Europe widens in-flight use of portable electronics

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said on Friday (Sep 26) it had authorised airlines to allow passengers to use mobile electronic devices, including phones, throughout the flight.

The move allows European airlines which first carry out a safety assessment to permit portable electronic devices such as smartphones to stay switched on without being on "airplane mode", it said in a statement. Other such devices include tablets, laptops, e-readers and MP3 players.

"This is the latest regulatory step towards enabling the ability to offer 'gage-to-gate' telecommunication or Wi-Fi services," the EASA said in a statement. It will be up to each airline to decide to allow their use, it added.

"In order to do this, the airline will have to go through an assessment process, ensuring aircraft systems are not affected in any way by the transmission signals from the PEDs", or personal electronic devices, it said. "For this reason, there may be differences among airlines whether and when PEDs can be used."

Last November EASA said it would follow the Federal Aviation Administration in the United States and similarly relax its rules by allowing the use of a range of mobile electronic devices in flight with very few restrictions.

It said at that time however that the devices must be used only when the "flight mode" or "airplane mode" is switched on.

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Passengers evacuated from plane after smoke scare in India

Passengers aboard an Indian Indigo jet were evacuated Wednesday (Aug 20) using emergency chutes after air traffic controllers warned the pilot about dense smoke as the plane landed at New Delhi airport. Some of the 147 people on the Airbus A-320 flight sustained minor injuries during the emergency evacuation, said a statement from Indigo, India's leading private carrier.

"All the passengers were evacuated by the right-hand-side slide-chute and one left-hand-side slide chute in approximately 75 seconds," the budget airline said. "We confirm that all passengers and crew members are safe."

The plane was arriving in Delhi from Mumbai. Air traffic controllers informed the pilot about "dense smoke" as the aircraft touched down, the airline said, without giving details of the smoke's origin. The captain immediately ordered the crew to evacuate all passengers.

Some local TV channels reported that the tyres of the plane had caught fire, but the Indigo statement said there had been "no fire and this was not an emergency or priority landing".

The scare comes after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) stripped India of its top safety rating, citing a lack of safety oversight. The FAA decision in January was based on an audit last year of the country's aviation regulator that found 31 issues of concern, including a shortage of well-trained inspectors to carry out safety checks.

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Etihad Airways to avoid Iraqi conflict airspace

Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways announced on Saturday (Aug 9) that it will reroute flights over Iraq in the wake of US air strikes on Islamist State (IS) fighters there. "Etihad Airways has announced that it will reroute its flights to avoid conflict airspace in Iraq," a statement by the carrier said.

"The decision follows the deterioration of the security situation in parts of the country. The safety of Etihad Airways' passengers and staff is of paramount importance, and the airline will continue to monitor the security situation closely."

On Thursday, Etihad also said it was suspending flights to Iraqi Kurdistan's capital of Arbil because of fighting in northern Iraq. The first US air strikes on Friday struck IS positions and at least one convoy of vehicles carrying militants west of Arbil. However, "flights to Basra and Baghdad, which have a daily risk assessment, continue to operate as normal," Etihad said on Saturday.

Dubai's Emirates Airline also announced on Saturday that it has "immediately" suspended its flights to Arbil due to the "security situation there," in a statement carried by the UAE's official WAM news agency. Daily flights to Basra and four weekly flights to Baghdad will however continue, the airline said, adding that it is "closely following developments" in restive Iraq.

Emirates had already announced last month that it will no longer fly over Iraq.

The Federal Aviation Administration in Washington banned all US civilian flights over Iraq just hours after American warplanes on Friday bombed positions held by the jihadists, who have occupied swathes of northern Iraq.

British Airways has said it will no longer fly over Iraq, as have Lufthansa and its subsidiaries Austrian Airlines and Swiss - joining Air France, Emirates, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Virgin Atlantic, which quietly opted to do so over the past two weeks.

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British Airways suspends flights over Iraq

British Airways (BA) suspended flights over Iraq on Friday (Aug 8) as the US launched air strikes against Islamic militants fighting in the north of the country.

A spokesman for Britain's flagship carrier said it was "temporarily suspending our flights over Iraq".

But BA said services that use the route, mainly to Doha and Dubai, would not be cancelled or disrupted because alternative routes would be found.

Willie Walsh, chief executive of BA parent group International Airlines Group, last week pledged to keep flying over Iraq despite mounting concerns over commercial flight paths in the wake of the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine.

The airline said then it did not believe the conflict in Iraq between government forces and jihadist group Islamic State (IS) posed the same threat to commercial airliners. But it took its decision to suspend flights after the Federal Aviation Administration banned all US civilian flights over Iraq on Friday (Aug 8), just hours after Washington ordered air strikes on fighters in Kurdistan.

