The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered a review of electrical systems in Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner in the wake of a series of incidents such as a battery fire involving a Japanese airline earlier this week in Boston. A year after the FAA completed evaluation of the technologically advanced aircraft, the authority today said it would now review on the 787's design, manufacturing and assembly to examine critical electrical systems as well as other quality-control issues. ''We are concerned about recent events involving the Boeing 787,'' Ray LaHood, the transportation secretary, told a press conference in Washington. ''We will look for the root causes of the recent events and do everything we can to ensure these events don't happen again.'' FAA administrator Michael P Huerta said the review would focus on the electrical systems of the airplane, including the batteries and power distribution systems. The news comes after airlines eager to fly an airplane that promises significant fuel savings waited for years and have now started operating the aircraft. Boeing has delivered 50 of the airplanes since November 2011 and eight airlines, including All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines, Air India, Ethiopian Airlines, Chile's LAN Airlines, Poland's LOT, Qatar Airways and United Airlines, are flying the 787s. This week's incidents involving battery and electrical connections comes on top of last month's inspection of the 787's fuel lines by FAA and has given rise to doubts that a combination of electrical and fuel line faults could cause serious problems. In December, the FAA ordered inspection of fuel line connectors on all 787s, warning of a risk of fuel leaks and fires. That coincided with the failure of one of the six electric generators of a United Airlines 787, forcing it to divert the Houston to Newark flight to New Orleans at mid-night. FAA said the review would not require the grounding of the 787 fleet. In a statement released today, Boeing expressed confidence in the design and performance of the 787. ''It is a safe and efficient airplane that brings tremendous value to our customers and an improved flying experience to their passengers. ''The airplane has logged 50,000 hours of flight and there are more than 150 flights occurring daily. Its in-service performance is on par with the industry's best-ever introduction into service – the Boeing 777. Like the 777, at 15 months of service, we are seeing the 787's fleet wide dispatch reliability well above 90 per cent,'' the company said. Boeing said the 787 completed the most robust and rigorous certification process in the history of the FAA over a year ago. ''We remain fully confident in the airplane's design and production system. Regular reviews of program and technical progress are an important part of the validation and oversight process that has created today's safe and efficient air transportation system. However, Boeing said: ''While the 787's reliability is on par with the best in class, we have experienced in-service issues in recent months and we are never satisfied while there is room for improvement. For that reason, today we jointly announced with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) the start of a review of the 787's recent issues and critical systems.'' ''Just as we are confident in the airplane, we are equally confident in the regulatory process that has been applied to the 787 since its design inception. With this airplane, the FAA conducted its most robust certification process ever. We expect that this review will complement that effort,'' it added. Source: Domain-B
