Brake glitch forces Dreamliner into emergency landing in US

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) officers during a military drill in Mombasa on May 6, 2013. They have been keeping vigil at the Coast to keep pirates at bay. Photo/LABAN WALLOGA

 

 

By AFP
 

 

In Summary

• United Flight 94 from Houston to Denver cut short trip and returned to Houston on Sunday
• This marks the latest woe to plague Boeing’s flagship plane

LOS ANGELES, Monday

A Boeing 787 Dreamliner jet was forced to make an emergency landing during an internal US flight on

Monday, due to a problem with its brake system, United Airlines said in a statement.

“United flight 94 from Houston to Denver returned to Houston Sunday due to a brake indicator issue,” the US carrier said.

“Following standard operating procedures, as a precautionary measure, the flight landed in emergency status. The aircraft landed safely at 11:58 a.m. C.T. and our maintenance team is conducting a review of the aircraft,” the statement continued.

The flight had departed nearly three hours earlier, at 9:12 am local time (0214 GMT).

A spokeswoman for Boeing, which makes the Dreamliner, said the problem with the braking system forced the plane “back to base,” without giving details of the malfunction or how long it might take to repair it.

Ms Yvonne Leach said a Boeing field service representative was on the scene in Houston to help the airline with the issue, including getting the airplane back into service and dealing with stranded passengers.

Anti-icing system

It marks the latest problem to plague Boeing’s flagship plane and at least a third one in a month.

An All Nippon Airways flight on the Dreamliner was cancelled on June 12 when an engine would not start. A day earlier, a Singapore-bound flight operated by Japan Airlines had to turn back mid-flight because of a problem with the anti-icing system.

The worldwide fleet of Dreamliners was grounded for four months earlier this year when problems were discovered with its battery systems.

A global grounding order was issued in January after lithium-ion batteries overheated on two different planes, with one of them catching fire while the aircraft was parked.

Boeing admitted in April that despite months of testing, it did not know the root cause of the problems, but rolled out modifications it said would ensure the issue did not recur.

Nevertheless, in a bid to show it was back on track after the technical issues with the jetliner, the aerospace company announced at the Paris Air Show on June 18 that it was launching a new version of the Dreamliner, with over 100 orders worth about $30 billion.

The new-generation 787-10 is bigger than its two brothers in the fuel-efficient Dreamliner family, and Singapore Airlines and ALC were its two biggest customers on Tuesday, with 30 orders each. (AF