In a press conference today, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman released preliminary findings from the NTSB's ongoing investigation into the Jan. 7, 2013, Boeing 787 battery fire in Boston. "We have not ruled anything out as a potential factor in the battery fire; there are still many questions to be answered," Hersman said.

Noting that there was a B-787 battery incident in Japan on Jan. 16, 2013, which is being investigated by the Japan Transport Safety Board, Hersman said, "One of these events alone is serious; two of them in close proximity, especially in an airplane model with only about 100,000 flight hours, underscores the importance of getting to the root cause of these incidents."

The investigation revealed that the battery in the B-787 fire in Boston showed signs of short circuiting, and had indications of thermal runaway, a situation in which a significant temperature increase can initiate a destructive chain reaction.

Chairman Hersman also expressed concerns about the adequacy of the systems to prevent such a fire from occurring. "The investigation will include an evaluation of how a fault that resulted in a battery fire could have defeated the safeguards in place to guard against that," said Hersman. "As we learn more in this investigation, we will make recommendations for needed improvements to prevent a recurrence."

Investigators developed the following timeline of the events on Jan. 7, which was released at today's briefing:

10:06 am EST - Aircraft arrived at gate in Boston from Narita, Japan
10:32 am - Cleaning and maintenance crew noticed smoke in cabin
10:35 am - Mechanic noted flames coming from APU battery in aft electronics bay
10:37 am - Airport Rescue & Fire Fighting notified
10:40 am - Fire and rescue personnel arrive on scene
12:19 pm - Fire and rescue personnel report event was "controlled"

The batteries were manufactured by GS Yuasa for the Thales electrical installation and are unique to the Boeing 787. The same battery model is used for the main airplane battery and for the battery that is used to start the auxiliary power unit, which is the one that caught fire in Boston.

Radiographic examinations of the incident battery and an exemplar battery were conducted at an independent test facility. The digital radiographs, or computed tomography (CT) scans, generated from these examinations allowed NTSB investigators to document the internal condition of the battery prior to disassembling it.

Ongoing lab work includes an examination of the battery elements with a scanning-electron microscope and energy-dispersive spectroscopy to analyze the elemental constituents of the electrodes to identify contaminants or defects.

NTSB Press Release

In the Boeing website you can also find a page where you can find the Frequently Asked Questions about the situation of the 787, another interesting article can be read Huffingtonpost, where Paul Brady wrote about the impact that have the 787 grounding.

Huffingtonpost Paul Brady - 787 Grounded: More Than 1,000 Flights Impacted As Pressure On Boeing, FAA Mounts

Questa settimana la Boeing e All Nippon Airways (ANA) hanno fatto un’altro importante passo nella storia dell’aviazione mondiale, facendo volare il 787 Dreamline con del biocombustibile. Non c’erano passeggeri a bordo di questo ferry flight da Everet’s Pain Field (KPAE) e Haneda Airport (HND), ma c’era il combustibile che era prevalentemente ricavato da olio da cucina che ha ridotto le emissioni di CO2 di circa il 10%.

“Il 787 è il l’aereo di linea più moderno in termini di efficienza ambientale che vola ai giorni nostri, combinando l’efficienza dei consumi con il comfort e le ridotte emissioni di CO2” ha detto Billy Glover, Commercial Airplanes Vice President of Environment and Aviation Policy.

Questo è stato anche il primo volo ad attravversare l’oceano Pacifico utilizzando biocombustibili.

“Questo storico volo utilizzando questo combustibile bio conferma l’importanza di come le nuove tecnologie sono da supporto alla nostra industria per aiutare la riduzione dell’emmissioni di anidride carbonica entro il 2020” ha detto Osamu Shinobe, ANA senior executive vice president.

Anche se i biocombustibili nelle compagnie aeree non sono ancora attrattivi in termini di costo, con la ricerca e la tecnologia sento che inizieremo a vedere l’uso di questo conbustibile alternativo sempre e sempre di più, e non solo nelle compagnie aeree, ma anche attraverso gli aeroporti che vorranno fare un’investimento e rendersi più competitivi alla ricerca di nuovi collegamenti.