In 2013, the second year of service for the

Boeing 787 Dreamliner The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American wide-body jet airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After dropping its unconventional Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the conventional 7E7 on January 29, 2003, ...

, a widebody

jet airliner A jet airliner or jetliner is an airliner powered by jet engines (passenger jet aircraft). Airliners usually have two or four jet engines; three-engined designs were popular in the 1970s but are less common today. Airliners are commonly cl ...

, several aircraft suffered from electrical system problems stemming from its

lithium-ion batteries A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery which uses the reversible reduction of lithium ions to store energy. It is the predominant battery type used in portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles. It also se ...

. Incidents included an electrical fire aboard an

All Nippon Airways , also known as ANA (''Ē-enu-ē'') or is an airline in Japan. Its headquarters are located in Shiodome City Center in the Shiodome area of Minato ward of Tokyo. It operates services to both domestic and international destinations and had mo ...

787 and a similar fire found by maintenance workers on a parked

Japan Airlines , also known as JAL (''Jaru'') or , is an international airline and Japan's flag carrier and largest airline as of 2021 and 2022, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport, as w ...

787 at Boston's

Logan International Airport General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport , also known as Boston Logan International Airport and commonly as Boston Logan, Logan Airport or simply Logan, is an international airport that is located mostly in East Boston and partially ...

. The United States

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

(FAA) ordered a review into the design and manufacture of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, followed by a full grounding of the entire Boeing 787 fleet, the first such grounding since that of the

McDonnell Douglas DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long-range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 1971, ...

in 1979. The plane has had two major battery

thermal runaway Thermal runaway describes a process that is accelerated by increased temperature, in turn releasing energy that further increases temperature. Thermal runaway occurs in situations where an increase in temperature changes the conditions in a way t ...

events in 52,000 flight hours, which was substantially less than the 10 million flight hours predicted by Boeing, neither of which were contained safely. The

National Transportation Safety Board The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incid ...

(NTSB) released a report on December 1, 2014, and assigned blame to several groups: *

GS Yuasa is a Kyoto-based Japanese company specializing in the development and production of lead acid and lithium-ion batteries, used in automobiles, motorcycles and other areas including aerospace and defense applications. History Yuasa In 1909, ...

of Japan, for battery manufacturing methods that could introduce defects not caught by inspection * Boeing's engineers, who failed to consider and test for worst-case battery failures * The Federal Aviation Administration, that failed to recognize the potential hazard and did not require proper tests as part of its certification process

Timeline

On January 7, 2013, a battery overheated and started a fire in an empty 787 operated by

(JAL) at Boston's

. On January 9,

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

reported a problem in one of its six 787s. The wiring was located in the same area as where the battery fire occurred on JAL's airliner; subsequently, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board opened a safety probe. On January 11, 2013, the FAA announced a comprehensive review of the 787's critical systems, including the aircraft's design, manufacture and assembly. U.S. Department of Transportation secretary

Ray LaHood Raymond H. LaHood (born December 6, 1945) is an American politician who served as the 16th United States Secretary of Transportation from 2009 to 2013 under President Barack Obama. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the ...

stated the administration was "looking for the root causes" behind the recent issues. The head of the FAA, Michael Huerta, said that nothing found so far "suggests

he 787 He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

is not safe". Japan's transport ministry also launched an investigation in response. On January 16, 2013, an

(ANA) 787 made an emergency landing at

Takamatsu Airport is a second class airport located south southwestAIS Japan
of

Shikoku Island is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), '' ...

