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Boeing 787 Hit By Two More Mishaps 

In Japan

January 11, 2013

Boeing's 787 Dreamliner suffered a cracked cockpit window and an oil leak on separate flights in Japan on Friday - the latest in a series of incidents testing confidence in the sophisticated new aircraft.

All Nippon Airways said a domestic flight from Tokyo landed safely at Matsuyama airport in western Japan after a crack developed on the cockpit windscreen, and the plane's return to Tokyo was cancelled.

The same airline later said oil was found leaking from an engine of a 787 after the plane landed at Miyazaki airport in southern Japan. An airline spokeswoman said it later returned to Tokyo after some delay. No one was injured in either incident.

The world's first carbon-composite airliner, which has a list price of USD$207 million, has been beset by problems this week. Some analysts say these are normal teething issues as a new plane enters service under close scrutiny. Others say the incidents could erode public confidence in the ground-breaking aircraft.

US regulators have raised questions about the plane's reliability on long transoceanic routes, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The 787 made its first commercial flight in late-2011, after a series of production delays put deliveries more than three years behind schedule. By the end of last year, Boeing had sold 848 Dreamliners, and delivered 49.

Earlier this week, a battery fire caused damage to an empty 787 jet operated by Japan Airlines while it was on the ground at Boston airport. The next day, another JAL 787 spilled 40 gallons of fuel onto the taxiway at the same airport after a problem that caused a valve to open, forcing the plane to delay its departure. On Wednesday, ANA cancelled a domestic 787 flight due to a brake-control computer problem.

Boeing's chief 787 engineer, Mike Sinnett, was rolled out midweek to defend the aircraft, saying the plane's problem rates were no higher than with Boeing's 777 jet.

SPIDER WEB CRACK

ANA said crew noticed a spider web-like crack in a window in front of the pilot's seat about 70 minutes into Friday's flight, which was close to its destination.

"Cracks appear a few times every year in other planes. We don't see this as a sign of a fundamental problem" with Boeing aircraft, a spokesman for the airline said.

On the later flight, the ANA spokeswoman said she could not specify how much oil leaked from the engine.

Later on Friday, ANA - which, with JAL flies 24 of the 49 Dreamliners delivered by end-December - launched its maiden service between Tokyo's Narita Airport and San Jose, California with the 787.

Jun Akiyama, a plane enthusiast who was taking photos at the airport ahead of the San Jose departure, said: "It's worrying. If there was a major accident lives would be at stake, and these defects are only increasing fears."

But Yasushi Uesaka, a systems engineer from Osaka who was also taking pictures nearby, played down the incidents. "When new things come out, there will naturally be defects. That a lot of these defects didn't occur during flight means they're not too critical, I think."