The FAA cited "the potentially hazardous situation created by the armed conflict" between IS militants and Iraqi security forces "and their allies" as the reason for the indefinite ban.

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FAA bans US civilian flights over Iraq

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) banned all US civilian flights over Iraq on Friday (Aug 8), just hours after air strikes ordered by Washington on Islamist fighters.

In a Notice to Airmen, the FAA cited the "potentially hazardous situation created by the armed conflict" between Islamic State militants and Iraqi security forces and their allies as the reason for the indefinite ban. The ban extends to "all US air carriers and commercial operators," as well as US-licensed pilots unless they are flying aircraft registered in the United States for a foreign operator.

Northern and eastern Iraq lie on the flight path for several non-American long-haul carriers operating between Europe, the Middle East and Asia, according to online flight tracking services.

Concern about civilian flights over conflict zones soared after the July 17 downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur above an area of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed separatist rebels.

Turkish Airlines, one of the key foreign carriers flying to Iraq, said it had halted flights to the main city of Iraq's Kurdish region for security reasons amid the Islamist offensive.

"Our flights to Arbil are being cancelled for security reasons until further notice," the airline said in a statement.

Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways on Thursday (Aug 7) also announced a suspension of flights to Arbil, while Britain has urged citizens living in parts of Kurdistan to leave.

US warplanes earlier bombed positions held by Islamic State insurgents who have advanced to take swathes of northern Iraq.

Last month, the FAA prohibited US airlines from overflying eastern Ukraine in the wake of the Malaysian Airlines tragedy. It also briefly barred them from Tel Aviv after a Hamas rocket fell near the Israeli city's Ben Gurion airport in the midst of the Gaza crisis.

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San Miguel eyes Philippine Airlines buyout

Philippine conglomerate San Miguel said Thursday it hopes to take full control of the country's flag carrier within two months by buying out its local partner. San Miguel in 2012 bought a 49 per cent stake in Philippine Airlines (PAL) US$500 million from LT Group, a holding firm controlled by tobacco tycoon Lucio Tan.

In a statement to the stock exchange San Miguel confirmed local news reports that its president Ramon Ang and PAL were "hopeful" it could buy out the rest of the carrier's shares by the end of September. PAL issued an identical statement to the exchange. Ang and the LT Group had earlier disclosed they were in talks over a possible buy-out of the airline, whose parent PAL Holdings suffered a net loss of US$205.15 million in the nine months to December 2013.

The airline's prospects have improved since the US Federal Aviation Administration removed the Philippines from its air safety blacklist in April, opening the door for Filipino carriers to expand services to the United States. The FAA decision came after the European Union in July last year lifted its own ban on PAL following an upgrade of safety standards. Under Ang, San Miguel, originally a Southeast Asian beer and food giant, has diversified into a wide variety of fields including infrastructure, energy and oil refining.

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India "disappointed" after US downgrades air safety ranking

US aviation authorities have downgraded India's safety ranking in a "disappointing" and "surprising" move that will hit air links between the countries, India's aviation minister said on Friday.

The US Federal Aviation Administration downgraded India after conducting an audit last year of the country's aviation regulator that found 31 issues of safety concern, a ministry statement said.

The issues include the need for more and better trained full-time inspectors employed by the regulator tasked with carrying out safety checks on all types of aircraft and helicopters in India, it said.

"They have downgraded us to category 2. It is very disappointing and also surprising," Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said at a press conference in New Delhi.

The FAA has "determined that India at this time is not in compliance with the international standards for aviation safety oversight," according to FAA notes given to Indian regulator the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

The rating downgrade brings India below Pakistan and on a par with countries like Bangladesh, Ghana and Indonesia, according to FAA.

The downgrading effectively bars Air India and Jet Airways from increasing flights to the US, and additional safety checks will now be imposed on existing flights to the United States, the FAA's website shows.

Currently, Air India has 21 flights to the US per week while Jet Airway flies seven.

Indian airlines will also have to snap ties with US airlines, according to the website, but DGCA chief Prabhat Kumar said the downgrade would not affect the code-share agreement.

Jet has a code-share agreement with United Airlines currently, while Air India is joining Star Alliance.

Singh said 95 per cent of issues raised by the FAA have been resolved, while the remainder were expected to be resolved by March, adding it was the first time India had suffered a downgrade.

"They (FAA) should have based their decision on the situation now," said Singh, adding that the FAA's downgrade was based on air safety in September.
Diplomatic spat

The downgrade is the latest controversy between the US and India, which are attempting to put diplomatic relations back on track after outrage in December over the arrest and strip search of an Indian envoy in New York.

