Boeing plans to keep its B787 test fleet grounded for the present as it continues to “better understand the cause of the incident” on the test aircraft forced to make an emergency landing in Texas on Nov 9 after an electrical fire.
Boeing also confirms that the Model aircraft ZA002, which was conducting tests of the Nitrogen Generation System (NGS), lost primary electrical power as a result of the fire which occurred behind a power control panel in the aft electronics bay. “Backup systems, including the deployment of the Ram Air Turbine (RAT), functioned as expected and allowed the crew to complete a safe landing. The cause of the fire is still under investigation by Boeing,” says the company.
“The pilots executed a safe landing and at all times had positive control of the airplane and all of the information necessary to perform that safe landing,” it adds. Following overnight inspections, the Boeing evaluation crew says “…initial inspection appears to indicate that a power control panel in the aft electronics bay will need to be replaced on ZA002. We are inspecting the power panel and surrounding area near that panel to determine if other repairs will be necessary.”
Data analysis is continuing and Boeing adds the evaluation “will take several days. We are committed to finding the cause quickly but will not rush the technical team in its efforts.” It adds that although the NGS was under evaluation at the time “..there is no reason to suspect that the monitoring or earlier testing of that system had anything to do with the incident.”
While the investigation continues Boeing says “..we have decided to postpone flight test activities on other airplanes. Ground test activities will be conducted until flight test resumes. Likewise, we cannot determine the impact of this event on the overall program schedule until we have worked our way through the data. Teams have been working through the night and will continue to work until analysis is complete and a path forward is determined.”
-------------------------------
Read more Aviation News http://www.aviationweek.com
View Model Aircraft
No comments:
Post a Comment