The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said Friday it will conduct a comprehensive review of Chicago-based Boeing's new 787's critical systems but transportation officials supported Boeing, saying the plane is safe.
"We believe this is a safe aircraft," said Federal Aviation Administrator Michael Huerta, adding that a priority in the review will be the plane's electrical problem. He said he would not speculate on how long the review would take.
The announcement comes amid yet more reports Friday of problems with the highly anticipated "Dreamliner" jet, including a cracked cockpit window and another oil leak on a Japanese carrier. They add to a rash of other reported problems this week, the most serious of which was a battery fire on a parked 787 in Boston that's under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The plane model is in use in Chicago for temporary United Airlines flights between Chicago O'Hare and Houston, and Chicago-based United has five other 787s in service domestically.
And next week, LOT Polish Airlines plans to begin operating the region's first regular flight on a 787 between O'Hare and Warsaw, Poland. All told, Boeing has delivered 50 Dreamliners to customers around the world.
Aviation experts have said the planes are safe and that glitches are common on new models of planes, especially ones as revolutionary as the 787, which uses mostly composite materials instead of metals to create an aircraft that's more lighter, more fuel-efficient and more comfortable for passengers.
However, other observers have said the concentration of problems in a short period and the media attention they garner is damaging the reputation of Boeing, which was already under scrutiny for delivering the Dreamliner to customers more than three years late. The plane's list price is about $207 million.
The latest problems came Friday, when Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways said a domestic flight from Tokyo landed safely at Matsuyama airport in western Japan after a crack developed on the cockpit windscreen, and the plane's return to Tokyo was cancelled.
"Cracks appear a few times every year in other planes. We don't see this as a sign of a fundamental problem" with Boeing aircraft, a spokesman for the airline said. The same airline later on Friday said oil was found leaking from an engine of a 787 Dreamliner after the plane landed at Miyazaki airport in southern Japan.
An airline spokeswoman said it later returned to Tokyo after some delay. No one was injured in either incident.
Boeing attempted to address some of the problems during a news conference earlier this week when the 787's chief project engineer said the company has "extreme confidence" in the 787 and that the "teething pain" problems are similar to those of the successful Boeing 777. "I am 100 percent convinced that the airplane is safe to fly," said Mike Sinnett, Boeing's chief project engineer said.
gkarp@tribune.com
Reuters contributed
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U.S. orders review of Dreamliner amid 2 more mishaps in Japan
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U.S. orders review of Dreamliner amid 2 more mishaps in Japan
