Dreamliner problems

Japan's main carriers with 787s extend groundings...

Japan's main carriers that fly Boeing 787-8 aircraft have extended the groundings they instituted. Looks like ANA (All-Nippon Airways) will be with-holding their aircraft until January 31 -at least- and JAL (Japan Airlines) says until February 3.

I can imagine, alot of lost revenue because of this. But I do feel the media has really blown this out of proportion. There are obvious problems, sure but now Boeing is being treated like a criminal and the world wants vigilante justice.

Business man says 787 batteries inherently unsafe

Elon Musk says that 787 lithium-ion batteries are inherently unsafe. If you do not know who he is, he is the owner of the Telsa electric car company and the founder of the SpaceX company. The batteries that Boeing choose to use aboard their 787 aircraft feature 8 cells that are packed close to each other basically increasing the risk of cell-to-cell thermal domino effect. You would think he knows what he is talking about as he uses lithium batteries in his Telsa electric cars but his are separated into thousands of smaller cells that are themselves separated.

As you may well imagine, the grounding of any aircraft to any airline will cost them revenue as it makes no money while on the ground. This is true for ANA's fleet of grounded Boeing 787-8 aircraft. According to initial figures, the grounding is expected to cost All-Nippon Airways (ANA) some 15-million dollars in lost revenue in January, 2013.

Probe finds indication of thermal runaway and short circuit in ANA battery

Japanese probe into the Boeing 787-8 lithium-ion battery failure finds indications of thermal runaway and short circuiting. The 787 is the first commercial airliner to use lithium-ion batteries as an emergency power source and as the starter for the APU.

JAL (Japan Air Lines) forced to keep 767s in service that it planned to retire. The delay forces JAL's 'hand' to delay the retirement of two of it's older Boeing 767 aircraft to help cover the routes that the grounded 787s operated. "Adjustments to flight operations on and after 1 March 2013 will be announced as soon as it has been decided," says JAL.

FAA clears Boeing 787 to resume flight-testing

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has cleared Boeing to resume flight-testing on its much publicised and troubled new generation 787 aircraft. However, the FAA only cleared it to test on an 'instrumented 787'. Boeing as well as FAA officials have been assured that flight tests can resume safely. All this happening while US and Japanese safety investigators continue to pin-point the cause of a short-circuit within one of the eight battery cells.

United must be fuming...

United has been forced to push back the new Dever to Narita (Tokyo) route with the Boeing 787-8 because of the continuing grounding of the type aircraft. the launch of its new Denver to Tokyo Narita flight to 12th of May. United has also postponed all other flights scheduled to have been used by a 787 until 5th of June. The company will fly between Los Angeles and both Shanghai Pudong and Tokyo Narita as well as between Houston Intercontinental and Lagos utilizing Boeing's 777-200 for the short term.

ANA announces that it will continue to ground it's Boeing 787-8 fleet. Things are getting more grave for Boeing's ultra-modern fuel-efficient jet with ANA suggesting that their own will stay on the ground until May 31, 2013.

Japan Airlines (JAL) has announced that they will be continuing to ground their fleet of Boeing 787-8 aircraft. The announcement comes just three days after another Japanese carrier, All Nippon Airways (ANA) said that they will be continuing to ground theirs up until May 31. JAL says they will ground their type aircraft until May 31 as well.

Holiday Airline Thompson Airways forced to switch to B767s

Holiday Airline Thompson Airways has been forced to switch back to Boeing 767 aircraft to cover routes that it had intended to use its first Boeing 787-8 on. As you know by now, the 787 has not been able to return to the sky because of groundings in light of perceived safety concerns with Lithium-ion batteries the aircraft uses. Many carriers have grounded their 787-8 fleet until May 31, 2013.

FAA having obstacles to approving a Boeing 787-8 fix

Boeing said this week it can move 'really fast' to get its 787-8 Dreamliner back into the air once regulators approve a fix for the dreading lithium-ion batteries on board the aircraft. That's just the problem, Boeing can but the regulatory bodies aren't that fast to say yes.

The United States National Transportation Safety Board or NTSB has reported 'rebuked' aircraft manufacturer, Boeing for allegedly making public comments about the ongoing 787-8 investigation (relation to the failed batteries). The NTSB are saying that they (Boeing) didn't notify them and that it "is inconsistent with our expectations", according to NTSB general counsel David Tochen.

Boeing just completed the functional flight test of the first Boeing 787-8 aircraft to fly since pretty much the planes were grounded a few months ago. The successful flight test was carried out on an ordered LOT 787-8.

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Boeing has been busy with flight-testing of their 787-8 model in relation to the re-designed batteries. However, they have also been testing other troublesome components. The P150 panel distributes electrical power around the aircraft has been cited as linked to numerous malfunctions back in December 2012. Both United and Qatar Airways were forced to pull their Dreamliner aircraft from service to have the 'glitches' checked out. The malfunctions apparently sent error messages to the cockpit, which of course is not a good thing. Aside from that Boeing is expecting a third test flight within the 'coming days' to recertify the new battery design by the US Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA's certification is necessary to allow the 787s to return to commercial flight.

ANA is set to put its 787-8 pilots through training for their expected resumption to service in the near future. The pilots are expected to go through simulator training ahead of anticipated Dreamliner re-entry to commercial service. "We're preparing for after Boeing's service bulletin is approved. Once it's approved by the US FAA [Federal Aviation Administration], it means the Boeing modification plan is also approved," says an ANA spokesman. They are expected to start training this month (April).

Boeing has apparently dispatched maintainence teams to Japan to wait for the all-clear to start retrofitting the new battery containment system on ANA (All Nippon Airways) and Japan Airlines (JAL). When the new containment system is certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration and the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau, the teams can commence retrofitting the aircraft, says a Boeing spokesman.

It seems like Boeing has conducted the final certification flight with the new and improved battery system. It will then naturally present it's data and findings to United States authorities as soon as possible. Once everything checks out this is likely the last thing to happen before certification can be granted. The airframer conducted the 1h49min flight on a LOT-ordered 787, which departed Paine Field in Everett, Washington at 10:39 local time. Onboard were 11 crew members, including two representatives from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).