US federal agency orders to ground all Dreamliners

, Jan 16: The Federal

Administration (FAA) in the

on Wednesday ordered all US-based airlines to ground the Boeing 747, popularly called the Dreamliner, due to safety hazard. The FAA took the decision due to a flurry of problems and emergency landings of the

in Japan.

As many as 50 Dreamliners are in operation at the moment and all of them will be grounded until the battery conditions are proved to be safe.

The FAA's move came just hours after All Nippon and Japan Airlines, two of Japan's biggest airlines, grounded their fleet of Dreamliners. An All Nippon flight had to be brought down on Wednesday after emergency warnings were aired due to a battery problem and indication of smoke. Later, experts found inflammable liquid leakage from the main lithium-ion battery.

On Jan 11, the FAA announced that it would conduct a thorough checking of the Boeing 787 after a few electrical mishaps were reported. Four days prior to that, a fuel leakage problem was reported on a Japan Airlines flight while a fire was ignited in the battery pack of an auxiliary power unit of a JAL 787 flight in Boston.

Air India, which is among those few Asian airlines that boast of the Boeing 787, also grounded six Dreamliners, sources said.

OneIndia News