The envoy, Devyani Khobragade, was arrested on charges of visa fraud involving her domestic servant and lying about how much she paid her. Khobragande denied any wrongdoing and eventually returned to India after a deal was struck between the two nations to mend their relations.

In a bid to head off the downgrade, the government announced two days ago that 75 new positions would be created in the DGCA to carry out safety inspections.

"This is an important step that will aid in India regaining its former Category 1 status in the future," the FAA said in its notes to the DCGA and released by the minister.

"The United States Government commends the Indian government for taking these important actions and looks forward to continued progress by Indian authorities," the FAA said.

India's aviation sector has grown enormously in the last decade, as the 1.2-billion population becomes more affluent, boosting the number of international and domestic passengers.

But the sector has been hit in the past by safety scandals, including over fake pilots flying with fake qualifications in 2001.

Police made several arrests over the scandal involving cases of pilots exaggerating their flying time while training and other irregularities.

In one such case, a captain who made several bad landings was found to have submitted faked paperwork to gain her licence.

Experts said they expected the downgrade as the aviation regulator had failed to address earlier FAA warnings in a given period of time.

"The decision of the FAA to downgrade is both embarrassing and disgraceful... but one could see it coming," former Air India executive director Jitendra Bhargava told AFP. "The DGCA should take this as a wake up call."

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Asiana pilot felt "stressed" prior to San Francisco crash

The pilot of a South Korean airliner that crashed in San Francisco in July felt stressed about touching down without a functioning instrument landing system to guide him, according to documents made public Wednesday.

Three passengers died when Asiana Airlines Flight 214 clipped a seawall with its landing gear, skidded off the runway and burst into flames at the tragic end of an otherwise routine flight from Seoul on July 6.

Another 182 passengers and crew aboard the Boeing 777 were injured, in the first fatal commercial airline crash in the United States since 2009.

A summary of Captain Lee Kang-Kuk's interview with US air accident investigators was released Wednesday as part of a day-long National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) hearing in the US capital.

"We have the opportunity today to ensure that the lessons of this tragedy are well-learned and that the circumstances are not repeated," NTSB chairwoman Deborah Hersman said.

According to the NTSB summary, Lee -- a seasoned aviator undergoing transition training to the Boeing 777 -- told investigators he felt "very stressful" about making a visual approach.

The instrument landing system (ILS) at San Francisco had been out of service since June due to construction work, calling for a hands-on approach on an otherwise fine summer day.

Under normal circumstances, the ILS would let pilots know if they were too high or too low. A visual approach requires looking out the window and taking cues from an array of approach lights at the runway's edge.

"Asked about whether he was concerned about his ability to perform a visual approach, he said, 'Very concerned'," the NTSB summary said.

"Asked what aspect he was most concerned about, he said 'the unstable approach'" -- the ability to set up an airplane for landing at a precise speed, direction and rate of descent.

"He added, 'exactly controlling the descent profile and the lateral profile… that is very stressful'."

Lee had flown Airbus A320s for Asiana from 2005 until February this year, when he began training to master the bigger 777.

He had 9,700 hours of flight experience, but only 35 hours in the Boeing 777.

Earlier in his career, he told investigators he had twice landed at San Francisco, once manually, as co-pilot of an Asiana Boeing 747.

In the co-pilot's seat at the end of the 10-1/2 hour flight was Lee Jung-Min, who had 3,200 hours' experience in the Boeing 777 but was only recently certified to instruct other pilots on its operation.

Bill English, the NTSB investigator leading the Asiana probe, said the autopilot was switched off about three miles out, and that the airspeed dipped as low as 103 knots, or 34 knots below the ideal approach speed.

The aircraft, meanwhile, descended so low that an array of approach lights at the end of the runway -- a key visual aid to landing -- showed four red lights, a situation that would call for an aborted landing.

A final NTSB report is not expected before the middle of next year.

None of the ill-starred flight's four pilots, 12 flight attendants and 291 passengers, many of them South Korean and Chinese nationals, were scheduled to testify Wednesday.

All three of the fatalities were young Chinese women, including one who was fatally hit by a fire engine as she lay stricken near the runway.

Giving expert testimony, Nadine Sarter, who studies the impact of automation on human performance, said a complex automation system was most likely to be a hindrance at the very instant it is most needed.

"In that sense, it could get in the way," said Sarter, an engineering professor at the University of Michigan.

"Pilots sometimes rely too much on automated systems and may be reluctant to intervene" when a situation calls for hands-on control, added Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) scientist Kathy Abbott.

Captain Dave McKenney of the International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations (IFALPA) said today's pilots are expected to use automated systems so often that they get "few chances" to keep up their manual skills.

