Boeing 787 Dreamliner Test Flight Lands Safely In Seattle
A Boeing 787 Dreamliner landed safely in Seattle Thursday afternoon, marking the first test flight since the fleet was grounded globally.
According to ABC News, the Dreamliner flew from Texas with a skeleton crew and landed around 12:00 pm PST.
A top federal safety official said the government should reconsider its approval of the batteries used in the Dreamliner fleet. While the Boeing 787Dreamliner was intended to be the best aircraft ever built, safety issues have marred the plane’s reputation before it was ever really established.
Last month, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded the entire fleet of Dreamliners after a jet operated by All Nippon Airways experienced a battery failure and was forced to make an emergency landing. However, the batteries may not be entirely to blame. Japanese officials investigating the ANA battery concluded that there were no manufacturing problems inside the battery. American safety regulators also found “no obvious anomalies” in the battery.
Deborah Hersman, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said that Boeing’s safety testing of the batteries prior to their approval by the FAA found that a short-circuit in one of the eight cells would not affect the adjacent cells.
According to CNN, Boeing has estimated that a “smoke” event would occur “less than once in 10 million flight hours” with the novel lithium-ion batteries used in the Dreamliners. But two failed after less than 100,000 hours of flight.
Federal safety officials have said that they have identified the origin of the battery fire and would release an interim report of their findings within the next 30 days.
