Regulators say they still have no clear idea of what went wrong but Japanese officials rule out fault with battery manufacturer
Boeing's hopes of a quick solution to its problems with the grounded 787 Dreamliner jet have been dashed by regulators in the US and Japan who have conceded that they still have no clear idea what went wrong with the world's most technologically advanced passenger plane.
Regulators have been examining two incidents involving 787s earlier this month that led to a worldwide grounding of the new airliner. So far, investigators have concentrated on the plane's controversial use of lithium ion batteries, one of which burst into flames, triggering a smoke alarm.
On Monday, Japan's transport ministry official Shigeru Takano said his investigations had found no evidence that battery maker GS Yuasa was the source of the problems. His statement came after US regulators said on Sunday that they had made "no significant discoveries" three weeks into their investigation into the source of a fire that broke out early this month on a Japan Airlines 787 parked at Boston's Logan airport.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had been looking at the batteries' charger, made by Securaplane Technologies, a unit of Britain's Meggitt engineering firm. NTSB said they had found no evidence of flaws that could have caused the incident. NTSB also said parts of the charred battery were too damaged to yield useful information.
The latest updates appear to further rule out a speedy resolution to Boeing's woes. Company executives had told airline customers that they hoped to get the 787 up in the air soon. There had been speculation that a batch of faulty batteries may have led to the two incidents, but this now looks less likely. On Wednesday, Boeing chief Jim McNerney will speak for the first time about the aircraft's woes when he unveils the company's latest results.
Robert Mann, founder of consultant RW Mann, said: "If you rule out battery failure due to manufacturer and you rule out charging, you are left with intermittent faults, which are very difficult to track down, or some unintended consequence from a usage problem."
Both faults were found on Japanese airliners, and Mann speculated that their use for shorter flights, as opposed to other airlines which have used the 787s for longer haul, may have a bearing on the issue. Such flights would lead to more frequent charging of the lithium-ion batteries, which have proven volatile in many other situations and have never before been used so extensively in such a large passenger plane.
"But I am grasping at straws," Mann said. "As is everyone. A lot smarter people than me are looking at this."
Mann said Boeing was now in for a period of "intense brow-furrowing", and a short-term fix looked very unlikely.
Boeing's hi-tech Dreamliner was dogged by delays even before the grounding. The company has invested $20bn developing the plane, which makes use of electric rather than hydraulic systems, and carbon fiber panels to save weight and fuel.
Dreamliner's issues have cast a harsh light on regulators' approval of the aircraft. Japan's regulators eased safety restrictions ahead of the plane's certification, according to Reuters. Boeing spokeswoman Lori Gunter on Sunday said the 787 had "the most rigorous test program in Boeing's history and the most robust certification program ever conducted."
No comments:
Post a Comment