Days after the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) issued a warning about certain versions of the popular Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s brakes and steering functions, worrying news from aircraft major Boeing still doesn’t seem to be ending.
The American regulator wants ‘unsafe conditions’ on these planes to be addressed in this directive that is effective from Thursday. However, Boeing says these issues have already been resolved.
“We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 airplanes. This was prompted by a determination that certain areas in the tire/wheel threat zones could be susceptible to damage, which could result in loss of braking on one main landing gear (MLG) truck, loss of nose wheel steering, and loss of directional control on the ground when below rudder effectiveness speed,” the FAA said in an AD issued on May 2, 2019.
Among Indian carriers, Air India has 27 B787-8 and Vistara will start getting six of the ordered B787-9 from next January. Over 70 big international airlines like Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways and British Airways use this aircraft and many of them operate it on India routes. Boeing has so far assembled and delivered 829 B787 versions to customers and has a backlog of 584 orders for this aircraft.
The US regulator estimate(s) that this AD affects 87 airplanes of US registry (which means flying with American airlines). However, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Air India (AI) have swung into action. A senior DGCA official said information is being sought from FAA.
Whereas, a senior AI official said: “It is being ascertained if this AD is applicable to the Dreamliners in our fleet.” Another official said AI expects to get this “information by Thursday morning.”
“This AD requires installing hydraulic tubing, a pressure-operated check valve, and new flight control software. We are issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products. This AD is effective June 6, 2019,” the FAA directive added.
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A Boeing spokesperson said: “This issue has been long since resolved with system improvements that have been incorporated into production for all 787 models. Boeing works closely with FAA to monitor the fleet for potential safety issues and take appropriate actions. This is an ongoing and continuous process.”
These new doubts about the safety of B787 have come at a time when over 300 Boeing 737 Max are grounded globally since mid-March following two crashes within five months that claimed 346 lives.