Ethiopian Dreamliner on fire at Heathrow

Breaking on BBC no link yet.

*Edit link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23294760

Much to early to speculate, but by heck, I hope Boeing fixes the nightmareliner before they join the VS fleet.

[Darren Wheeler]

VS1 is holding just off the runway on taxi.

Hopefully normality will soon restore. Being reported as a 788.

[buns]

VS1 is holding just off the runway on taxi.

Hopefully normality will soon restore. Being reported as a 788.

Hope that all gets back to normal soon and that everyone involved is safe

buns

Hope that all gets back to normal soon and that everyone involved is safe

buns

Reported the plane arrived this morning and was towed to a remote stand until the evening departure - so no one on board. Conveniently parked next to the fire station ... it'll be standard to suspend operations while the fire crews deal with things, once they're back to the station flights should resume.

I suspect hearts are pounding at Boeing HQ.

Wondered why it had gone quiet overhead here

[Darren Wheeler]

Looking at the live coverage, it 'looks' to be some form of scorching on the fuselage just before the tail, over L4.

If it is heat damage, that is really bad news for Boeing.

Couple of VS flights holding over Dover at the moment - VS 301 and VS 251...

[Darren Wheeler]

Confirmed by Heathrow as a fire on-board. No injuries reported.

Also reports of a Thomson 787 having to return earlier today. Not a good day for Everett.

Not a good at all, Thomson circled for an hour before retuning to Manchester.

That's heat damage in front of the vertical stabiliser. Could be several things that caused it.

[Darren Wheeler]

Watching Planefinder.net I can see planes taking off and landing now

Yup re-opened a few mins ago. It is parked at T5D as it always is during the day, near the A380s and the fuel farm.

[Darren Wheeler]

Is the damage right above the rearmost galley?

Is the damage right above the rearmost galley?

Maybe slightly in front?
Nice picture here
http://twitter.com/raisinganchor/status ... 44/photo/1

The damage at the rear doesn't seem to be in line with the battery location. Be interesting to find out what it was. Some other electrical fault, or someone left a heater or oven on.

How do you repair that kind of damage to a composite fuselage?

Just saw in the FT that the airline is saying there was a fault with the aircon causing sparks.

[Darren Wheeler]

AAIB saying no evidence that batteries directly linked to fire.

http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cf ... elease.pdf

A photo on daily mail seems to have a jet bridge photoshopped in...

If you have a look at the cut away diagram of the 787 on the link, it appears number 44 is a 6 berth crew rest area which I think is in the general location of the fire.

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/je ... cs02.shtml

[Darren Wheeler]

It's not confirmed yet, but a couple of posters on PPrune say the Ethiopian 787's don't have a crew rest area fitted.

Ah maybe not a sneaky cigarette fire then.

Thanks

How do you repair that kind of damage to a composite fuselage?

good point. I presume araldite would be no good.

Interesting paper here:
http://aerosociety.com/Assets/Docs/Publ ... __2013.pdf
That is relevant on two topics; both Lion batteries and composite materials in fires.
The precautions necessary for fire fighting with composites makes sobering reading.

We should expect more care taken with batteries carried by pax. The figures given (500 Li batteries with 100 pax.) will concentrate the mind.

We still do not know if the damage to the "Bin-liner" was caused primarily by the ELT battery or whether it just contributed when overheated due to another excessive heat source.

Whatever the eventual outcome of the Inquiry, this must be of concern to VS management. They will not want another procurement issue like the UCS. The number of nervous Thomson customers (reportedly over 100) ringing cancellations following 787 incidents will have caught their attention and the drip, drip of bad publicity for the 787 keeps bad news in the public mind.

[Darren Wheeler]

The AAIB interim report has now been released.

http://www.aaib.gov.uk/publications/spe ... et_aop.cfm

The Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) has been identified as the cause of the fire.

Sounds like the heat (pardon the pun) is now off Boeing and onto Honeywell.