Report: FAA to Review Boeing 787 Dreamliners After Fire
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Matt Hosford/ABC News(NEW YORK) — The Federal Aviation Administration will hold a news conference Friday morning to discuss the recent rash of problems with Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliners.
Bloomberg reports the government will call for a review of the plane’s newly-designed electrical power system, which caught fire this week in Boston’s Logan Airport.
The fire broke out Monday morning on board an empty 787 that had flown in non-stop from Tokyo. The Massachusetts Port Authority’s fire chief, Bob Donahue, said the blaze began in a battery pack for the plane’s auxiliary power unit, which runs the jet’s electrical systems when it’s not getting power from its engines.
No major injuries were reported and one firefighter experienced skin irritation after contact with a chemical used to douse the fire, Donahue said.
The FAA has not commented on Bloomberg’s report.
Boeing issued a statement in response, saying, “We actively work with the FAA daily, across all of our product lines. We do not publicly comment on the nature and content of those communications.”
“We are absolutely confident in the reliability and performance of the 787. We are working with the FAA and our customers to ensure we thoroughly understand any introductory issues that arise. While we take each issue seriously, nothing we’ve seen in service causes us to doubt the capabilities of the airplane,” Boeing’s statement continued.
There are 50 Dreamliners flying worldwide, six in the United States alone. United Airlines, which operates all the 787s in the U.S., says it has no plans to take the jets out of service.
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