On July 12 a parked Ethiopian Airlines’ 787 was attended by several emergehcy vehicles at London Heathrow when a fire broke out. The blaze caused extensive damage to the rear of the plane’s fuselage. No one was aboard the plane and there were no injuries. Investigators have found that the fire coincided with the emergency locator transmitter, which is powered by a lithium-manganese dioxide battery. This system operates independently of the plane’s power system. It is also different to the system on the plane that caught fire in Boston earlier this year. The British investigators…
Boeing 787
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Ethopian’s 787 Fire
Planes are not supposed to catch fire while sitting waiting eight hours between flights. Yet this is what happened to An Ethiopian Airline’s Boeing 787 at 1550h (330pm) on Friday in London while the aircraft was parked at a remote stand. There were no passengers aboard the plane. Heathrow Airport closed both its runways for 90 minutes. 42 short haul flights were cancelled and some flights were delayed for six hours. It is just on six months since fire broke out aboard an empty Japan Airlines 787 whil it was standing in Boston on January…
ANA downgrades their 787s
I wondered how long All Nippon Airways would maintain their roomier international 787 Econom Class. Unlike every other 787 operator , ANA and Japan Airlines opted for an a eight across 2-4-2 Economy layout. Everyone else (Ethiopian, Qatar and United) puts their passengers into a nine across 3-3-3 layout. ANA’s international 787s currently can carry 158 passengers: 46 in business and 112 in economy. On its new 787s, ANA are adding a Premium Economy class with seven across seating arranged 2-3-2 The room will come from Economy shrinking from 14 rows of 8 across to…
China Southern’s messy A380 situation
The delivery last Sunday of a Boeing 787 to Guangzhou based China Southern airlines makes the carrier the first in the world to fly both the 787 and the Airbus 380. China Southern are now the largest passenger airline in Asia, carrying over 85 million passengers last year. The carrier is rated a four star airline by Skytrax. The status of orders of the two craft by Chinese carriers is: At first, China Southern will use the 787 on the Guangzhou – Shanghai services. By the end of the year the carier plans to have five…
787 takes to the sky -Who, Where and Why
After a three-month break from mid January until late April, an elaborate battery fix and two US test flights, the 787 is back in the air. I have previously described the changes that are being installed by 300 Boeing technicians to the planes across the world. Interestingly, the Japanese authorities have insisted on additional alterations in addition to the changes mandated by the FAA. They have insisted ANA and JAL install battery monitoring systems to monitor the battery performance and to carry out an inspection program to battery changes are working effectively. These additional precautions do not apply to any other airlines flying 787 Three questions: Why has the US FAA not…
787 Cleared to Fly!
The FAA (the U.S. regulators) has approved the return of the grounded 787 Dreamliner to the air next week. The authority were clearly satisfied with Boeing’s fixes with US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood saying: “These changes to the 787 battery will ensure the safety of the aircraft and its passengers“. The manufacturer is saying while it does not know what caused the fire, it’s fixes will deal with 80 possible causes. “Next week, the FAA will issue instructions to operators for making changes to the aircraft and will publish in the Federal Register the final…
787 to fly from May 31
United Airlines has scheduled a 787 flight from Houston to Denver on May 31. Seats are available for sale. It is planning to resume international 787 flights on June 10, from Denver to Tokyo. United stated they will make more schedule changes when they know that the plane has been cleared to fly. Over at Qatar Airways, their CEO announced their 787 fleet will be flying before May 31 with the Wall Street Journal claiming that Qatar is planning to have four of their five 787s in service by April 30. ANA (All Nippon) CEO…
787 in weeks???
On Friday, “line number 86,” a Boeing-owned 787 Dreamliner built for LOT Polish Airlines took off for a test flight to “demonstrate that the new battery system performs as intended during normal and non-normal flight conditions.” This was the second test flight of the aeroplane since Boeing unveiled its improvements designed to circumvent the potentially disastrous on board lithium-ion battery fires. The company said its fixes address more than 80 possible causes. “Possible Causes” because no one -Boeing, regulators, airlines knows what caused the fires. The jet, carrying test equipment, nine crew and two Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials, took off from the Boeing…
Boeing calls for 787s to fly
Following a two hour 787 test flight on Monday, Boeing announced: “We have a high degree of confidence in the technical solution we are testing right now with the Federal Aviation Administration. They expect that the plane’s return to the skies “will be sooner than later.” t The test flight was staffed by six crew members: two pilots, two instrumentation engineers, a systems operator and a flight analyst. The crew were cycled the landing gear, operated all backup systems and performed electrical system checks from the flight profile. Seeing the first fire was after a…
787 Testing
Further to my post last week, Boeing plans to conduct two flight tests of its revamped 787 battery system.The flights would depart from and return to Paine Field, the airport in Everett, Washington, where the 787 Dreamliner is made. One flight would collect data for its own usage. The data from the second flight would be submitted for FAA approval. If successful, then this would be a step forward to Boeing getting the aircraft approved for service within weeks. None of the airlines using 787s have begun planning to get their planes up yet. In…
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