All Nippon Airlines (ANA) and Japan Airlines (JAL) have inspected the wiring related to fire extinguishers in the engines of their Boeing 787s after a wiring fault was discovered on an ANA aircraft.
The fault was discovered during a pre-flight check aboard a 787, with registration JA813A, as it was preparing to depart on a Tokyo Haneda-Frankfurt service in the early morning of 14 August, says a company spokesman.
The pilot observed an error message associated with a fire extinguisher located in one of the aircraft's Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines. Inspections by ground crew revealed a wiring error, in which the extinguisher controls for the left and right engines were crossed.
In the event the flightcrew needed to extinguish a fire in one engine, the crossed wires would have caused the extinguisher in the other engine to be activated.
ANA was able to rectify the fault, but the flight was delayed by nearly 2h.
Learning of the ANA fault, JAL decided to recall a 787 that had already departed on a Tokyo Narita-Helsinki service back to the airport for a check, says a JAL spokesman.
ANA has conducted a check of its remaining 19 787s and found the fault on two other aircraft. It has made an enquiry to Boeing about the issue.
JAL has checked seven of its 10 787s and has not discovered any wiring faults. It will complete checks on its remaining three aircraft by the end of 14 August.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
