Engineering news
Japan's major airlines grounded their Boeing 787 planes for safety checks today, hours after one was forced to make an emergency landing, in the latest blow for the new jet.
All Nippon Airways said a cockpit message showed battery problems and a burning smell was detected in the cockpit and the cabin, forcing the 787 on a domestic flight to land at Takamatsu airport in western Japan.
The 787, known as the Dreamliner, is Boeing's newest and most technologically advanced jet and the company is counting heavily on its success.
But since its launch, which came after delays of more than three years, the plane has been plagued by a series of problems including a battery fire and fuel leaks. Japan's ANA and Japan Airlines are major customers for the jet and among the first to fly it.
Japan's transport ministry said it received notices from ANA, which operates 17 of the jets, and Japan Airlines which has seven, that all their 787 aircraft would not be flying. The grounding was done voluntarily by the airlines.
The ministry categorised the problem today as a “serious incident” that could have led to an accident, and sent officials for further checks to Takamatsu airport. The airport was closed.
The grounding in Japan was the first for the 787, whose problems had been brushed off by Boeing as teething pains for a new aircraft. The ministry had already started a separate inspection on Monday on another 787 jet, operated by Japan Airlines, which had leaked fuel at Tokyo's Narita airport after flying back from Boston, Massachusetts, where it had also leaked fuel.
A fire started on January 7 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.
ANA cancelled a domestic flight to Tokyo on 9 January after a computer wrongly indicated there was a problem with the Boeing 787's brakes. Two days later, the carrier reported two new cases of problems with the aircraft, a minor fuel leak and a cracked windscreen in a 787 cockpit.
The 787 relies more than any other modern airliner on electrical signals to help power nearly everything the plane does. It is 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 aircraft batteries. The plane is made with lightweight composite materials instead of aluminium.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it was “monitoring a preliminary report of an incident in Japan earlier today involving a Boeing 787”.
It said the incident would be included in the comprehensive review the FAA began last week of the 787 critical systems, including design, manufacture and assembly. US government officials were quick to say that the plane is safe - nearly 50 of them are in the skies now.
GS Yuasa, the Japanese company that supplies all the lithium ion batteries for the 787, had no comment as the investigation was continuing.
Boeing has said that various technical problems are to be expected in the early days of any aircraft model.
Marc Birtel, spokesperson for Boeing said: “Boeing is aware of the diversion of a 787 operated by ANA to Takamatsu in western Japan. We will be working with our customer and the appropriate regulatory agencies.”
In today's incident, a cockpit instrument showed a problem with the 787's battery and the pilot noticed an unusual smell, the airline said. The flight requested and was granted permission to make an emergency landing at Takamatsu airport.
US aviation safety expert John Goglia, a former National Transportation Safety Board member, said the ANA pilot had made the right decision.
He said: “They were being very prudent in making the emergency landing even though there's been no information released so far that indicates any of these issues are related.”