Monday, January 14, 2013

JAL 787 APU battery to be taken apart by NTSB

The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it has moved materials from the Japan Airlines Boeing 787 that caught fire last week from Boston to Washington DC for detailed examination.

The board said it has transported the burned battery believed to have started last week’s fire at Boston Logan Airport to its labs. The 32-volt lithium-ion battery is used to start the 787’s auxiliary power unit (APU). “The battery is currently being examined by NTSB investigators, who plan to disassemble it this week,” the safety board said.

The NTSB did not provide further details on the fire or its cause.

It said radiographic examinations of the battery have been conducted, enabling investigators to “document the internal condition of the battery prior to disassembling it.” The 787 is the first Boeing aircraft to use a lithium-ion battery.

 In addition, NTSB investigators “took possession of burned wire bundles, the APU battery charger and several memory modules,” the board said. “The maintenance and APU controller memory modules will be downloaded to obtain any available data. Investigators also documented the entire aft electronics bay including the APU battery and the nearby affected structure where components and wire bundles were located.”

The aircraft’s flight data and cockpit voice recorders have also been transported to NTSB headquarters for analysis.

(Aaron Karp - ATWOnline News)

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