B787 with software glitch - Flight Intl.

Two ATC agencies 'blacklist' 787 over position-data flaw

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·          10 DECEMBER, 2015
        BY: STEPHEN TRIMBLE
        WASHINGTON DC

Most of the Boeing 787s delivered to date contain a software defect that, in at least five identified aircraft, have erroneously reported their location to controllers, prompting two air traffic management agencies to put the Dreamliner on a “blacklist” for certain services.

Although it denies the software defect creates a safety hazard, Boeing says a service bulletin with instructions for operators to correct the position reporting error will be released “imminently”.

The retrofits are expected to be installed across the fleet through 2016, but Boeing has no control over if or when an operator chooses to implement a voluntary service bulletin, the company says. New 787s delivered from Boeing’s assembly lines are already equipped with software that corrects the original defect.

The issue came to light last December at an ICAO working group focused on automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) transponders.

ICAO has since chronicled the problem in a series of reports from last February to late November, which are posted online but have so far been unreported.