AAIB Report Confirms 2013’s 787 Fire would’ve Been Challenging to Put out Mid-Flight

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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A report issued by the Britain’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch on Wednesday has confirmed that a fire on an empty Boeing Co. Dreamliner at London’s Heathrow Airport in 2013 would have posed a serious risk to the Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise jet in case it had ignited during a flight. The agency predicted that the cabin crew would have failed to locate and extinguish the blaze in the 787’s emergency locater transmitter.

The agency found out that the fire was caused by short-circuit led by crossed wires ignited the 787’s lithium battery, with resin within the model’s composite hull fueling the flames. The AAIB confirmed that the transmitter manufacturer, Honeywell International Inc., is redesigning the unit and taking other safety steps along with Boeing and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. The report pointed out that since Heathrow’s specialist fire services found it very difficult to locate the origin of the blaze in the top of the 787’s interior fuselage, it would have been very “challenging” for crew in-flight.

Conclusively, the report made fourteen safety recommendations in result of the investigation. In response to the recommendations, regulators in the U.S., Canada, Japan and Europe have requested that airlines check jets made by Boeing, Airbus Group SE and some other manufacturers for wiring faults in emergency beacons following the incident. Earlier, the 787 was grounded for three months the same year amid concerns over battery fires. The Dreamliner model has grown popular and received more than 1,000 orders because it offers airlines lower fuel consumption.