Heathrow closed after plane fire (Dreamliner)

Runways at London's Heathrow airport have closed after an incident involving an Ethiopian Airlines jet. Arrivals and departures have been suspended, a spokesman for the airport said. Pictures on Twitter show an aircraft close to a terminal building surrounded by fire vehicles.

www.bbc.co.uk...

Various photo's up on Twitter at the moment, but the story is just breaking. Claims at the moment are that this is another Dreamliner that is reputedly on fire. (yet more battery problems?) Boeing's got problems if this is the case?

They have the fire under control and it was empty at the time of the fire, Its thought the fire was to the rear of the aircraft.

Looks like a overheating issue

The BBC's twitter feed has now stated

@BBCBreaking Plane on fire at Heathrow airport was first 787Dreamliner to resume flights after grounding due to battery fires

So confirms it was a dreamliner

Just saw this on BBC news site, and noticed the train crash in Paris. Both happened around the same time and whilst there is no connection in the news, wondering if they are perhaps related. Maybe after investigations they might find some evidence . . . or maybe not :/

This will kill the Dreamliner.

reply to post by solidshot


It's possible this is an APU issue too. They recently said that the APU was overheating as well. It's located in the rear near the batteries.

Most likely totally unrelated? but another report has just popped up on twitter stating

2nd Boeing 787 operated by Thomson bound for USA has returned to Manchester Airport after takeoff reason unknown

Burn marks.




twitter.com...

reply to post by solidshot


They were in a holding pattern right about the time that the fire broke out. It could be they developed their own problem, or their company heard about the fire, and told them to return, just to be safe. Better safe than sorry.

If the burn marks are showing how easy will they be to repair? Is the fuselage not one carbon tube? Can they patch a section in without affecting the structural integrity? or would this entail a whole new fuselage section having to be installed?

reply to post by C0bzz


That's not battery related. IIRC the batteries are in the lower electronics hold, not near the top. So either the batteries really got burning, and no one noticed the smoke, and it spread, or there's another problem in the wiring near the top of the fuselage.

reply to post by solidshot


I'm sure they have a fix, or will come up with one. They had to come up with a range of fixes, including damage to the outer skin of the fuselage.

The burned area is right above the galley:

www.seatguru.com...

However, obviously they wouldn't be cooking food 4 hours before the next flight in the galley itself.

reply to post by C0bzz


No, but it could be in the galley wiring, or it could be an input for the APU. I'm thinking it might be APU, usually the intake, or exhaust for the APU are right in front of the tail.

reply to post by solidshot


Thomson is reporting an unspecified technical fault, and a return for precautionary measures.

Based on news photos from the runway at London’s Heathrow Airport, the fire aboard an Ethiopian Airlines 787 Friday doesn’t appear to be related to battery malfunction, said Scott Hamilton, an aviation analyst at Leeham News in Issaquah.

Because the images show fire damage in the upper fuselage, in front of the tail, Hamilton said he suspects the fire wasn’t caused by a faulty battery, which is down in the cargo bay area of the plane.

“What it doesn’t look like is that it’s a battery, and that’s the important part,” he said. With all the issues that have plagued the 787 Dreamliner recently, if it were battery-related, “that would almost certainly put the plane back on the ground again.”

seattletimes.com...

The burn marks are also directly above the crew rest area:

www.boeing.com...

What I wanna know is where the APU fuel supply routes through there.....and then the mandatory how close to the wiring with amperage is located....Boeing rules~~by the way~~~
Be like me, fly nothing else and nothing smaller than a 757

Above power distribution unit.



src: 787updates.newairplane.com...

When did Boeing get in the business of making toasters?