Boeing Pulls Eight 787 Aircraft Immediately From Service Due To Structural Issues - Aero World

Photo: Boeing

Boeing Co. has told its Boeing 787 customers operating eight affected planes to remove them immediately from service after the manufacturer found issues in the fuselage.



The manufacturer has found two distinct manufacturing issues, so they asked to ground them so that they can be repaired. Boeing has estimated that it will take two weeks to solve these issues in an aircraft.

Boeing said that it has notified the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and is conducting a thorough review of the cause of the problem. 

Photo: Boeing

In a statement, Boeing spokesperson said:

"We determined that eight airplanes in the delivered fleet are affected by both issues and therefore must be inspected and repaired before the continued operation."

"We immediately contacted the airlines that operate the eight affected airplanes to notify them of the situation, and the airplanes have been temporarily removed from service until they can be repaired."

 Photo: Boeing

As said by Jon Ostrower at The Air Current, according to an unnamed source,

"An area of the structure in the rear of the aircraft is unable to withstand the maximum stress that would be experienced by the aircraft in service and could fail."

According to Jon Ostrower, United Airlines, Air Canada and Singapore Airlines were the affected airlines by this immediate grounding.

Boeing earlier this week immediately pulled eight recently-manufactured 787s from service with airlines like United, Air Canada and Singapore Airlines after it discovered two manufacturing issues that compromised part of the jet’s structure. https://t.co/AyEQHSO3Qu

— Jon Ostrower (@jonostrower) August 28, 2020

It’s the first time an issue with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner in the jet's nine-year of service that has caused an immediate grounding of the aircraft type.

Singapore Airlines said on Friday (Aug 28) that it is aware that one of its Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner was affected by the technical issue. SIA said:

"The aircraft is not in service and we will work closely with Boeing on a solution."

Photo: Singapore Airlines

Air Canada and United Airlines said they each had one of the affected planes. However, United Airlines said that its Dreamliner had been in service before the airline was notified by Boeing. 

According to reports, the source of the newly discovered structural issue relates to a mating point inside the rear fuselage. These all 787s were assembled together at a Boeing plant in South Carolina.