In brief: Boeing’s Dreamliner finishes initial testing

Seattle – The 787 Dreamliner is ready to fly higher and faster now that test pilots have completed the first phase of testing and achieved “initial airworthiness,” Boeing said Friday.

The milestone, reached after a month of initial low-speed, low-altitude flight tests, means technicians can join the two test pilots aboard the jets to run computer stations in the main cabin that monitor aircraft systems.

“This is an important step forward,” Scott Fancher, head of the 787 program, said in a statement. “We are very pleased with the results we have achieved so far. The airplane has been performing as we expected.”

Boeing spokeswoman Lori Gunter said the company deliberately limits the test flying until initial airworthiness is achieved. Now, she said, Dreamliner No. 2 and subsequent test planes will begin flying more.

Seattle Times

Committee expanding AIG bailout investigation

Washington – A House committee is broadening its probe of secretive bank bailouts to include former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and former Federal Reserve Bank of New York Chairman Stephen Friedman.

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has invited Paulson and Friedman to testify about their roles in the bailout of American International Group Inc., according to Chairman Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y.

Lawmakers want to know more about deals that funneled billions from AIG to banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Friedman is a Goldman director who resigned from the New York Fed after concerns he had conflicts of interest.

California Rep. Darrell Issa, the committee’s top Republican, also said he wants Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to answer questions about the bailout, which he helped lead.

Associated Press

Buffett splitting shares to help purchase BNSF

Omaha, Neb. – Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is getting ready to split the company’s Class B shares next Thursday as part of its plan to buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.

The 50-for-1 stock split, which shareholders will vote on Wednesday, will boost the liquidity of Berkshire’s stock, and enable Berkshire to offer even small BNSF shareholders Berkshire stock as part of its $26.3 billion cash and stock deal.

The added liquidity Berkshire will have as a result of the split will also increase the chances that the Omaha-based company will join the S&P 500 index. Berkshire’s Class A shares, which are the nation’s most expensive stock, and its Class B shares have been difficult to trade because of their high prices.

Berkshire’s Class A shares, which sold for $97,500 Friday, are not being split.

Next week’s split will make the $3,247 Class B shares significantly more affordable: They will be worth $64.94 apiece.

Associated Press