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FAA Says 787 is Safe But Calls for a Review

"Dreamliner" headaches

In this Sept. 25, 2011 file photo, Boeing 787s sit at the company's assembly plant in Everett, Wash. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration announced Friday, Jan. 11, 2013 that the agency is conducting a comprehensive review of the design, manufacture and assembly of the Boeing 787, even while government officials declared the plane safe despite recent incidents including a fire and a fuel leak earlier this week. (AP Photo/John Froschauer, File)
In this Sept. 25, 2011 file photo, Boeing 787s sit at the company's assembly plant in Everett, Wash. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration announced Friday, Jan. 11, 2013 that the agency is conducting a comprehensive review of the design, manufacture and assembly of the Boeing 787, even while government officials declared the plane safe despite recent incidents including a fire and a fuel leak earlier this week. (AP Photo/John Froschauer, File)Read moreAP
    by By Joan Lowy and Joshua Freed, Associated Press, Inquirer
    Published 

WASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration is conducting a comprehensive review of the design, manufacture, and assembly of the Boeing 787, but government officials declared the plane safe despite recent incidents including a fire and fuel leak earlier this week.

Michael Huerta, the FAA administrator, said at a news conference Friday that there was nothing in the data the agency had seen to suggest the plane wasn't safe, but that the agency wanted to figure out what was behind the safety-related incidents.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood went a step further: "I believe this plane is safe, and I would have absolutely no reservations about boarding one of these planes and taking a flight," he said.

The 787, which Boeing calls the "Dreamliner," is the aircraft maker's newest and most technologically advanced airliner. It relies more than any other modern airliner on electrical signals to help power nearly everything the plane does. It's also the first Boeing plane to use rechargeable lithium ion batteries, which charge faster and can be molded to space-saving shapes compared with other airplane batteries. The plane is made with lightweight composite materials instead of aluminum.

A fire ignited Monday in the battery pack of an auxiliary power unit on an empty Japan Airlines 787 as the plane sat on the tarmac at Boston's Logan International Airport. It took firefighters 40 minutes to put out the blaze. Also this week, a fuel leak delayed a flight from Boston to Tokyo of another Japan Airlines 787.

On Friday, Japan's All Nippon Airways reported two new cases of problems with the planes. Airline spokeswoman Ayumi Kunimatsu said a small amount of oil was discovered leaking from the left engine of a 787 on a flight from southern Japan's Miyazaki airport to Tokyo.

The jet returned to Miyazaki, but after inspectors found no safety risk, it flew on to Tokyo. The airline said that on another flight, to Matsuyama on the island of Shikoku, glass in a cockpit window cracked, and the aircraft was grounded for repairs.

Boeing has insisted the 787's problems are no worse than those of its 777 series when it was new in the mid-1990s. That plane is now one of Boeing's top-sellers and is well-liked by airlines.