Boeing confirms battery fire on 787 as shares fall
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Boeing is confirming that a fire on one of its new 787s appears to have started in a battery, as scrutiny of the problem increases.
Also Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board said it will send two more investigators to Boston to examine the Japan Airlines plane. The NTSB says the battery had "severe fire damage."
The fire happened on the ground Monday, with no passengers on board. But in-flight fires can be catastrophic, so the matter is getting close scrutiny by aviation authorities.
United Airlines says it checked its own 787s overnight. It would not say what the inspections found, but the Wall Street Journal reported the airline found improperly installed wiring on one of its 787s.
Boeing says the problem appears to be unrelated to previous electrical problems on the 787. Boeing Co. shares have fallen nearly 5 percent since the fire was reported.
It was the first of two issues this week involving a Japan Airlines 787 in Boston.
Massachusetts Port Authority spokesman Richard Walsh said the Boeing 787 was towed back to the gate for evaluation early Tuesday afternoon after about 40 gallons of fuel spilled. He said the plane had 178 passengers and 11 crew members on board.
A JAL spokeswoman said the crew reported a "mechanical issue" before returning to the gate.
Also Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board said it will send two more investigators to Boston to examine the Japan Airlines plane. The NTSB says the battery had "severe fire damage."
The fire happened on the ground Monday, with no passengers on board. But in-flight fires can be catastrophic, so the matter is getting close scrutiny by aviation authorities.
United Airlines says it checked its own 787s overnight. It would not say what the inspections found, but the Wall Street Journal reported the airline found improperly installed wiring on one of its 787s.
Boeing says the problem appears to be unrelated to previous electrical problems on the 787. Boeing Co. shares have fallen nearly 5 percent since the fire was reported.
It was the first of two issues this week involving a Japan Airlines 787 in Boston.
Massachusetts Port Authority spokesman Richard Walsh said the Boeing 787 was towed back to the gate for evaluation early Tuesday afternoon after about 40 gallons of fuel spilled. He said the plane had 178 passengers and 11 crew members on board.
A JAL spokeswoman said the crew reported a "mechanical issue" before returning to the gate.
These things happen daily with normal airplanes, the 787 is under a Microscope right now becaue it makes news. The Airbus 380 on the other hand hides anything that happens, including exploding engines.
What do you expect? Nearly all of the 787s put out by South Carolina, the NON-UNION plant, have had problems. This is what happens when you get non-unionized, uneducated labor to try and build complex, high-cost products. I hope you all feel safe flying knowing the average income in SC is below the federal poverty level and their literacy rate and high-school graduation rate is near the bottom.Â
Is it possible someone didn't turn off their cell phone on the previous flight which caused the batter to overheat and catch on fire later? Folks, please remember to turn off all your cellular device when instructed to.
@Dylandawg This was a battery that was installed in the aircraft, not in someone's phone.
I don't think I'd fly in one of those until I was sure it was safe. All new machines have glitches they say, but at 30,000 feet it only takes one glitch to kill everyone on board.
I think it's my neighbor's fault. He does something at Boeing that involves quality control and he's a bit of a bone head.
Union sabotage? Boeing has had a lot of problems.
contraryjim, you have zero idea what you're talking about.
 @contraryjim Does your medical insurance cover mental health also?
 @contraryjim NO. That is just baseless nonsense.
 @leftcenterright Kind of like unions, huh....????
And now a fuel leak to go with that spark. Just read about that flight return to Boston. Remember the Pinto?
Chemical storage batteries are ALL dangerous, some very much so.
If the problems they are having with this battery are generic to all 787 Lithium batteries there is no easy way out for Boeing.
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In general, lithium ion Cobalt oxide batteries are significantly more susceptible to internal failures that can result in self-sustaining increases in temperature and pressure. The metallic lithium can ignite, resulting in a self-sustaining fire or explosion.
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A much safer technology which was not mature enough during the design of the 787, would have been the LFP lithium ferrophosphate  ( LiFePO4) is an intrinsically safer cathode material than LiCoO2 and manganese spinel. The Fe-P-O bond is stronger than the Co-O bond, so that when abused, (short-circuited, overheated, etc.) the oxygen atoms are much harder to remove. The availability of the LFP battery is poor. The collapse of a government-subsidized A-123 Systems, manufacturer of the LFP (LiFePO4) has caused the production of a government-subsidized electric car company Fisker to halt. It received approval for a government loan totaling $529 million in 2009. Fisker is in Bankruptcy proceedings and have been sold to a subsidiary of Chinese company Wanxiang.
