Boeing has expanded the inspection of Emergency Locator Beacons in five additional aircraft types following several incidents of wiring issues with the transmitters on 787 jets.
The Boeing Co. has asked for a thorough investigation of the Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT), fitted in the upper rear end of the plane, in five additional airline types including 717, Next-Generation 737, 747-400, 767 and 777 aircrafts. Boeing's request follows a recent incident in which a 787 Dreamliner jet, parked at Heathrow airport, caught fire earlier this month. An investigation traced it to the Honeywell locator beacons in the tail section.
"We're taking this action following the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) Special Bulletin, which recommended that airplane models with fixed Honeywell ELTs be inspected," Randy Tinseth, vice president marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in a blog post. "The purpose of these inspections is to gather data to support potential rulemaking by regulators."
United Airlines and All Nippon Airways reported issues with ELT wirings on their Boeing 787s, last week. According to U.K. investigators, ELTs are capable of catching fire, as it happened on the Ethiopian Airlines jet in London, in the tail section of a plane. United Airlines said Friday that it found a pinched wire in one of its six 787 jets during inspection. Japan's All Nippon Airways (ANA), the world's biggest operator of Dreamliners, also reported last week that it found damaged battery wires on two 787 jets' ELTs.
The U.K. regulators ordered all Boeing 787 jets to turn off an electrical component until further notice, reports BBC news.
