dreamliners

FAA said to be near approving Boeing's Dreamliner battery fix

After three months of sitting on the ground, it's looking like Boeing's 787 Dreamliner jets may be able to soar again.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Federal Aviation Administration is rumored to announce as soon as Friday that the jets will soon be allowed for takeoff. People familiar with the matter told the Journal that the FAA believes that Boeing has proven that the redesigned batteries are now safe.

Boeing's Dreamliners were grounded in January after a battery fire on an All Nippon Airways flight let to a forced evacuation of the plane. The FAA … Read more

Boeing wraps up 787 Dreamliner battery testing

When it comes to aircraft in flight, "uneventful" is a good thing.

Boeing today said that it has completed certification testing for a new battery system for its 787 Dreamliner designed to replace the one at the center of a Federal Aviation Administration investigation over recent fire-related incidents. Those incidents prompted the FAA to order airlines to ground their Dreamliners until the batteries were proven safe to operate.

The certification testing wrapped up with a demonstration flight on "line number 86," a Boeing-owned production Dreamliner built for LOT Polish Airlines. Boeing said that the aircraft flew … Read more

Boeing flight-tests redesigned battery for 787 Dreamliner

Boeing conducted a test flight of its 787 Dreamliner today as it works to analyze how the aircraft's redesigned battery system performs in the air.

The two-hour "functional check flight," which departed Paine Field in Everett, Wash., around noon today, is the first step in confirming that the systems perform as designed to allow the grounded aircraft to return to service, Boeing said in a statement. The crew of six on board during the flight performed a variety of tests from a normal flight profile, including cycling the landing gear and operating the backup systems.

The test … Read more

It's Airbus' A350 vs. Boeing's Dreamliner in the 'War of the Wide-bodies'

With Boeing's 787 Dreamliner reeling from recent and well-publicized setbacks, the commercial airline industry is no doubt eagerly awaiting the first flight of Airbus' next new airplane, the A350 XWB.

Although Airbus isn't saying when it will unveil the all-new A350 XWB (the XWB stands for "extra-wide body"), there is plenty of speculation that those attending this summer's Paris Air Show will get to see the plane in flight.

This would be big news for a number of airlines, who no doubt are wondering if they can afford to tie themselves to the Dreamliner, given … Read more

Boeing: Here's our plan to nix 787 battery fire risk

Boeing today outlined its plans for preventing the 787 Dreamliner's batteries from overheating or igniting, issues that have kept the aircraft's global fleet grounded for nearly two months.

While noting that it had not identified the root cause of the heat issues, the aircraft maker said during a news conference Friday in Tokyo that it had developed additional safety features designed to prevent heat issues with the planes' lithium-ion batteries.

"We've come up with a comprehensive set of solutions that result in a safer battery system," Boeing Chief Project Engineer Mike Stinnett said in a … Read more

FAA approves Boeing's plan to fix Dreamliner batteries

The Federal Aviation Administration has approved Boeing's plan to redesign the batteries of the 787 Dreamliner airplanes but testing is needed before the planes can serve passengers again, the Associated Press reported today.

The planes were grounded in January when the batteries of one, a Japan Airlines 787, caught fire.

The Federal Aviation Administration told the AP that Boeing's plan includes "a redesign of the internal battery components to minimize the possibility of short-circuiting, better insulation of the battery's eight cells and the addition of a new containment and venting system."

Boeing said it submitted … Read more

NTSB: Boeing Dreamliner blaze probe needs more time

The National Transportation Safety Board today released an interim report detailing the events that led to a lithium-ion battery fire on a Japan Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner, but it didn't make any conclusions into what caused the blaze.

The organization noted that the report was strictly factual in nature and based on initial findings. That meant it didn't detail a clear-cut reason for the fire, provide analysis, or make any conclusions or recommendations.

The NTSB said its investigation into the probable cause of the 787 battery fire is continuing. It's also continuing to review the design, certification, … Read more

Boeing Dreamliner battery-fire report out tomorrow

The National Transportation Safety Board, the organization looking into the battery fire that grounded Boeing's 787 Dreamliners, is releasing an interim report about the fire tomorrow.

The safety board will publish the report here at 8 a.m. PT in a public docket.

"The information being released is factual in nature and does not provide any analysis," according to a press release from the board. "The docket contains the interim factual report and related documents.... Additional material will be added to the docket as it becomes available."

The lithium-ion battery fire aboard the Japan Airlines … Read more

Where, oh where are all the grounded 787 Dreamliners?

There's been no shortage of publicity and investigation surrounding the grounding of the world's 787 Dreamliner fleet after recent battery fires aboard the Boeing airplanes. But there's one question that has gone unanswered: Where are all those Dreamliners?

Thanks to our friends at Airchive.com, we now know where all those planes are sitting as regulators, Boeing, and its battery suppliers work to once again get eager passengers aboard the much-hyped aircraft.

According to Airchive.com, there are currently eight carriers flying Dreamliners -- if you can call having a bunch of planes parked on tarmacs at … Read more