FAA Says Boeing 787 Dreamliners Have 'Urgent Safety Issue'

FORTUNE ^ | APRIL 25, 2016 | Laura Lorenzetti

[sukhoi-30mki]

The Federal Aviation Administration is ordering fixes on General Electric engines used on some Boeing 787 Dreamliners after it found that an icing problem can cause the engines to shut down mid-flight.

[Tainan]

Always fly as far into the crash as possible.

[JPG]

--But imagine a new jet with four new engines.... now that would be safe :-)

Why stop at four?

[bert]

having said all that, how many engine outages have ever occurred in either the 2 or 4 engined craft?

the figure is close to nil

[Jimmy Valentine]

Airbus has had this same issue

[wjcsux]

Yes, this has been the state of the aviation industry since day one. Problems found and fixed.

[PAR35]

I have the plane for you:

Airbus 380 - 4 engines and fairly fuel efficient.

[ThunderSleeps]

Interesting, but it isn't really the 787's problem, it is a GE engine problem. The GEnx is used on both the 787 and 747-8. Apparently this icing problem has been a known issue since early 2013 occurring first on the engines used in the 747.

Ever since reading Michael Crichton's "Airframe" I've been conscious of how often aircraft get blamed for failures outside their control. In fact there's a specific incident in the book where the Norton aircraft is blamed for an incident involving an engine failure. True, the engine is part of the system, and overall it is a problem with 747 and 787 aircraft - equipped with this type of engine. (and no, I'm not even a Boeing employee, I actually work for another company that is a sometimes competitor, sometimes partner with Boeing)

[BfloGuy]

One of the notable parts of the flight begins at 32:20

I love that video. One of the notable parts for me was when the flight crew all lit up a cigarette in the cockpit. Heh.

[The_Media_never_lie]

I have flown at least half a dozen times on the 787. The engine never once shut down in mid flight.

Did you see the flight engineer leisurely roaming the cabin? Could be he was struggling to keep the dang thing running.....

[minnesota_bound]

C’mon do you really need 2 working engines?
They have another 2.... oh wait.

[Cementjungle]

can cause the engines to shut down mid-flight

That's an EPA-mandated Climate Change mitigation feature.

[hattend]

The engine never once shut down in mid flight.

Did you fly through known icing conditions?