The world's first operational Boeing 787 was forced to return to the gate at Okayama after a leak in a hydraulic pump located in its port-side engine nacelle.
The All Nippon Airways (ANA) 787, bearing registration JA801A, was taxiing before take-off on the Okayama-Tokyo route this morning when the pump failed, ANA said.
The issue came to the pilots' attention when cockpit instruments alerted them to a rapid hydraulic pressure fall. They shut down the port-side engine and taxied to a gate using the aircraft's starboard engine.
A Rolls Royce spokesman clarified that the pump is not part of the Trent 1000, though the engine drives the pump.
There were 88 passengers, six cabin crew and two pilots aboard at the time of the incident. All disembarked safely via an air bridge.
Media reports from Japan suggested that white smoke was seen coming from the engine. ANA attributed this to the heating of engine parts near the pump leakage.
On 22 July, ANA grounded five of its 11 Boeing 787s after the airframer notified the carrier of a possible gearbox defect in the Trent 1000 engine.
All five aircraft returned to service within days after gearbox supplier Hamilton Sundstrand shipped replacement parts to ANA.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
