Boeing's Dreamliner Faces Probe After Fire, Brake Scare

NTSB gets nervous after Japan Airways incident
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 9, 2013 9:03 AM CST
Boeing's Dreamliner Faces Probe After Fire, Brake Scare
A Japan Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner jet is surrounded by emergency vehicles while parked at a terminal E gate at Logan Airport in Boston as a fire chief looks into the cargo hold, Jan. 7, 2013.   (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is having a really nightmarish week. Air safety officials launched a formal probe into the long-delayed plane yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reports, after a series of safety scares. First, a fire broke out aboard an empty Japan Airlines 787 at Boston's Logan Airport on Monday. Then yesterday, another Japan Airlines jet in Boston had to return to the gate due to a fuel leak, and another airline found a flaw in the jet's wiring.

Things got even worse today, as All Nippon Airways grounded one of its 787s after discovering a glitch in the system controlling its brakes. The problems come as Boeing prepares to double its production of the jet. While most new aircraft have issues in their early months on the market, the National Transportation Safety Board is right to be worried, a former chairman says. "We're not talking about the seats not being comfortable. These are safety issues, which need to be addressed." (More Boeing 787 Dreamliner stories.)

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