He underscored the challenges of landing at San Francisco, where pilots would be busy not only setting up for landing, but also looking out for other traffic to avoid a mid-air collision.

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US regulators to propose use of mobile phones in flight

US telecommunications regulators will consider next month allowing people to use mobile phones and other broadband services during flights, officials said Thursday.

The proposal would allow people to make phone calls and surf the Internet on their phones, tablets and computers when aircraft are above 10,000 feet (3,048 metres).

But bans would still be in place during takeoff and landing.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler said the agency had just circulated a proposal on allowing airlines to offer broadband services to passengers while in flight.

"Modern technologies can deliver mobile services in the air safely and reliably, and the time is right to review our outdated and restrictive rules," he said in a statement.

The FCC's five commissioners will review the idea in a December 12 meeting, and if approved, it will be formally proposed for public review and comment.

That process could take as long as one year. At the end of it, the FCC would make a formal decision.

At the same time, the Federal Aviation Administration, which governs flight safety, would have to sign off on the equipment used and services offered.

The choice would still be up to individual airlines to offer broadband connectivity, an FCC official told AFP.

"I look forward to working closely with my colleagues, the FAA, and the airline industry on this review of new mobile opportunities for consumers," Wheeler said.

The move comes just weeks after the FAA broadened permissions for the use of electronics in flight, including during takeoff and landing, as long as they remained disconnected from Internet and broadband services.

Passengers currently wanting to connect to the Internet during transit still have to use an airline's in-flight wifi service.

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Portable electronics to be allowed on flights

Airline passengers will soon be allowed to use a range of mobile electronic devices in flight with very few restrictions, US aviation authorities said Thursday.

The new, more relaxed rules issued by the Federal Aviation Administration will take effect on most airlines by the end of the year, the agency said.

"Passengers will eventually be able to read ebooks, play games and watch videos on their devices during all phases of flight, with very limited exceptions," the FAA said in a statement.

However, mobile phones still cannot be used for voice communications while in flight, due to regulations by another federal agency, the Federal Communications Commission, that prohibits airborne cellphone calls.

The new rules mean that passengers will be able to "safely use their devices in airplane mode, gate-to-gate," said the FAA.

Electronic items must be stowed in the seat pocket during takeoff and landing.

Browsing the Internet will still be possible on air carriers that provide Wi-Fi in flight, and Bluetooth technology for wireless keyboards will also be allowed.

The changes, which came after more than a year of study by outside experts on safety concerns related to portable electronic devices.

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Philippines expects to be lifted from US air blacklist

The Philippines expects to be removed from a US air safety blacklist this year, opening a lucrative market for its carriers, an aviation regulator said Thursday.

John Andrews, deputy director-general of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), said he was very confident the upgrade would occur following a similar decision by the European Union last week.

"We're going to make it. (It's) as simple as that," Andrews told AFP in an interview.

The US Federal Aviation Administration said in 2008 that the Philippines was failing to comply with international safety standards, and banned its airlines from expanding services to the United States.

The European Union banned all Philippine carriers from flying to Europe in 2010 for similar reasons.

Reforms put in place since then, including a law creating a new aviation regulator, the CAAP, allowed the Philippines to satisfy the concerns of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in February.

This led to the EU's decision last week to allow Philippine Airlines to begin flying into its airspace. The EU said it was reviewing the case of other Filipino carriers.

Andrews said he expected US aviation regulators to make similar findings when it carried out an audit before the end of the year.

He said Filipino regulators had addressed safety concerns by physically tracking down every aircraft registered in the Philippines and getting their owners to submit documentation.

This was to make sure the CAAP stopped the illegal practice of cannibalising old aircraft to supply parts for planes of the same make that were still flying, he said.

He said the CAAP also had to update records on the air-worthiness of all civilian aircraft serving Philippine airspace.

Andrews said the law that created the CAAP, also in 2008, allowed it to offer higher salaries than other government agencies to its air safety inspectors.

This was important so the inspectors, now being paid more than triple their 2008 salaries, could resist bribes to certify all aircraft as air-worthy.

Andrews said that apart from Philippine Airlines, other local carriers such as Cebu Pacific wanted to fly to the United States.

"They will all compete because it's a rich market," he said.

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After the EU, PAL is hoping the US will also clear it to fly into their airspace when the audit is being carried out later this year. The next step for them is probably to purchase more aircraft to meet this surge in demand.

Batteries not to blame for Dreamliner jet fire

Investigators said there was no evidence to suggest that a fire on-board a Boeing 787 Dreamliner parked at London Heathrow Airport was caused by the next-generation jet's batteries.

A team from Britain's Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) was deployed following the blaze on Friday on an Ethiopian Airlines plane, which was empty at the time.

