The London-bound Air India flight, Flight AI171, that crashed in Ahmedabad on June 12 was a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Of the 242 people on board, more than 204 are reported dead. While the cause of the tragic incident is yet to be released, this was the first crash for the Dreamliner, which began flying commercially in 2011.
But both Boeing and this particular model have long been embroiled in controversy. Let’s go through a timeline of its major issues:
All planes grounded: Way back in 2013, all of Boeing’s 50 Dreamliners were temporarily taken out of service by the United States Federal Aviation Administration amid safety concerns over its lithium-ion batteries — an action rare in its scale.
Beacon troubles: Again in 2013, Japan’s All Nippon Airways found damage to wiring on two Boeing 787 locator beacons. Soon after, United Airlines also said that it found a pinched wire during an inspection of one of its six 787s.
Fire safety issues: In 2013, once more, Japanese airline ANA Holdings said it had found an electrical wiring problem in the fire extinguishers of the engines of three of its Boeing Dreamliner jets.
Quality control: According to a 2019 New York Times investigation, at Boeing’s factory near Charleston, South Carolina, where the 787 Dreamliner is manufactured, the company favoured quick production over quality.
Production halted: The US Federal Aviation Administration halted 787 deliveries in late 2020 because of production problems. Again in May 2021, safety regulators halted deliveries because they found production flaws in the planes, such as unacceptable gaps between fuselage panels.
FAA investigation: In 2024, the US Federal Aviation Administration began investigating claims made by a whistleblower who said that sections of the fuselage of the 787 Dreamliner were improperly fastened together and could break apart mid-flight after thousands of trips. The Boeing engineer, Sam Salehpour, who worked on the plane, said the problems stemmed from changes in how the enormous sections were fitted and fastened together in the assembly line.
Losing altitude: In 2024, 50 people were injured on board a Boeing 787-9 flight from Sydney to Auckland after the plane suddenly “dropped” midair. The plane experienced a technical issue, and the flight lost altitude, which threw passengers and crew members into the ceiling.
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