 @al_wa So it's like a big exploding laptop then. Any chance of getting a cooling system into them? Is assumption correct that there are more than one that could fail like that? It's good to know that the Chinese have the better technology. (sarcasm)
 @Elvis
"Is assumption correct that there are more than one that could fail like that?"
Certainly not at this point. Boeing Equipment Quality Analysis Laboratory is one of the finest in the world. The companies dedication to finding and correcting problems is second to none. They will figure this out and correct the problem.
 @al_wa  @Elvis Sounds like NASA, but if you are in a capsule 240,000 miles from home that could be more than a little problematical, and if you are talking planes, it might be unpleasant being on one they hadn't figured out yet.
With them using lego type assembly what do you expect. I like flying the other Boeing planes tho as they were built using old fashioned tooling. Will never get on one. To much stress has to be built in assembling it together vs using a actual jig.
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@Blindman What a horrible thing to say!!!
 @Blindman Nice!  What are you 5yrs old?  What a friggin' idiot!  Step away from the keyboard and grow the 'f' up!  Mom's calling you to change your stinkin' azz diaper.... clown boy!
 @d_2  @Blindman Don't hold back, tell him what you are thinking!
 @Blindman Do you know how stupid you sound when you make a statement like that?
@al_wa @Blindman Pretty stupid. Let's hope that if one does fall out of the sky, it lands on his head.
When I was young, I loved to fly. About college age, I became deathly afraid to fly. People asked me why the sudden change. What I told them was that right about that time I figured out that people build planes, people repair planes, and people fly planes. And people make errors. Those errors are deadly. I could not get my mind to "un-know" this. Now, I have to drug myself to fly & I normally don't even take an ibuprofen without absolute necessity! This, of course, does not help. I doubt I'm alone.
I have resolved to never fly a 787. To many problems from design to sky. Not worth it.
Passengers are guinea pigs at 35,000 feet. Have fun!Â
UH -1 (Army Utility helicoptors) had numerous problems when it first came out and it went through many modifications and changes...all things take a while before it becomes safer. Yes, there were many you call Guinea Pigs but I rather call them HEROES. I hope Boeing will continue fixing the little problems before it becomes a larger problem. We all take bigger chances when we walk to school and drive on I-5 to get to work with all the Washingtonians. I'd fly Boeing planes anytime anywhere...as long as I can afford the fare!
 @YMR The UH-1 assemblies weren't fabricated in huts all over the world, loaded onto ships with foreign flags by the world's dockworkers to be handled again by US dockworkers unloading them from the ships who then reload them onto barges and sail them into Everett to be handled again by US dockworkers for final assembly either.
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Any fire on any aircraft isn't considered by anyone to be "little problems". This whole ill-conceived fiasco with a globally built plane is nothing more then a clear illustration of how far corporate America will go to appease share holders at the expense of US families. The public's acceptance of such risk as presented by Boeing is considered by me as nothing short of pure insanity.
Ah, now that the 787 has been in service for a while, all the glitches need to be worked out. Regardless of whether it's a Boeing bird, an Airbus, Bombardier, etc...there are always teething issues to work out. Interesting, though, that the 787 is sure getting quite a large share of them. Improperly installed wiring on a brand new plane? Combustible batteries? Engine issues (to be blamed on GE & Rolls Royce, not the manufacturer), and several other electrical problems (Qatar Airlines), to name a few. Sounds like the issues are pointing to electronics and wiring in the plane. Perhaps Boeing needs to take a look at their assembly line and improve their quality control to get a handle on this. Some of these incidents have occurred in-flight on revenue flights...
 @Donkey Kong Ever see a carbon fiber rod break? Too bad if it is only a fish, but if it is an airplane wing, everybody's in trouble.
 @Donkey Kong Another thing you should consider is that the 787 is the first of its kind. It's a commercial plane built with full composite materials and its fully electronically controlled. This is VASTLY different than any other plane out there.
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Its very natural and expected to have a few problems. Hopefully the Quality controls will continue to be enough that no one dies as a result of a major catastrophe.
 @Avalonis  @Donkey Kong What caused a burning battery? If it was predictable a fail safe mechanism would have been a good item to include. Cars have a fusable link.
The ground was the best place for something like this to happen, while unfortunate at least nobody was hurt and a potential engineering issue can now be addressed and fixed before the general public is impacted.