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787 Dreamliner On Fire Again

Posted by Soulskill on from the hot-topic dept.

Antipater writes "It looks like there's more trouble afoot for Boeing's 787 Dreamliner: London's Heathrow Airport was shut down for over an hour as fire crews attended to a 'suspected fire' on a Dreamliner owned by Ethiopia Airlines. 'Aerial pictures of the scene on the U.K.'s Sky News showed the new plane — which was not carrying passengers at the time — had been sprayed by foam, but there were no signs of fire. The aircraft was not blocking either runway, but with all the airport's fire crews tackling the Boeing 787 incident, authorities were forced to suspend departures and arrivals because of safety rules.'"

10 of 246 comments (clear)

  1. Airbus CEO was on hand for a comment by Qzukk · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Well, I was pretty sure I smelled smoke!"

    --
    If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
    1. Re:Airbus CEO was on hand for a comment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      http://media.mcclatchydc.com/smedia/2013/01/17/00/23/XsZ5c.La.91.jpg

  2. One system to rule them all... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sad how one badly designed subsystem can take down an entire product.

    1. Re:One system to rule them all... by sjames · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually it's a good design. They could have remained open and at full capacity during this incident BUT since the fire crews and equipment were busy, their policy is to shut down to avoid the risk of a second incident and no way to respond to it.

      Since fires and other rescue situations aren't terribly common, the fire crew is just standing by most of the time. Having 1 crew standing by most of the time and another nearly all of the time wouldn't be very practical.

  3. Whistleblower vindicated again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Whistleblower Michael Leon warned of this in 2006:

    http://www.cnbc.com/id/100406310

    And for that he was terminated and his career ruined. Too bad management never wants to listen.

    1. Re:Whistleblower vindicated again by istartedi · · Score: 5, Funny

      I have a fantastic plan to sell little electronic fingers that you put in your ears. They have speakers in them and play, "La-la-la-la-la...". What? Not a sound business model? I can't hear you.

      --
      For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
  4. there were no signs of fire ... wrong by BemoanAndMoan · · Score: 5, Informative

    Sky News showed the new plane — which was not carrying passengers at the time — had been sprayed by foam, but there were no signs of fire.

    But there is! Scorch marks on the roof in front of the tail section.

    Check it here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23295115 [bbc video feed]

  5. Re:Obviously caused by Ethiopian cultural attitude by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Informative

    towards fire. Don't put that out! It contains the soul of the fire god. Our tribal elders forbid it.

    Ethiopia has been a Christian nation since the 1st century A.D. That was several centuries before Europeans stopped worshiping their "fire gods", like Vulcan, Surtr, and Thor.

  6. Re:Obviously caused by Ethiopian cultural attitude by PRMan · · Score: 5, Informative

    They trace their Christian heritage to the Ethopian that rode in his chariot while Philip in the Bible: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%208:26-40

    --
    Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
  7. Re:Ethiopia Airlines by xaxa · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Odds that they didn't install the battery fix?

    Nil? Would they be allowed to fly within the EU if they hadn't?