Boeing asks FAA to permit test flights with Dreamliner
BY MARY SCHLANGENSTEIN & THOMAS BLACK Bloomberg News
Wednesday, February 06, 2013
2/06/13 at 3:18 AM
Boeing Co. is asking the Federal Aviation Administration for approval to resume test flights with the 787 Dreamliner while the plane remains grounded during an investigation of battery faults.
The FAA was still considering the request late Tuesday, an agency official said.
Boeing would operate any such flights with existing test aircraft, company spokesman Marc Birtel said Monday.
Flying test planes would let Boeing study the Dreamliner's lithium-ion power packs while the 50 787s in service stay parked. Regulators and Boeing are still trying to determine what caused a battery fire on one jet and a cockpit warning that spurred an emergency landing by another, which in turn triggered grounding orders worldwide on Jan. 16.
Shares of Boeing rose 0.9 percent to $75.89 at the close in New York. That pared the stock's decline to 2.3 percent since Jan. 4, the last trading day before the battery fire, compared with a 3.1 percent gain for the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.
The planemaker "has submitted an application to conduct test flights and it is currently under evaluation by the FAA," Birtel said in an email. He wouldn't say when or where Chicago-based Boeing might conduct any tests, or with how many planes.
Boeing, which has its commercial hub in Seattle and also builds 787s in North Charleston, S.C., performed thousands of hours of tests on the six-jet development fleet before the plane's 2011 commercial debut.
Safety officials outside the U.S. joined the FAA's order to airlines to park their Dreamliners following a fire in the lithium-ion power pack of a Japan Airlines Co. 787 in Boston and a battery warning on an All Nippon Airways Co. flight that forced an emergency landing.
Those directives marooned some 787s far from airlines' bases. State-run Air India was allowed to fly Dreamliners to Mumbai for maintenance after its six 787s were scattered, with four in Delhi and one each in Chennai and Bangalore, Director General of Civil Aviation Arun Mishra said.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said federal regulators would wait until the battery probe is complete before allowing any test flights for Boeing production aircraft or so-called ferry flights to let airlines reposition any stranded Dreamliners.
"There's a focus on the batteries and we're going to continue to let the people doing the investigation finish their work," LaHood said.
Original Print Headline: Boeing seeks FAA OK for 787 test flights
Associated Images:
Boeing 787 jets sit at Paine Field in Everett, Wash., near the plane's assembly plant Tuesday. Boeing Co. is seeking permission from federal regulators to conduct test flights on the plane, which is grounded worldwide due to safety concerns. ELAINE THOMPSON / Associated Press
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