Japan Airlines Reports Malfunction in Boeing 787 Battery: Cause Isn't Determined for Smoke Seen at Parked Jet in Tokyo

The Wall Street Journal 

By  Jon Ostrower and Phred Dvorak

Updated Jan. 14, 2014 7:27 p.m. ET

Japan Airlines Co. reported a battery malfunction on a Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner parked at Narita Airport in Tokyo, a year after the advanced jetliner was grounded world-wide for battery problems.

JAL said white smoke was detected Tuesday at around 4:15 p.m. Tokyo time by a mechanic who was checking the cockpit before the plane was to depart for Bangkok that evening. The mechanic saw the smoke just outside the window and it was gone by the time the person went outside to check.

A check of cockpit displays soon after showed signs of problems in the main battery and its charger, JAL said. When the battery was checked, the mechanic found that a relief port had vented on one of the eight lithium-ion cells that are contained in each battery and that liquid had sprayed inside the battery container.

JAL and Boeing said they were looking into the cause of the incident. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said it was working with Boeing and the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau to investigate. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said it was ready to assist Japanese authorities.

Boeing said it had notified other airlines that operate the 787 but hadn't advised them to take any action. Other carriers, including United Continental Holdings Inc., the only U.S. operator of the aircraft, continued to fly their Dreamliners on Tuesday.

Tuesday's incident came almost a year after the Jan. 16, 2013, grounding of the 787 fleet in response to burning lithium-ion batteries on two 787s, one operated by JAL and the other by ANA Holdings Inc.  The Japanese carriers are the biggest operators of the Dreamliner.The global 787 fleet was cleared to return to service 3½ months later, after Boeing designed modifications to the jet's battery systems, including developing a containment box and a venting system in case batteries fail.

While the cause of the latest incident wasn't clear, Boeing said the "improvements made to the 787 battery system last year appear to have worked as designed." The company didn't elaborate.

Investors reacted with relative calm. Boeing's shares fell 69 cents to close Tuesday at $140.01 each. The shares still traded near record highs after gaining more than 80% last year. JAL shares rose slightly in Tokyo on Tuesday.

The number of 787s in operation world-wide has more than doubled from the 50 in service when the plane was grounded. Tuesday's incident was the first known failure of the jet's electrical-system batteries since the 787 returned to service.

Hans Weber, president of consulting firm Tecop International Inc., which has worked for Boeing and Airbus Group, said Tuesday's incident was unlikely to spur significant new regulatory action.

Mr. Weber said all components on an aircraft have the possibility of failure during operation, and the key point was that measures put in place by Boeing appeared to have contained the battery failure.Investigators are likely to focus in part on whether the suspect battery on Tuesday was newly manufactured or simply refurbished after last year's grounding, air-safety experts said. Since Tuesday's incident happened relatively soon after fixes to the fleet were completed, the event also could affect FAA conclusions about the likelihood of additional battery-cell failures.

In last year's incidents, failures in individual cells cascaded across the others inside the batteries. As part of its modifications, Boeing and battery maker GS Yuasa Corp.  increased the separation between the cells to limit the propagation of cell failures.

Investigators still haven't pinpointed exactly what caused last year's incidents. The NTSB said last week that it would wrap up its investigation in March and expected to have a complete report by autumn.

A spokesman for JAL in Tokyo said that it had removed the affected battery unit early Wednesday and was in the process of replacing it. He said that "if no problems are found, we will consider resuming service on the affected aircraft." He said that all of the other Boeing 787s were operating normally. JAL has 13 of the aircraft overall.

A spokesman for All Nippon Airways said that it was operating its fleet of 23 Boeing 787s now in service normally. He said there were no plans to perform any special checks because of the JAL incident, noting that checks on the batteries are conducted before each flight. He said the carrier had not received any special directions for new procedures from Boeing or Japan's safety regulators.

A spokeswoman at GS Yuasa said it was cooperating with Boeing and JAL to determine the cause of the problem in the latest incident and couldn't comment further.

Boeing said it regretted any impact to the airline and was working to return the jet to service.

—Andy Pasztor and Hiroyuki Kachi contributed to this article. 

Source:   http://online.wsj.com