The 787 Dreamliner has been grounded

[Pat Carry]

www.chicagotribune.com/business/breakin ... 1415.story

[cooper9411]

Yeah and it only took how many incidents?

[CAPFlyer]

3, none serious, none an actual threat to the aircraft. The FAA grounded the plane for one reason and one reason only - the APU batteries. But the only airlines that have been having incidents with them are ANA and JAL. The others have been having more "general" problems, not with the batteries themselves.

[b29flteng]

If shipping Lithium batteries is so dangerous, why were they allowed to be installed on an airplane? I'm just a dumb mechanic and not an engineer.

[bdk]

http://www.gsyuasa-lp.com/aviation-lithium-ion-markets

"...comes with battery management electronics which guarantees multiple levels of safety features."

http://seattletimes.com/html/businesste ... erxml.html

People seem to think engineering is easy. I'm sure these batteries passed all the required tests and have made it through the entire flight test program. It isn't until you actually get into commercial service that you'll gain real world experience. The A-380 really didn't have any new technology, yet they are experiencing airframe cracking. It is all part of the game!

[The Inspector]

Sidebar question and comment,

Show of hands, who's ever had to deal with an installed aircraft Ni-Cad that's going into 'thermal runaway'? not a fun challenge because it's you and a very hot, sizzling 95 lb. box of chemicals in a very tiny space until you can get it out and into a tub of water hoping it won't explode or light off in your face.

The L/I batteries are built by YUASA in Japan so you know they are 'ON IT'

[jtramo]

I have.....had an indication that turned out to be false thankfully. Goes off at 70C in the EMB145, which is pretty much thermal runaway and fire. I asked our mx guru and he said we get overtemps all the time but nothing in the dangerous range. I just assume when the indication goes off we are probably on fire or seconds away if you dont deselect it.

[The Inspector]

Focus is starting to turn to the charging systems programming and battery power levels analysis by that software. The Boston battery was depleted somewhat from starting the APU and the charging system onboard may not have disconnected the ground power from the ground service bus and hot battery bus circuits.

CESSNA toasted an undelivered CJ4 at their completion center in Witchita and has issued a letter to the operators of CJ4's cautioning them to 'not connect a ground power unit to the airplane if you have reason to believe the battery may be in a depleted state.......DO NOT leave the aircraft unattended with a ground power unit connected'.

To witness a lab demo of an overheated laptop Li/i battery go to www.pitstoppc.com/pcsafety and mentally scale up from a laptop battery to a 64 lb 32 V airplane battery.

[bdk]

Linky no worky Inspector!

[The Inspector]

Linky no worky Inspector!

Accursed dancing digit of destiny once again!!!
www.pitstop.com/pcsafety

[The Inspector]

The New York Times reports in it's Jan. 26, 2013 edition that YUASAs management and it's relationships with the Government and it's officials are starting to be looked into.
YUASA was about on it's lips when the Japanese government started looking for a supplier to Boeing for a very lucrative contract to develop and build the batteries for the airplane, and may have done some serious 'nudging' of Boeing towards YUASA in direct violation of WTO rules. The management of YUASA and members of the government all went to school together.
I wonder when it will start raining executives around YUASA headquarters.

[The Inspector]

No issues apparently found with YUASA or with the manufacturer of the charging system so now the focus is on the battery monitoring system makers.

[bdk]

Beat "The Inspector" to it!

Boeing asks FAA for OK to begin 787 Dreamliner test flights
Los Angeles Times 02/05/2013
Author: W.J. Hennigan
Copyright 2010 The Los Angeles Times

Aerospace giant Boeing Co. has asked the Federal Aviation Administration to let it begin test flights on its grounded 787 Dreamliner passenger jet.

The new plane has been grounded since Jan. 16 by the FAA because of numerous incidents and high-profile fires involving the onboard lithium-ion batteries. Investigators around the world are looking into the matter.

The company disclosed its request for in-flight testing Monday in an email.

“Boeing has submitted an application to conduct test flights, and it is currently under evaluation by the FAA,” said Marc Birtel, a company spokesman, who would not comment further.

The FAA is reportedly looking into Boeing request, but would not comment.

The 787's battery systems were called into question Jan. 7 when a smoldering fire was discovered on the underbelly of a Dreamliner in Boston operated by Japan Airlines after the 183 passengers and 11 crew members had deplaned at the gate.

The National Transportation Safety Board is examining what went wrong. On Friday, the NTSB released its seventh update on the investigation into the lithium-ion battery systems. It said it has begun CT scanning the battery cells to examine their internal condition.

In addition, the NTSB disclosed that a battery expert from the Department of Energy joined the investigative team to lend additional expertise to ongoing testing.

In a separate incident Jan. 16 involving a 787 operated by All Nippon Airways in southwestern Japan, smoke was seen swirling from the right side of the cockpit after an emergency landing related to the plane's electrical systems. All 137 passengers and crew members were evacuated from the aircraft and slid down the 787's emergency slides.

The Japan Transport Safety Board, the country's version of the NTSB, is heading the investigation into All Nippon's emergency landing and reported fire.

No passengers or crew members were reported injured in the incidents. But the recent events have become a public relations nightmare for Boeing, which has long heralded the Dreamliner as a forerunner of 21st century air travel.

The 787, a twin-aisle aircraft that can seat 210 to 290 passengers, is the first large commercial jet with more than half its structure made of composite materials rather than aluminum sheets. It's also the first large commercial aircraft that extensively uses electrically powered systems involving lithium-ion batteries.

Boeing's lithium-ion batteries are made in Japan by Kyoto-based GS Yuasa Corp.

[The Inspector]

Thanks BDK, I hadn't seen that yet, been out having fluids, filters changed and tires being rotated all morning on the JEEP.
I'm just hopeful a true issue is found and addressed to get the airplanes back in the air very soon, and hopefully before SPEEA hits the bricks.

[bdk]

Boy, isn't that the truth!