Dreamliner turns nightmare

Aircraft problems include cracked windscreen

BOEING Company’s 787 Dreamliner jet suffered a cracked cockpit window and an oil leak on separate flights in Japan yesterday.

These are the latest in a series of incidents to test confidence in the sophisticated new aircraft.

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.

The same airline later said oil was found leaking from an engine of a 787 Dreamliner after the plane landed at Miyazaki airport.

The Dreamliner, the world’s first carbon-composite airliner, has been beset by problems this week, with US regulators also raising questions about the plane’s reliability on long transocean routes.

The 787 Dreamliner made its first commercial flight in late 2011, after a series of production delays put deliveries more than three years behind schedule. By the end of last year, Boeing had sold 848 Dreamliners, and delivered 49.

Earlier this week, a battery fire caused damage to an empty 787 jet operated by Japan Airlines while it was on the ground at Boston airport. The next day, another JAL 787 spilled 150 litres of fuel onto the taxiway at the same airport.

On Wednesday, ANA cancelled a domestic Dreamliner flight due to a brake-control computer glitch.

One of Boeing’s chief innovations with the 787 is its use of electrical power to run on-board functions such as hydraulics and air-conditioning, instead of relying on heavier pneumatic systems used on other planes. The weight savings make the 787 more fuel efficient, a big advantage for airlines battling high jet fuel costs.

To power the electrical system, the 787 uses generators attached to the plane’s engines, which produce about 1,5 megawatts of power, enough to power about 300 hotwater heaters.

The system uses high-voltage distribution panels and powerful batteries, such as the one that caught fire in Boston. — Reuters