UK investigators: Disable locator beacon on Boeing 787s
Jul 18, 2013, 8:35 AM | Updated: 5:54 pm
It could be another battery problem for the Boeing Dreamliner – this time it’s in the emergency locator transmitter.
U.K. air accident investigators are recommending that all Honeywell emergency transmitters should be temporarily disabled on Boeing 787s following a fire last week at London’s Heathrow Airport.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch said Thursday that the greatest damage to the parked Ethiopian Airlines Dreamliner occurred in the vicinity of the aircraft’s emergency locator transmitter.
The transmitter is used in the event of an airplane crash and sends signals so that search and rescue can find it.
Investigators said it was not clear if the fire was caused by the transmitter’s batteries or a short near or around the transmitter, but recommended that the Federal Aviation Administration disable Honeywell’s transmitters in Boeing 787s “until appropriate airworthiness actions” can be carried out.
Investigators also recommended that the FAA and other regulators carry out a safety review of lithium-battery powered transmitters in other types of aircrafts.
“It has nothing to do with the system that was fixed by Boeing with their new design and their new recertification,” explains CBS aviation safety analyst and former NTSB chairman Mark Rosenker. “This is just a different issue and clearly Boeing and Honeywell are going to work together to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
Boeing released a statement saying they support the move. Boeing also says they stand behind the overall integrity of the 787.