The fire is a further blow for the jet, after Boeing temporarily withdrew all Dreamliners from service earlier this year due to concerns that batteries on board could cause fires.

However, the latest incident was not down to the batteries, said the AAIB, an agency of Britain's Department of Transport ministry.

Following Saturday's first stage of its probe, the AAIB found there was "no evidence of a direct causal relationship" between the batteries and the incident at Heathrow.

"The aircraft is currently located in a hangar at London Heathrow," the it added.

"There has been extensive heat damage in the upper portion of the rear fuselage, a complex part of the aircraft, and the initial investigation is likely to take several days," it said.

"It is clear that this heat damage is remote from the area in which the aircraft main and APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) batteries are located and at this stage there is no evidence of a direct causal relationship."

Television pictures showed burn marks on the top of the plane near the back, just in front of the vertical stabiliser.

The US Federal Aviation Administration said it had also sent an official to Britain to gather facts for its own regulatory body, the US National Transportation Safety Board.

A spokesman for Ethiopian Airlines said it was investigating the incident but had no plans to ground its fleet of four 787 Dreamliners.

"Ethiopia's Dreamliners will continue to fly," Hailu Teklehaimanot told AFP in Addis Ababa.

"The incident at Heathrow is not being treated as flight-related as the incident happened after being grounded for eight hours."

A global grounding order on the Dreamliner was issued in January after lithium-ion batteries overheated on two different jets, with one of them catching fire while the aircraft was parked.

The US aviation giant has since rolled out modifications it says will ensure the planes are safe.

Boeing's shares closed 4.7 per cent lower at $101.87 in New York trading on Friday, clawing back from a dive of more than seven per cent.

Heathrow, the world's busiest international passenger airport, shut down for 90 minutes following the incident, and there were still knock-on delays on Saturday.

A spokeswoman told AFP that about 40 flights had been cancelled throughout the day, largely due to aircraft being out of place, but said delays to other flights were "minimal".

In a separate incident on Friday, a Dreamliner flying from Manchester in northwest England to Florida was forced to turn back after experiencing a "technical issue" after take-off.

It was operated by Thomson Airways, which only three days earlier had become the first British airline to fly the plane.

The Dreamliner should have entered passenger service in 2008 but it was not until October 2011 that the first commercial flight was operated by Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways.

It has been marketed as a quiet, fuel-efficient aircraft carrying between 201 and 290 passengers on medium-range routes.

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Not a direct relation to the battery but the burning spot is very near to the APU and batteries. Some food for thought here. We'll see what AAIB says after they have a conclusion with the investigations.

Boeing conducts final 787 battery test flight

US aerospace giant Boeing conducted a final 787 Dreamliner test flight on Friday to assess the proposed battery fix that it hopes will get the grounded jetliner back in the skies.

"The purpose of the test is to demonstrate that the new system performs as intended during normal and non-normal flight conditions," said Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel.

Boeing said the airplane took off and landed at Paine Field in Everett, Washington, home to the company's largest plane-building factory.

The Boeing-owned airplane, built for LOT Polish Airlines, departed at 10:39 am local time (1739 GMT) with a crew of 11 onboard, including two representatives of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The crew reported that the nearly two-hour flight was "uneventful" and the demonstration plan to reclaim flight certification was "straightforward," Birtel said.

Boeing expected to gather and analyze the data and submit the required materials to the FAA "in the coming days," the spokesman said.

"Once we deliver the materials we stand ready to reply to additional requests and continue in dialog with the FAA to ensure we have met all of their expectations."

Boeing conducted a similar 787 test flight on March 25.

All of the 50 Boeing 787 planes in service were grounded globally in mid-January after a series of overheating problems with the cutting-edge plane's lithium-ion battery system.

The action came after a battery fire on a parked Japan Airlines 787 at Boston's Logan International Airport and an incident in which battery smoke forced an emergency landing of an All Nippon Airways (ANA) 787 in Japan.

US government investigators have said they still cannot yet explain what caused a potentially catastrophic battery fire aboard the parked JAL 787.

On March 12, the FAA approved Boeing's plan for testing the batteries, saying it marked the "first step in the process to evaluate the 787's return to flight."

The FAA and the US National Transportation Safety Board are working with Japanese authorities in the probe of the overheated battery on the ANA 787.

The NTSB investigates civil aviation accidents; the FAA is responsible for deciding whether the 787 can return to service.

Shortly after the 787 was grounded worldwide on January 17, Boeing halted deliveries of the plane but continues to produce it at a rate of five per month.

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So far so good? The real test only comes when the grounding of the Dreamliner is being lifted. As we've seen in the past, massive hours of test flights is not full proof that the system is working well. Boeing will have to monitor the situation closely once commercial flights of the 787 can commence again.

