In 2013 , the troubledBoeing 787 Dreamlinerwas ground for nearly four calendar month because the planer ’s atomic number 3 - ion batteries caught fervour . It ’s had at least three more cubicle failures since the planing machine was allowed toresume fly . While the Federal Aviation Administration dismisses these new failures , the fact that these battery malfunction continue to happen is a big deal .
No other lithium - ion battery in service shows failure rates this senior high school . Failures in these stamp battery typically get along at a rate of one in five million . But the Dreamliner lithium - ion are conk out at a shockingly high charge per unit of one in a thousand .
Unreported failures
In October of last year , in an event that no one describe , a Qatar Airways 787 had to make an exigency diversion . The pilots were alerted to a battery issue during flight . Qatar Airways referred interrogative sentence to the FAA and NTSB , and declined to say how many travelers were on the aeroplane . The Dreamliners can carry 254 passenger .
The FAA , which was advise of the sequence by Boeing , commented on the incident via spokeswoman Laura Brown : “ The battery design and enclosing performed as intended by restrict and containing the failure . ”
Boeing notify the FAA and the NTSB about the emergency landing of Qatar ’s 787 under a provision designed to further the industry to “ share substantial safety related information , ” NSTB spokesman Peter Knudson said . Neither agency conducted an probe into the failure of the Qatar Airways battery , but the FAA allowed Boeing to valuate the damage and describe the results back to the agency .
grant to a knowledgeable informant , last week a European 787 operator also had a battery release fumes and gage into the containment box but this someone did not identify the airline .
The FAA ’s Brown would not confirm any other episodes beyond the one on Qatar Airways . “ We do n’t turn over something an ‘ event ’ if the containment box perform as designed , ” she enunciate .
A history of troubles
Before the Dreamliner ’s battery problem began in January 2013 , Qatar ’s chief executive director Akbar Al Baker was decisive of Boeing for what he called the 787 ’s teethe problem and unreliableness . The new plane was three years late in being fork up to its customer , the first of whom were Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways .
The first assault and battery job were on these airlines in 2013 , trip thegrounding of the fleet . The sheet wasonly allowed to fly againafter Boeing incase the batteries in a stainless steel box to make certain the baron source could fulfill fervidness protection standards .
After 787s were match with the battery caparison , a Japan Airlines 787 undergoing maintenance at Tokyo ’s Narita Airport beganemitting smokein January of 2014 . Investigators with the Japan Transportation Safety Board saidoverheating of cells could be expectedand they were confident the planer maker ’s fix would work as mean .
The JTSB was not apprize of the failure on Qatar Airways according to JTSB ’s Mamoru Takahashi , who added that Boeing was not obligated to report it . Japan Airlines , All Nippon Airways and Qatar are three of the largest hustler of Dreamliners . Since place 22 of the modified 787s into inspection and repair , Qatar ’s Al Baker has express sureness in Boeing and in the battery localisation .
Experts are concerned
Jeff Dahn , a natural philosophy professor at Dalhousie University and a barrage fire expert , enounce this upshot should not be neglect because it means something is wrong with the cells . “ Normally they will do nothing unless they are being mechanically abused or electrically abused . Since they are in the corner , they are probably not being mechanically abused , so there is something going on with those jail cell . ”
Another battery expert who inquire not to be identified said he , too , was surprised by the frequence of the problem , considering how few of these cubicle are in table service , 16 per plane on about 300 787s flying . “ One out of a thousand strait high . I would categorize it as a provider quality control problem first . It has a safety component but they are managing it by the redesign , ” he say .
Dahn used the new Tesla galvanising car model , each of which has 7000 cells , as a stage of comparing . “ Why would you continue to expend atomic number 3 - ion cells that are having trouble ? ” Dahn ask about Boeing . “ Look at the Teslas get around . They not make problems and there ’s a gazillion of them . ”
Christine Negroni reports on air travel for The New York Times , Air & Space , ABC News , the RunwayGirlNetwork and others . She writes the blogFlying Lessonsand tweet at @cnegroni
airplanesBoeingboeing 787Dreamliner
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