The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is the company’s pride and joy, but this state of the art aircraft hasn’t been able to take to the skies without drama. Last year the plane was grounded globally for over four months after a series of battery related fires that warranted a redesign of the entire system. It appears that the Boeing 787 battery issues might have emerged once again. Earlier today a Japan Airlines 787 Dreamliner was temporarily grounded after white smoke was spotted outside the plane, and the warning lights in the cockpit indicated that there might be a fault with the main battery and charger. According to reports, one battery cell might even have leaked.
It has almost exactly been an year since Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways grounded their 787 fleets after batteries on two separate aircrafts overheated in under two weeks. The global fleet was grounded on January 16th 2013 and didn’t take off for at least three months as Boeing redesigned the battery system. Boeing has confirmed that it is “aware” of the issue that occurred earlier today, according to the company it appears to have involved the “venting of a single battery cell.” Only a detailed investigation will reveal what the cause of the latest incident is, if it is widespread, Boeing’s second consecutive new year won’t be off to a good start.
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