Posted on 01/17/2013 6:32:17 AM PST by rawhide
Airlines scrambled on Thursday to rearrange flights as Europe, Japan and India joined the United States in grounding Boeing's 787 Dreamliner passenger jets while battery-related problems are investigated.
The lightweight, mainly carbon-composite plane has been plagued by recent mishaps - including an emergency landing of a Japanese domestic flight on Wednesday after warning lights indicated a battery problem - raising concerns over its use of new technology, such as lithium-ion batteries.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Wednesday temporarily grounded Boeing's newest commercial airliner, saying carriers would have to demonstrate the batteries were safe before the planes could resume flying. It gave no details on when that might happpen.
Yoshitomo Tamaki, director general at the Japan Transport Safety Board (JTSB), said checks on the ANA flight that made the emergency landing showed a bulge in the metal box that cases the main battery. The electric equipment bay, where the battery is located, had a strong smell of smoke and soot was found on the box and on two exterior valves used to regulate temperature in the plane.
JTSB spokesman Takayuki Someya said the investigation would focus on whether this was battery-related.
The use of new battery technology is among the cost-saving features of the 787, which Boeing says burns 20 percent less fuel than rival jetliners using older technology.
Shares of GS Yuasa, a Japanese firm that makes batteries for the Dreamliner, tumbled as much as 7.5 percent to a 2-month low. The stock has dropped 18 percent since Jan. 7 when one of its batteries caught fire in a parked JAL-operated 787 at Boston Logan International Airport.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
Picture posted of battery like the one referred to in this thread.
>”May be the end of Boeing”<
First they move their Headquarters to Chicago and now this.
You might be right.
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