect to see them in the air until 2013 at the earliest.
Except, maybe, in Japan and China.