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Japan’s two largest airlines have decided to ground all of their Boeing Dreamliner 787s after a Nippon Airways plane was forced to make an emergency landing in southwestern Japan.
The Telegraph is reporting that a battery problems triggered a cockpit error message, which forced the pilots to land the plane. Equally worrying: the pilots have reported being able to smell smoke from the cockpit. As a result, both Japan Airlines and Nippon Airways have decided to ground a total of 17 aircraft, which are now awaiting safety checks.
Japanese broadcaster NHK spoke to a passenger on the plane, who described the emergency landing of Nippon Airway’s 787:
“I smelled something strange when the plane was going into a cruising altitude after take-off. I didn’t see smoke… The plane then started descending rapidly and I thought ‘this could crash’. I was surprised as there was an announcement that it was making an emergency landing at Takamatsu airport.”
Coming in the wake of reported—but small!—fires and fuel leaks, the immediate future of Boeing’s 787 looks a little rocky. Beyond the knowledge that some kind of battery fault caused the most recent 787 issue, it’s not clear what the exact problem is. The US government claims to be conducting a review to find out what caused it—and in the meantime reassures us that it is safe to fly. Just, perhaps not on a 787. [Telegraph]
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Smelling spoke, the horror.
Alright smartypants, we all make mistakes occasionally.
No! this cannot stand …heads must roll.
Or failing that I demand some iced fingers.
Sending the iced fingers all the way…to Sheffield!
Are all the Airbus A380s back in the air yet? It’s not been a good few years for the 2 big guns in commercial aviation.
That last one wasn’t meant for you specifically Kat! (wrong box)
Right now, if I was going to fly on a 787, I’d be a bit worried. Seems to be far too many little incidents for this plane at the moment. I hope they can sort them out quick, as I think it should be a fantastic plane once the kinks are fixed.
I dunno I think it is purely because it is a new plane and so it is being scrutinized over any little thing. On any given day loads of planes will have faults, however what happens with them is the pilot writes down the fault and while it’s on the ground the mechanics will fix the faulty part.
I only see faulty batteries being confirmed and smelling smoke isn’t unusual for an electrical fault of a failed component. These batteries have safety measures to stop them from exploding and I’ve components smoke at work and not instantly caught on fire and burnt down the building. Also planes are all built from fire resistant and treated materials, it isn’t like the old days with insulation all around the electronics that would take a flame.
I doubt there has been any real danger, however because it is a new plane they’re being cautious. It is a good thing they are too because in the past we’ve seen stuff like this go ignored until a big crash has happened. Usually though it’s something faulty that causes the pilot to get nervous and make mistakes which leads to the accident. A fault that should never have brought the plane down but the pilot failed to act to what his training should have taught him. Still find it crazy that over 80% of crashes are down to pilot error…… be safer when these planes can fly themselves 100% lol. Right now the only reason the pilot is really there is because the computers cannot think for themselves if the instruments fail for whatever reason.
Pretty new aircraft so some issues aren’t beyond the realm of possibility, hopefully they will get it sorted out.
I actually went on the factory tour for Boeing in Seattle this year and saw these being built which was really impressive.