Dreamliner jets to be reviewed for safety

There are no plans at present to ground the Boeing 787 Dreamliner planes of Air India, though the aviation regulatorDGCA proposes to carry out a safety review of the new aircraft, sources from DGCA said.

"There are no plans to ground the Dreamliner right now," a senior civil aviation ministry official said when asked about the technical glitches some of these planes have faced in the recent past.

The comment came hours after two Japanese airlines — ANA ( All Nippon Airways) and JAL( Japan Airlines)--grounded all 24 of their Dreamliner planes following a series of technical problems.

“As of now, the grounding of Dreamliner planes has been done by airlines only and not the regulator. We would take a call only after we get the report from Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). However, it is on Air India to decide about the grounding of the plane,” said a top official from DGCA.

DGCA has also formed a small team and are having a discussion with Boeing as well as with Air India and working out the basic problems to the basic electrical system. Boeing is also expected to come out with a report today.

A senior official from DGCA said, "We're going to have tele-conferencing with Boeing engineers. We have already had one discussion with Boeing on this. We're trying to ascertain the problems, and if there's anything to be done."

We are in consultation with Boeing and Air India. Boeing will be giving us an update on the electrical problems some of these planes have suffered.However, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) would conduct a safety review of the aircraft currently with Air India, depending on the feedback from the manufacturer and the airline, the official said.

Air India has ordered 27 B-787s and six of them have been delivered so far. Earlier, official sources had said Air India and the Civil Aviation Ministry would await the findings of the US Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) probe into the problems faced by Boeing 787s before taking any decision.

The American aircraft maker had last Friday jointly announced investigations with FAA after three of these aircraft owned by the Japanese carriers suffered glitches this month -- an electrical fire, fuel leakage and a broken cockpit window.

"There is nothing to be done by us at present. We have already carried out inspections and checks on our aircraft on our own, including the lithium ion batteries," a senior Air India official said, adding, "We are awaiting advice from the FAA and the Boeing." Aerospace experts say these batteries are used on the F- 22 and F-35 fighter aircraft, the International Space Station, battery-powered cars like Tesla and Chevy Volt, apart from the high-tech Dreamliners.

http://business-standard.com/india/news/dreamliner-jets-to-be-reviewed-for-safety-/499072/