FAA approves Boeing tests of battery fix

US air-safety regulators on Tuesday approved Boeing's plan to fix 787 batteries for testing, a major step forward to get the planes, grounded worldwide, flying again.

"The Federal Aviation Administration today approved the Boeing Commercial Airplane Company's certification plan for the redesigned 787 battery system... and the company's plan to demonstrate that the system will meet FAA requirements," the agency said in a statement.

The FAA said it had given the green light after "thoroughly reviewing" Boeing's February 22 plan to address risks after lithium-ion batteries short-circuited on two 787 Dreamliner aircraft in mid-January.

A short circuit started a fire on a parked 787 at Boston's Logan Airport and smoke from a battery forced an emergency landing in Japan.

The incidents led to the grounding of all 50 787s in service worldwide on January 16.

"The certification plan is the first step in the process to evaluate the 787's return to flight," the FAA said.

It "requires Boeing to conduct extensive testing and analysis to demonstrate compliance with the applicable safety regulations and special conditions."

The FAA said Boeing's battery improvements include a redesign of internal battery components "to minimise initiation of a short circuit within the battery."

Boeing said its fix also included the addition of new insulation materials, stepped-up production and testing processes, and a containment system.

"We've introduced a new enclosure system that will keep any level of battery overheating from affecting the airplane or being noticed by passengers," Ray Conner, head of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in the statement.

Boeing will run a series of tests and be allowed "limited" test flights for two aircraft equipped with prototype versions of the battery fix, it said.

"This comprehensive series of tests will show us whether the proposed battery improvements will work as designed," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in the statement.

"We won't allow the plane to return to service unless we're satisfied that the new design ensures the safety of the aircraft and its passengers."

The FAA said it was continuing its comprehensive review of the design, production and manufacturing process of the cutting-edge jetliner, built largely with lightweight composite materials.

Boeing expressed confidence that its plan to address the problem will pass the test.

"Today's approval from the FAA is a critical and welcome milestone toward getting the fleet flying again and continuing to deliver on the promise of the 787," Jim McNerney, Boeing chairman, president and chief executive, said in a separate statement.

The Chicago-based company said it would provide additional details of the improvements in the coming days.

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Will it finally mark the end of the whole Dreamliner battery saga? What is worrying is that investigators still failed to dig out the root cause of the fires, which what they're doing now is setting in extra precautions to prevent another fire from occurring. If the battery fails, it will be shut down immediately. If the batteries continue to fail on a regular basis, something must be very wrong in the electronics. 

Haha, maybe all B787 flights will need spare batteries stashed in the cargo!

Tougher certification after Boeing 787 woes: EADS

Boeing's recent problems with the 787 Dreamliner aircraft have likely left regulators "a little bit nervous" about approving other planes, the chief executive of EADS said Thursday.

"I think the certification authorities, whether it's the FAA or any other, are probably a little bit nervous about these new planes now coming in, about the materials and the systems and the processes," said EADS chief executive Tom Enders.

"This is why we have refrained from... any schadenfreude about the problems in the 787, because we have had similar problems in the past," Enders said in a breakfast meeting with reporters in New York.

EADS's plane-making unit Airbus is at the early stage of the Federal Aviation Administration certification process of its A-350 aircraft, which, like the Dreamliner, boasts lighter weight and better fuel-efficiency.

"If industry runs into trouble, particularly as certification is concerned, that affects not just one manufacturer, but others as well," Enders said.

Enders's comments came as Airbus's chief competitor Boeing continues to work closely with the FAA to fix lithium-ion battery problems that led regulators to ground all 50 787s in use in mid-January.

Lithium-ion batteries burned on two 787s in January, causing a fire on a parked airplane at Boston's Logan Airport and smoke that caused an emergency landing in Japan.

On Monday, Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Ray Conner said the company would move "really fast" to get the 787 back in the air once the FAA approves its proposed battery fix.

Enders said one lesson from the Dreamliner's problems is that there may be a benefit to upgrading existing aircraft rather than embarking on entirely new designs.

"It's not completely risk-free" to modify existing designs, Enders said. "But it's of course much less risky than developing new aircraft and it comes for the fraction of the cost."

Enders said that the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company had not gained business due to Boeing's problems with the 787 Dreamliner.

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It is true. With just a handful of aircraft manufacturers around, the aviation industry is so small that one mishap is enough to cause a ripple effect to everyone. Suddenly everyone is paying attention to batteries in the commercial jets to be sure what happened to the Dreamliner doesn't happen to their own planes. Airbus for one, reverted the A350 battery to lead based batteries instead of going ahead with litium-ion.

