Another 787 fire! LHR shut down

[zaitcev]

Metal plane you drill rivets back to unaffected metal and rivet in new metal. Theoretically with a composite structure you can scarf in new material, however these are autoclaved, continuous lay structures which the repair cannot duplicate the structural qualities of.

Here's what my buddy an insider says:

Word going around about that Ethiopian jet that got burned by the Honeywell ELT is that it's actually going to be scrapped. Just too expensive to repair. That would make it the first casualty in the line. *frown* Hell, if they could get it here, we could stick a whole new 47/48 section on it, but that's not in the cards.

Yeah. No patches.

 

[olasek]

Here's what my buddy an insider says:

This is a long outdated and no long true piece of news.
It was originally thought that the jet will be scrapped.

The latest is that in fact it WILL be repaired and returned to service.

Boeing's McNerney confirmed that Boeing is in touch with Ethiopian about different possible ways of performing repairs. There was just recently a good article in AW&ST on the topic. There are also bits and pieces on the net.

http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/AW_07_22_2013_p22-598174.xml
http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/AW_07_22_2013_p22-598174.xml
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/...quires-inspection-or-removal-of.html?page=all

 

[sdpilot]

ELT battery possible cause.

http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/honeywell-transmitter-eyed-possible-cause-787-fire-181258804.html

I believe this is the location of the ELT and was the cause for the last fire. As for repairs fiberglass and carbon fiber are not hard to repair and they have a set of procedures on how to do the repair based on the extent of the damage. The logistics of doing the repair is the hard part in other words how to move the plane to a suitable location to preform the work.

http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2021417880_787fireinvestigationxml.html

 

[olasek]

I read somewhere else that repairs won't be easy and they won't be cheap.

This is also going to be for Boeing a perfect opportunity to demonstrate repair-ability of the composite aircraft. Fortunately insurance and not Boeing will be paying for it.

It is noteworthy that the composite material withstood the fire quite well, there was no burn-through.