after the flight crew received a computer warning of smoke present inside one of the electrical compartments. ANA said that there was an error message in the cockpit, citing a battery malfunction. Passengers and crew were evacuated using the emergency slides. There are no fire-suppression systems in the electrical compartments holding batteries, only smoke detectors. U.S.-based aviation regulators' oversight into the 2007 safety approval and FAA certification of the 787 came under scrutiny, as a key U.S. Senate committee prepared for a hearing into the procedures of aviation safety certification "in coming weeks". However, an FAA spokesperson defended their 2007 safety certification of the 787 by saying, "the whole aviation system is designed so that if the worst case happens, there are systems in place to prevent that from interfering with other systems on the plane." On February 12, 2013, the ''Wall Street Journal'' reported that "Aviation safety investigators are examining whether the formation of microscopic structures known as dendrites inside the Boeing Co. 787's lithium-ion batteries played a role in twin incidents that prompted the fleet to be grounded nearly a month ago." On January 14, 2014, Japan Airlines said a maintenance crew at Narita Airport discovered smoke coming from the main battery of one of its Boeing 787 jets, two hours before the plane was due to fly to Bangkok from Tokyo. Maintenance workers found smoke and unidentified liquid coming from the main battery, and alarms in the cockpit indicated faults with the power pack and its charger. The airline said no other equipment was affected by the incident. The cause was not immediately known, and the airline investigated the incident. Soon after this incident, ''The Guardian'' noted that "The .S. Federal Aviation Administrationalso launched a review of the design, manufacture, and assembly of the 787 in January last year and said its report would be released last summer, but it has so far not released the report and has not responded to questions about when it will be finished." On November 13, 2017, a United Airlines Boeing 787 had a lithium-ion battery experience overheating on approach to Charles de Gaulle Airport. A spokesman for Boeing said, "the plane experienced a fault with a single cell", adding that it was not a safety of flight issue.

Groundings

On January 16, 2013, both major Japanese airlines ANA and JAL announced that they were voluntarily grounding or suspending flights for their fleets of 787s after multiple incidents involving different 787s, including emergency landings. These two carriers operated 24 of the 50 Dreamliners delivered to that date. It was estimated the grounding could cost ANA over $1.1 million a day. On January 16, 2013, the

(FAA) issued an

emergency airworthiness directive An emergency Airworthiness Directive (EAD) is an airworthiness directive issued when an unsafe condition exists that requires immediate action by an aircraft owner or operator. EADs are published by a responsible authorities such as FOCA, EASA or F ...

ordering all U.S.-based airlines to ground their Boeing 787s until yet-to-be-determined modifications were made to the electrical system to reduce the risk of the battery overheating or catching fire. This was the first time that the FAA had grounded an airliner type since 1979. The FAA also announced plans to conduct an extensive review of the 787's critical systems. The review's focus was on the safety of the

that use

lithium cobalt oxide Lithium cobalt oxide, sometimes called lithium cobaltateA. L. Emelina, M. A. Bykov, M. L. Kovba, B. M. Senyavin, E. V. Golubina (2011), "Thermochemical properties of lithium cobaltate". ''Russian Journal of Physical Chemistry'', volume 85, issue ...

(LiCoO₂) as the positive electrode. These electrodes are known for their thermal runaway hazard and provide oxygen for a fire. The 787 battery contract was signed in 2005, when LiCoO₂ batteries were the only type of lithium aerospace battery available. Still, since then, newer and safer types (such as LiFePO₄) and LiMn₂O₄ (lithium manganate), which provide less reaction energy during

, have become available. The FAA approved a 787 battery in 2007 with nine "special conditions". A battery approved by the FAA (through Mobile Power Solutions) was made by Rose Electronics using

Kokam ''Garcinia indica'', a plant in the mangosteen family (Clusiaceae), commonly known as ''kokum'', is a fruit-bearing tree that has culinary, pharmaceutical, and industrial uses. It primarily grows in the Western Ghats, especially the Goa and Konk ...

cells, but the batteries installed in the 787 were made by Yuasa. ANA 787s grounded at HND

On January 20, the NTSB declared that overvoltage was not the cause of the Boston incident, as voltage did not exceed the battery limit of 32 V, and the charging unit passed tests. The battery had signs of

short-circuit A short circuit (sometimes abbreviated to short or s/c) is an electrical circuit that allows a current to travel along an unintended path with no or very low electrical impedance. This results in an excessive current flowing through the circuit. ...

ing and thermal runaway. Despite this, on January 24, the NTSB announced that it had not yet pinpointed the cause of the Boston fire; the FAA would not allow U.S.-based Dreamliners to fly again until the problem was found and corrected. In a press briefing that day, NTSB Chairwoman

Deborah Hersman Deborah A.P. Hersman (born May 7, 1970) is a former board member of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board who served as its 12th chairman. She completed two terms as chairman and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on October 16, 2013, for a ...

said that the NTSB had found evidence of the failure of multiple safety systems designed to prevent these battery problems and stated that fire must never happen on an aircraft. The

Japan Transport Safety Board The is Japan's authority for establishing transportation safety. It is a division of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). It is housed in the in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan. The agency formed on Octob ...

