USA: NTSB says it faces a long road ahead in the Boeing 787 investigation

Record ID: 402623

  • Title: USA: NTSB says it faces a long road ahead in the Boeing 787 investigation
  • Date: 7th February 2013
  • Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (FEBRUARY 7, 2013) (REUTERS) NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD HEAD DEBORAH HERSMAN ENTERING INTO NEWS CONFERENCE AND WALKING UP TO MICROPHONE WITH NTSB MEMBERS
  • Embargoed: 22nd February 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Technology
  • Reuters ID: LVADY988M1LIEWWZNXFF7A1TSAMH
  • Story Text: U.S. safety regulators have a "long road ahead" in their investigation of problems associated with the lithium ion batteries on Boeing Co's 787 Dreamliners, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Thursday (February 07).
    NTSB head Deborah Hersman said at a news conference in Washington Thursday that the agency's "interim factual report" that will be filed in 30 days will not mark the conclusion of the investigation.
    Hersman said the NTSB has pinpointed the origin of a battery fire on a 787 in Boston last month, but has not yet determined the cause of a short circuit in that battery.
    The 50 Dreamliners in service have been grounded since Jan. 16 while the NTSB, FAA and other aviation regulators around the world investigate the battery failures.
    The NTSB probe is focused on the Boston fire, and Hersman said investigators now believe multiple short circuits in a single cell may have led to a chemical reaction known as a thermal runaway, which cascaded to other cells and spread the fire.
    Hersman said a review is needed of the conditions under which aviation regulators approved Boeing's use of this particular battery technology on the 787, a decision that has lately come under close scrutiny.

    "There have now been two battery events resulting in smoke, less than two weeks apart, on two different aircraft. This investigation has demonstrated that a short-circuit in a single cell can propagate to adjacent cells and result in smoke and fire. The assumptions used to certify the battery must be reconsidered," she said.
    As Hersman was addressing the news conference in Washington DC, the first 787 flight since mid-January left Texas for Washington state, a so-called ferry flight being run under heavy conditions to see if any battery problems crop up.
    According to flight tracking website FlightAware, it left Dallas at 9:25 a.m. CST (1525 GMT) for the nearly three-and-a-half hour flight to Everett, Washington. Ultimately scheduled for delivery to China Southern Airlines, the aircraft has not yet been handed over to the customer.
    The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday it had approved the flight, which differed from Boeing's request to run a series of test flights. It placed a number of conditions on the one-off trip, mostly having to do with testing and monitoring the plane's battery.
    While the investigation continues, Boeing is pursuing multiple ways to mitigate and contain a fire, if one starts in the batteries, one source familiar with the probe told Reuters. Three or four varying approaches would be pursued to ensure the batteries did not breach their containment systems, even if they caught fire, said the source.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register