WHAT NOW: Air India Dreamliner loses a panel 18 OCT 2013: Investigators are trying to figure out why a 8-foot by 4-foot body panel became detached and fell off a Boeing 787 Dreamliner operated by Air India while the aircraft was landing in Bangalore on the weekend. Boeing said it’s working with the carrier. The incident marks yet another problem for the high-tech jet that has suffered a string of mishaps since its 2011 introduction. Boeing also said the loss of the panel did not pose a safety risk to passengers. “There was no risk to the continued safe operation of the flight but strict aviation rules, which ensure air travel is the safest mode of transportations, prevent continued operation with the panel missing,” the company said. While it might not have caused any danger to passengers it certainly presented quite a hazard to anyone or anything it might have come in contact with as it tumbled to the ground. The jet was carrying 148 passengers and crew members on a flight from Delhi to Bangalore, the Times of India newspaper said. The panel landed near Bangalore’s airport, Reuters reported. The section was discovered missing after the plane was on the ground. The incident is under investigation. Boeing said the piece was from the underside of the jet. “It was the mid-underwing-to-body fairing located on the belly of the airplane on the right side,” Boeing spokesman Doug Alder told Reuters. The panel, which is not considered a structural part of the fuselage, “provides a more aerodynamic surface in flight.” The company wouldn’t say whether the jet was made in Everett, Wash., or North Charleston. At least three Air India 787s have come from the South Carolina assembly line marinatravel
Posted on: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 21:53:30 +0000
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