(JTSB) has said on January 23 that the battery in ANA jets in Japan reached a maximum voltage of 31 V (lower than the 32 V limit like the Boston JAL 787), but had a sudden unexplained voltage drop to near zero. All cells had signs of thermal damage before the thermal runaway. ANA and JAL had replaced several 787 batteries before the mishaps. As of January 29, 2013, JTSB approved the Yuasa factory

quality control Quality control (QC) is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. ISO 9000 defines quality control as "a part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements". This approach places ...

while the American NTSB continues to look for defects in the Boston battery. Industry experts disagreed on the consequences of the grounding: Boeing's competitor Airbus was confident that Boeing would resolve the issue and that no airlines would switch to a different type of aircraft, while other experts saw the problem as "costly" and "could take upwards of a year." Only two U.S.-based airlines operated the Dreamliner at the time – United Airlines and American Airlines. Chile's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) grounded LAN Airlines' three 787s. The Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) directed Air India to ground its six Dreamliners. The Japanese Transport Ministry made the ANA and JAL groundings official and indefinite following the FAA announcement. The

European Aviation Safety Agency The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) with responsibility for civil aviation safety. It carries out certification, regulation and standardisation and also performs investigation and monitorin ...

also followed the FAA's advice and grounded the only two European 787s operated by LOT Polish Airlines. Qatar Airways announced it was grounding its five Dreamliners. Ethiopian Air was the final operator to announce temporary groundings, of its four Dreamliners. As of January 17, 2013, all 50 of the aircraft were grounded. On January 18, Boeing announced that it was halting 787 deliveries until the battery problem was resolved. On February 4, 2013, the FAA permitted Boeing to conduct test flights of 787 aircraft to gather additional data.

Solution

The Federal Aviation Administration decided on April 19, 2013, to allow U.S. Dreamliners to return to service after changes were made to better contain fires within their battery systems. Japanese authorities announced they were doing the same for their airplanes. In 2013 concern remained that the solutions put in place by Boeing will not be able to cover the full range of possible failure modes. These include problems that may arise from poor systems integration between the engine indicating and crew alerting system (EICAS) and the battery management system. A report adopted November 21, 2014, by the National Transportation Safety Board determined that "the probable cause of this incident was an internal short circuit within a cell

ell 5 or cell 6 An ell (from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic *''alinō'', cognate with Latin ''ulna'') is a northwestern European Units of measurement, unit of measurement, originally understood as a cubit (the combined length of the forearm and exte ...

of the auxiliary power unit (APU) lithium-ion battery, which led to a thermal runaway that cascaded to adjacent cells, resulting in the release of smoke and fire. The incident resulted from Boeing's failure to incorporate design requirements to mitigate the most severe effects of an internal short circuit within an APU battery cell and the Federal Aviation Administration's failure to identify this design deficiency during the type design certification process." The report also made recommendations to the FAA, Boeing, and the battery manufacturer. The

Japan Civil Aviation Bureau The is the civil aviation authority of Japan and a division of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). Its head office is in the MLIT building in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo. It is the Japanese equivalent of the U.S. ...

was reported to have called for Boeing to redesign the battery "beyond the recommendations from two previous investigations about the 2013 battery incidents by the Japan Transportation Safety Board (JTSB) and the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)." The Boeing's enclosure had to add heavier, negating the lighter battery potential.

References

External links

Final Report on the Serious Incident to Boeing 787-8, JA804A operated by All Nippon Airways Co., LTD., at Takamatsu Airport, Japan on January 16, 2013
–

{{All Nippon Airways Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 787 Aviation accidents and incidents in Japan Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 2013 Aircraft fires 2013 in aviation Lithium-ion batteries

Timeline

Groundings

Solution

See also

References

External links