Boeing Co.'s new 787 Dreamliners must undergo inspections in the United States after discovery of fuel leaks traced to a manufacturing flaw at Boeing plants.
The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday issued a safety order that requires inspection of fuel line couplings in the engine pylons to make sure they are correctly assembled and installed, the FAA said. The order "makes mandatory inspections already recommended by Boeing," the Chicago-based company said.
The order applies to just three airplanes in the U.S. because Chicago-based United Airlines is the only domestic carrier to operate the aircraft and has only in recent months begun to take its first deliveries of the new planes from Boeing. The Dreamliner is touted as offering greater passenger comforts and better fuel efficiency, largely due to far more use of lighter composite materials than metals.
The FAA order is unrelated to a an issue Tuesday when a United Airlines 787 with 184 people aboard was forced to make an emergency landing in New Orleans after experiencing a mechanical problem on a flight from Houston to Newark, N.J. Boeing and United say they are investigating the nature of that problem.
The mechanical issues constitute a twin blow this week to Boeing, which was dogged by production problems that delayed delivery of the 787 for 3-1/2 years.
While it's understandable that mechanical problems on a new plane -- especially one as highly touted as the Dreamliner -- will garner notice, such issues are not unusual, said Aaron Gellman, professor of transportation at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
"New airplanes always have glitches, always," Gellman said. "There's never an occasion that I know of where a new airplane didn't have some problems associated with its introduction."
The description of the fuel leak problem made this issue sound "relatively easy to fix," he said. "It's probably not something that needs to be worried about."
Such problems are why airlines, such as United, keep new planes on domestic routes before putting them into service on international routes, Gellman said.
Still, Boeing will view the setback as damage to its reputation, already tarnished by the extremely late delivery of the Dreamliner, he said.
While United is the only U.S. operator of the 787, another 33 are in service with foreign operators. Two Japanese airlines, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways, took some of the earliest deliveries of 787s and both found and repaired the fuel-leak problem, Bloomberg News reported.
The fuel leaks were due to the improper assembly of the couplings at Boeing factories, the FAA said. The 787-8 has one rigid coupling and one flexible coupling per engine for a total of four per airplane.
"We are issuing this (directive) to detect and correct improperly assembled couplings, which could result in fuel leaks and consequent fuel exhaustion, engine power loss or shutdown, or leaks on hot engine parts that could lead to a fire," the FAA directive says, adding that the unsafe condition is likely to "to exist or develop in other products of the same type design."
Boeing also said that improperly installed fuel line connectors could lead to fuel leaks, loss of engine power or fire. But it said there were "multiple layers of systems to ensure none of those things happen."
The repair is estimated to cost $2,712 per plane, the FAA said.
The safety order, known as an airworthiness directive, requires operators to inspect for correctly installed lockwires on the engine fuel line couplings within seven days of its publication. Within 21 days, operators must inspect the couplings to verify they have been assembled correctly.
Boeing advised airlines flying the 787 to make inspections last month, and it said about half of the 33 jets in service have already been inspected.
Reuters contributed to this story.
gkarp@tribune.com
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