Dreamliner London fire 'not linked to batteries'
Source: Agencies |
July 14, 2013, Sunday
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Print Edition
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There is no evidence at this stage that a fire that broke out on a Boeing Dreamliner at London's Heathrow Airport on Friday was linked to the aircraft's batteries, Britain's Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) said yesterday.
"There has been extensive heat damage in the upper portion of the rear fuselage, a complex part of the aircraft, and the initial investigation is likely to take several days," the AAIB said.
"However, it is clear that this heat damage is remote from the area in which the aircraft main and APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) batteries are located, and, at this stage, there is no evidence of a direct causal relationship," it added.
Investigators had begun work yesterday to establish the cause of the fire on the Dreamliner, a new setback for the high-tech model grounded at the start of the year over battery problems.
The fire broke out on the plane, operated by Ethiopian Airlines, on Friday afternoon, when it was parked at a remote stand with no passengers on board, eight hours after arriving from Addis Ababa. No one was injured.
External scorching could be seen close to the plane's tail, in a different area from the bays containing batteries.
The AAIB is leading the investigation, working alongside the US Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board, Ethiopian Airlines and Boeing.
Meanwhile, Ethiopian Airlines, one of Africa's top five carriers, said it would continue to fly its Dreamliner fleet.
"We have not grounded any of our aircraft," the carrier said yesterday. "The incident at Heathrow happened while the plane was on the ground and had been for more than eight hours and was not related to flight safety."
Separately, engineers from Britain's Thomson Airways were inspecting their own Boeing Dreamliner after it had to turn back during a flight on Friday from Manchester in England to Sanford in Florida because of an unspecified technical issue. Thomson Airways is one of six European airlines owned by TUI Travel, the world's largest tour operator.
The two incidents are a blow for Boeing, particularly as all Dreamliners had to be grounded for three months, ending in April, after one battery caught fire and another overheated.
"There has been extensive heat damage in the upper portion of the rear fuselage, a complex part of the aircraft, and the initial investigation is likely to take several days," the AAIB said.
"However, it is clear that this heat damage is remote from the area in which the aircraft main and APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) batteries are located, and, at this stage, there is no evidence of a direct causal relationship," it added.
Investigators had begun work yesterday to establish the cause of the fire on the Dreamliner, a new setback for the high-tech model grounded at the start of the year over battery problems.
The fire broke out on the plane, operated by Ethiopian Airlines, on Friday afternoon, when it was parked at a remote stand with no passengers on board, eight hours after arriving from Addis Ababa. No one was injured.
External scorching could be seen close to the plane's tail, in a different area from the bays containing batteries.
The AAIB is leading the investigation, working alongside the US Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board, Ethiopian Airlines and Boeing.
Meanwhile, Ethiopian Airlines, one of Africa's top five carriers, said it would continue to fly its Dreamliner fleet.
"We have not grounded any of our aircraft," the carrier said yesterday. "The incident at Heathrow happened while the plane was on the ground and had been for more than eight hours and was not related to flight safety."
Separately, engineers from Britain's Thomson Airways were inspecting their own Boeing Dreamliner after it had to turn back during a flight on Friday from Manchester in England to Sanford in Florida because of an unspecified technical issue. Thomson Airways is one of six European airlines owned by TUI Travel, the world's largest tour operator.
The two incidents are a blow for Boeing, particularly as all Dreamliners had to be grounded for three months, ending in April, after one battery caught fire and another overheated.
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