No injuries were reported when a Boeing 787 Dreamliner caring 171 passengers made an emergency landing in Hawaii Monday after pilots shut down one of its engines.
Japan Airlines Flight JL002 was en route from Tokyo to San Francisco when an oil pressure warning on one of the engines appeared on their controls, forcing the pilots to shut down the engine and land at Honolulu International Airport.
“At the approach to Honolulu the oil pressure was getting low, so the engine was shutdown,” said a JAL spokesperson.
“When one engine of an aircraft with twin engines is stopped, the airline must declare an emergency so the flight can have priority to be guided by air traffic control and apply for landing.”
The airplane has had numerous difficulties in its early years of production.
“The 747 had quite a few issues when it first entered service, and hairline cracks were also found in the wings of Airbus A380s (along with other problems). But none of this was a threat to the safe operation of the aircraft, which were repaired during downtime,” said Tom Ballantine, chief correspondent at Orient Aviation magazine.
On March 8, Boeing made an announcement that hairline cracks had been found in the wings of 40 planes currently in production.
An “Operations Control Center” assists with problems as they occur on the Boeing 787.
“The center monitors every 787 in flight; it identifies problems and works with the airline to provide maintenance, sometimes even in flight,” said Henderson.
Ballantine believes media scrutiny has been an integral part of the Dreamliner’s problems.
“Because of the early dramatic grounding of the plane every little thing that happens now gets reported,” said Ballantine.
“But the Dreamliner hasn’t really become a total nightmare. New models do historically have a lot of teething problems,” he said. “These issues with the 787 are certainly frustrating for the airlines but you can be sure they are being well compensated. All the airlines I have spoken to think it’s a great plane with a fantastic future.”
Image via Wikimedia Commons