US with new line of inquiry in Boeing probe

The US National Transportation Safety Board said it is examining whether the Boeing 787's lithium-ion battery problems were due to formation of microscopic structures called dendrites, which can cause overheating.

The battery problems caused the entire Boeing 787 Dreamliner's fleet to be grounded last month.

Dendrites are tiny deposits of lithium that can grow inside a battery's cells. They can cause short circuits, heat or even fire.

On January 16, the 50 Dreamliners in service around the world were grounded after a battery fire on a Japan Airlines (JAL) plane parked in Boston, and battery smoke on an All Nippon Airways flight forced an emergency landing.

"As part of our continuing investigation, we are certainly looking at whether dendrites may or may not have been a factor" in the faulty batteries, said NTSB spokewoman Kelly Nantel.

Nantel did not say if dendrites had in fact been found, and stressed that investigators were still considering several potential causes for short circuiting that was observed.

"They include looking at the state of charge of each individual cell and the method and delivery of that charge, looking for evidence of contamination, electrode folds, wrinkles and pinches and the assembly of the cells and battery and looking at the total design of the battery, including the physical separation of the cells, their electrical interconnections, and their thermal isolation from each other," Nantel said in an email to AFP.

The NTSB, which is probing the Boston incident in particular, said last week it had focused on how the fire spread in the battery, rather than on the cause of it.

Boeing declined comment Monday.

Boeing conducted a flight test of a 787 Monday to see how the batteries behaved.

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So now they're attributing the cause of the issue to the possibility of dendrites forming in the batteries. That is quite an amazing  thing considering, personally I thought such structures only exist in the human body. Well I guess I learned something new today.

Boeing conducts test flight to probe battery fires

Boeing on Saturday carried out an "uneventful" test flight of its 787 Dreamliner as part of investigations into recent battery fires that led international regulators to ground the aircraft.

The flight took off from Seattle, Washington with a crew of 13 pilots and testing personnel at 12:32pm local time (2032 GMT) and landed at 2:51pm (2251 GMT), Boeing said.

"During the flight, the crew monitored the performance of the main and APU batteries," Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel said in a statement. He added that special equipment "allowed the crew to observe and record detailed battery performance in normal flight conditions."

He added: "Data gathered during the flight is considered part of the investigations into the 787 battery events that occurred in January. For that reason, we cannot share any additional details."

Birtel said more test flights were planned for next week.

"As a matter of long-standing practice, we do not provide flight schedules in advance of flight plans being filed," he added.

The test flight had been approved earlier in the week by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

On Friday, Boeing said it had informed buyers of its troubled 787 Dreamliner that deliveries would be delayed as US air safety experts investigate the two burned battery incidents on the aircraft.

On January 16, the 50 Dreamliners in service around the world were grounded after a battery fire on a parked Japan Airlines (JAL) plane and battery smoke on an All Nippon Airways flight forced an emergency landing.

Two days later, Boeing suspended deliveries of the aircraft until further notice, but continued production.

The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the FAA, and Japanese and French authorities are investigating the cause of the battery incidents.

The NTSB on Thursday suggested it could be weeks before it reaches a conclusion on what caused the battery fire aboard the JAL 787 at Boston's Logan International Airport on January 7.

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It is a flight which Boeing would love to see some fire, literally. But the uneventful flight proved to be another fruitless encounter with the batteries. God knows how long more they need to get it sorted out.

US safety board finds clue on 787 fire; faults FAA review

The National Transportation Safety Board on Thursday criticized the government's certification process for the troubled Boeing 787 and said it had pinpointed how a battery fire occurred on one of the planes.

NTSB chairwoman Deborah Hersman said investigators probing the January 7 incident on a Japan Airlines 787 Dreamliner found evidence pointing to a single cell on the battery that caught fire on the plane parked in Boston.

There were multiple signs of short-circuiting in the cell, one of eight on the lithium-ion battery, which led to an uncontrollable rise in temperatures, or thermal runaway, to adjacent cells, she said.

"We are now working to identify the cause of the short circuit on cell six," she said at a news conference. "We have not reached any conclusions at this point."

The battery fire, and a burned battery that forced an All Nippon Airways 787 flight into an emergency landing on January 16, resulted in the global grounding of all 50 787s in service until the problem is fixed.

As the groundings entered a fourth week, Hersman said NTSB investigators were examining the design, manufacturing and charging of the batteries.

She meanwhile faulted the battery's certification by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which cleared the all-new 787 as a safe aircraft more than two years ago after extensive testing.

"The assumptions used to certify the battery must be reconsidered," she said, adding that her agency was conducting tests to determine "why hazards were not mitigated."

As part of the normal FAA certification process, which focuses solely on safety, the FAA relied heavily on information provided by Boeing, she said.

