Boeing Extends 787 Test Flight Halt

GROUNDED: A Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft does a flyby at the Farnborough Airshow in England this summer. A new delay in test flights for the 787 aircraft may cause Boeing to further delay deployment of the much-anticipated aircraft.

Aerospace giant Boeing Co. said on Tuesday that it does not know when it would resume test flights of its next-generation airliner 787 Dreamliner, after a fire forced an emergency landing last week.

A test flight last Wednesday was stopped after an onboard fire was discovered by the crew, and the plane was forced to make an emergency landing.

As of this week, Boeing has not indicated that test flights will resume.

“No decision has been reached on when flight testing of the 787 will resume,” Boeing spokeswoman Lori Gunter said in a statement. “Before that decision can be made, we must complete the investigation and assess whether any design changes are necessary.”

“Until that time, Boeing cannot comment on the potential impact of this incident on the overall program schedule.”
According to Gunter, the company has made progress in obtaining an understanding of what occurred during the test flight involving its ZA002 plane last week. A power panel failure caught components on fire aboard the flight.

Analysts speculate that Boeing, the second-biggest commercial aircraft maker, may be forced to further delay delivery of the first 787, which is slated to begin next February to launch customer All Nippon Airways of Japan.

The aircraft is already three years behind schedule, even if Boeing sticks to its current plan.

Correction: A previous byline for this article stated that The Epoch Times staff reporter Antonio Perez was affiliated with Getty Images. Perez was not, and is not, affiliated with Getty Images. The Epoch Times regrets this error.