Ethiopian Boeing 787 on fire at gate in London Heathrow

[Sam V]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BO_CZ3FCIAIvlHW.jpg:large

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae40 ... 964653.jpg

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae40 ... 05fc50.jpg

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/6 ... 701780.jpg

http://media.skynews.com/media/images/g ... 26x352.jpg
Burn marks:

http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff4 ... ir/etz.jpg

EGLL arrivals
Due to incident / accident 0 rate mplemented until 1900 UTC
Improvement on the situation will be communicated ASAP

More Info:
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forum ... n/5815438/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23294760


Boeing Stock, find the time of the fire:
https://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE:BA

[luchtzak]

That's terrible news for the 787, after the problems with its batteries ...

[KriVa]

Oh Cr@p!

Some long nights ahead again, for Boeing, I guess....

[regi]

That's terrible news for the 787, after the problems with its batteries ...

imagine if the problem with the batteries has not been solved...

[Comet]

I can imagine the Dreamliner will be grounded again soon.

[luchtzak]

On the images I see burn marks near the tail, APU fire maybe ?

[Passenger]

Meanwhile, Heathrow has been reopened for flights.

[Sam V]

On the images I see burn marks near the tail, APU fire maybe ?

looks to me fire is above crew rest area, it's a long way to the APU from that location

[Bralo20]

I think we could look at the first write-off even though I doubt that Boeing will let this happen... From images seen it appears that the fire burned through the fuselage but even if that damage is substantial you have also consider the damage done by the fire retardant since they dozed the whole plane with foam and it will have likely leaked in places where it shouldn't be...

[air belgium]

That is really sad news for the 787!

[Atlantis]

Very bad news for the B787, after again problems also at LOT and other ones.

[sn26567]

The LHR fire would be the first aboard a 787 to penetrate the jet's carbon fibre composite skin. The airframe structure is apparently visible through the upper fuselage of the fire-hit aircaft:



Fire seems to have started above door 4 (aft left). That area of the aircraft houses the crew rest compartment, which sits above the passenger cabin.

Remember that Ethiopian was the first airline to reintroduce the 787 in late-April after a global grounding for 3½ months following two incidents with its lithium-ion batteries.

[sn26567]

On the same day (this Friday), another 787 aircraft suffered problems in the UK when a Thomson Airways flight was grounded because of "technical issues". The flight, TOM126, had taken off from Manchester airport and was headed to Sanford, Florida, but had to return to Manchester "as a precautionary measure".

[Sam V]

On the same day (this Friday), another 787 aircraft suffered problems in the UK when a Thomson Airways flight was grounded because of "technical issues". The flight, TOM126, had taken off from Manchester airport and was headed to Sanford, Florida, but had to return to Manchester "as a precautionary measure".

http://www.avherald.com/h?article=4653cb10&opt=0

[Comet]

The Thomsonfly Dreamliner only entered service from MAN a few days ago. This is not a good start.

[Boeing767copilot]

Statement from Ethiopian Airlines about B787 Incident at London Heathrow Airport
Source: Ethiopian Airlines
12/07/2013
Today on Friday, 12 July 2013, smoke was detected from Ethiopian Airlines B787 aircraft with registration number ET-AOP, which was parked at London Heathrow airport for more than eight hours.

The aircraft was empty when the incident was observed.

The cause of the incident is under investigation by all concerned.

Further statement will be issued in due course, as we receive more information.

[bollox]

Looking at some fotos, the fire(s) seem extremely close to 2 antennas (transponder and DME?). Is there an electronics bay underneath? In 40 years ATC I have never heard of a civil ATC transponder catching fire though.
The burnthrough of the skin seems to indicate very high temperature (not just scorching). I would like te know how they will repair it, if possible.

[cathay belgium]

Guess we can put the first 787 to the euh,.. PMD garbage....
Such high temperature will have their effect in the whole structure,...
this plane is written off I guess,..
Horrible evolution, when sill the fleet be grounded again,...
now that the deliveries started again,LOT send their B767 fleet back...
Intresting week to come...
CXB

PS : the Sukhoi needed less problems to get pushed away... only one pilot error

[Bralo20]

this plane is written off I guess,..

I think if it's the case that it's damage beyond repair (probably economically) then I'm still not quite sure that Boeing will write this plane off, I can see them buying this plane from Ethiopian/Wells Fargo just to not have a hull loss this soon after EIS.

Everything will depend if the structural integrity is breached or not, for a fire to burn through a cfrp plane it had to be hot and it will probably have been smoldering/burning for a while thus weakening the structure. If Boeing thinks it can fly (unpressurized for example) I can see them picking up the plane, maybe officially for investigating purposes but they'll keep the plane in one piece for years untill they can safely scrap it without getting to much attention.

[sean1982]

This is the latest from the avherald from someone claiming to be a BA engineer (I'm choosing my words carefully) :

The aircraft fire is unrelated to the batteries. This will be confirmed tomorrow in a boeing press conference. Fire is strongly believed to be as a result of galley overheat - failure of coffee heater trip switch which was left on.Burnt out much of the galley and area above causing deep damage to aft bh and rudder/elevator system. Aircraft sadly a write off - unless pride of hull loss/p.r dictates repair even if economically un-viable.

If this turns out to be true, Boeing wi!ll sigh a big breath of relief I think, still, the program hasn't been exactly "lucky"