Boeing had estimated that a battery smoke event would occur less than once in 10 million flight hours, while it has instead happened twice in less than 100,000 flight hours, she said.

"We have seen two events on two aircraft less than two weeks apart," she said.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, in a statement following the NTSB news conference, said the FAA, which is also investigating the two burned battery incidents, would take "any action necessary to further ensure safety."

"We must finish this work before reaching conclusions about what changes or improvements the FAA should make going forward," LaHood said.

Late Thursday, the FAA approved Boeing's request to conduct 787 test flights.

"These test flights will be an important part of our efforts to ensure the safety of passengers and return these aircraft to service," the FAA said.

Boeing said, in a separate statement, it would conduct the test flights "soon."

"While our work to determine the cause of the recent battery incidents continues in coordination with appropriate regulatory authorities and investigation agencies, we are confident that 787 is safe to operate for this flight-test activity," Boeing said.

Earlier the Chicago-based company said it would "not hesitate" to make changes that lead to improved testing processes and products.

Hersman said the NTSB continued to work closely with Japanese and French counterparts.

French firm Thales designed the Dreamliner's electrical system and commissioned Japanese firm GS Yuasa to produce the batteries.

A detailed NTSB report on the two-track probe -- investigation of the fire and a review of the battery certification and testing -- will be issued within 30 days, Hersman said.

Since the global grounding, the US aerospace giant has halted deliveries of the 787, which began service in October 2011 as an energy-efficient aircraft making extensive use of lightweight composite materials and pioneering electrical systems.

Boeing has continued a production pace of five 787s a month.

Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace industry analyst at Teal Group, predicted the prolonged investigation could result in the need for "re-certification," keeping the 787 grounded for six months or longer.

Boeing's shares closed up 1.5 per cent at $77.43 on Thursday.

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The blame game has started, and Boeing is taking the full brunt of it, FAA a close second behind. With the grounding entering its forth week, the investigators are still clueless on what caused the batteries to burn themselves.

ANA cancels more flights for Dreamliner grounding

Japan's All Nippon Airways (ANA) said Wednesday it will cancel an additional 368 flights in February, with no end in sight to the global no-fly order on Boeing's Dreamliner.

The total number of ANA flights cancelled since the January 16 grounding now stands at more than 1,200, affecting more than 100,000 passengers.

ANA said cancellations on domestic routes in the last two weeks of February would amount to 308, while 60 international flights -- including those from Tokyo to Seoul and Seattle -- will be scrapped from February 19 through to the end of the month.

The additional cancellations will affect more than 18,000 customers.

The next generation plane, of which ANA has 17, suffered a series of glitches last month, prompting a global alert from the US Federal Aviation Administration that led to the worldwide grounding of all 50 operational 787s.

The risk of fire from overheating powerpacks emerged as a major concern after pilots were forced to land a domestic ANA flight due to smoke apparently linked to the lithium-ion battery.

Probes into the battery issues have so far proved inconclusive.

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Still inconclusive, still clueless, still grounded, still losing money.

Japan says no major fault at Dreamliner battery plant

Japan's transport ministry said on Monday safety inspectors had found no major problem on the production line making batteries for Boeing's Dreamliner, further muddying the waters in a worldwide probe.

"We have found no major quality or technical problem," an official at the ministry said on condition of anonymity, as Japanese and American safety inspectors ended a week-long probe at battery maker GS Yuasa.

Shares in GS Yuasa, which has the contract for all Dreamliner batteries and is based in the western city of Kyoto, closed up 4.77 percent at 329 yen Monday after the ministry's comments.

Aviation regulators were focusing on the lithium-ion batteries as the cause of a problem that forced an All Nippon Airways (ANA) flight to make an emergency landing on January 16.

They have released a picture showing the blackened remains of the battery that inspectors removed from the plane.

But they said last week there were no signs of a battery fire, while information gleaned from the flight's digital data recorder showed the power pack did not suffer a rapid surge in voltage.

GS Yuasa is just one of many contractors in a complex global chain that led to three years of delays before Boeing delivered its first 787 to ANA in 2011.

The transport ministry official said Monday the authorities would now inspect suppliers of parts used in battery packs.

The Nikkei economic daily said they were looking into a company based in Fujisawa, southwest of Tokyo, which manufactures devices that monitor voltage and temperature in the batteries.

US regulators have said they will not allow the 787 to fly again until they are sure the problems around the battery system are fixed.

The worldwide grounding of the next-generation plane is having an increasing effect on airlines flying it.

ANA has reportedly cancelled 838 flights, affecting nearly 83,000 domestic and international passengers, over the period to the middle of next month.

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The Yuasa batteries seems to be not the problem though, What's next??