Investigators probe the cause of Dreamliner fire in London

Updated July 13, 2013 23:15:20

Investigators have begun searching for the cause of a fire onboard a 787 Dreamliner parked at London's Heathrow airport, which raises further questions about the safety of Boeing's next-generation jet.

A team from Britain's Air Accident Investigation Board (AAIB) was deployed following the blaze on Friday afternoon on the Ethiopian Airlines plane, which was fortunately empty at the time.

"The aircraft was moved to a secure hangar early this morning. The investigation is ongoing," a spokesman for the AAIB, said.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it had also sent an official to support the work of the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in Britain.

Ethiopian Airlines said smoke was detected coming from the plane after it had been parked at Heathrow for more than eight hours.

Dreamliner's turbulent history

• July 12: An Ethiopian Airlines 787 catches fire while sitting on tarmac at London's Heathrow airport for eight hours
• July 12: Dreamliner operated by Thomson Airways returns to UK as a precaution due to technical issues
• January 16: An ANA Dreamliner passenger plane makes an emergency landing in Japan after smoke is reportedly seen inside the cockpit.
• January 14: Japan's transport ministry says it has begun examining the Dreamliner that suffered two fuel leakages in less than a week.
• January 13: A Japan Airlines (JAL) 787 suffers a fuel spill for the second time in a week.
• January 11: US regulators announce an in-depth safety review of the Dreamliner after a spate of incidents involving the aircraft.

• A crack in a cockpit windshield grounds an ANA Dreamliner after a domestic flight in Japan.
• An ANA Dreamliner, also on a domestic Japanese flight, experiences a delay due to an oil leak.

• January 9: ANA cancels a Dreamliner flight because of a brake problem.
• January 8: A Japan Airlines 787 flight to Tokyo is grounded in Boston following a fuel spill.
• January 7: A fire breaks out aboard an empty Japan Airlines 787 Dreamliner in Boston.

"The aircraft was empty when the incident was observed. The cause of the incident is under investigation by all concerned," it said in a statement.

A spokesman for Ethiopian Airlines said it was investigating the incident but had no plans to ground its fleet of four 787 Dreamliners.

"Ethiopia's Dreamliners will continue to fly," spokesman Hailu Teklehaimanot said.

"The incident at Heathrow is not being treated as flight related as the incident happened after being grounded for eight hours."

It is a blow for Boeing, which had to temporarily withdraw the Dreamliner from service earlier this year after concerns that batteries on board could cause fires.

The US aviation giant has since rolled out modifications it said would ensure the planes were safe.

Boeing's shares closed 4.7 per cent lower at $101.87 in New York trading on Friday, clawing back from a dive of more than seven per cent.

The fire caused Heathrow to shut down for 90 minutes, and the world's busiest international passenger air hub was still reporting related delays on Saturday.

"The airport is fully operational but with some flight delays and cancellations," Heathrow said in a statement.

A spokeswoman said that about 40 flights had been cancelled throughout the day, largely due to aircraft being out of place, but said delays to other flights were "minimal".

In a separate incident on Friday, Britain's Thomson Airways said one of its Dreamliners flying from Manchester to Florida was forced to turn back after experiencing a "technical issue" after take-off.

A global grounding order on the Dreamliner was issued in January after lithium-ion batteries overheated on two different jets, with one of them catching fire while the aircraft was parked.

Boeing has not been able to identify the root cause of the problems - a source of major embarrassment to the company - but said its modifications would prevent the problems reoccurring.

In April, an Ethiopian Airlines Dreamliner - reported to be the same plane that caught fire at Heathrow - flew from Addis Ababa to Nairobi on the first commercial flight since the grounding.

But the planes have been dogged by problems, with a string of flights worldwide cancelled or diverted due to mechanical issues.

AFP

Topics: air-transport, air-force, defence-forces, defence-and-national-security, industry, business-economics-and-finance, accidents---other, accidents, disasters-and-accidents, united-kingdom

First posted July 13, 2013 22:28:43

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-13/investigators-probe-dreamliner-fire-in-london/4818794

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