Boeing’s Dreamliner headache worsened today, as Japan’s transport ministry revealed more damning details of its investigation into faults with the jet and United Airlines extended its grounding of the jets.
Japan’s transport ministry said it found fuel leaks in the 787 Dreamliners jets were caused by improper paint jobs, which caused a switch controlling fuel movement between tanks to fail.
Inadequate taping also led to cracks in cockpit glass and a faulty part resulted in problems with braking.
The details come the day after the ministry announced lithium-ion batteries in the planes had been improperly wired.
Meanwhile America’s United Airlines said that it would not put Dreamliners into the air until at least June 5, although it tentatively scheduled the jet for use in the postponed launch of its Denver-to-Tokyo route on May 12, pending resolution of problems with the plane.
Authorities around the world have grounded the lightweight planes following problems with the model and Japan’s transport ministry launched its extensive probe into the 787s after two incidents last month involving Dreamliners operated by All Nippon Airways. A battery overheated forcing an emergency landing in western Japan and another jet caught fire while parked in Boston.
Boeing and US authorities are carrying out their own investigations into the 787 and Boeing is reportedly due to meet with the head of the US Federal Aviation Administration today to present measures designed to prevent further battery failures.
