Boeing Takes Dreamliner on First Test Flight

Boeing has taken its first test flight of its 787 Dreamliner since problems connected to the lithium-ion batteries found aboard two planes grounded the fleet of new planes a month ago. The company didn’t issue any results from the test flight.

Boeing said that the plane flew for two hours and 19 minutes on Saturday afternoon. It included a crew of 13 people who monitored the main and auxiliary batteries on the plane. According to Marc Birtel, company spokesman, the crew reports that nothing from the ordinary happened during the flight.

The Federal Aviation Administration and other regulators across the globe grounded Boeing’s fleet of 50 planes January 16 after battery problems on two Dreamliner planes. The first was a battery fire in a Japan Airlines plane parked in Boston last January 7. The second one was a battery fire that forced an emergency landing of an All Nippon Airways Dreamliner on January 16.

The FAA allowed Boeing a one-time ferry flight that happened Thursday to move a 787 from a painting facility in Texas to Washington. Then the FAA allowed Boeing to make test flights. The National Transportation Safety Board continues to probe the battery fire. They said that the origin of the fire is in one of the eight cells of the auxiliary battery but they continue to search for a flaw in the battery design, its manufacturing, or how it is charged.

FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said test flights are common in research and development. The aim of such flights is to collect data about the battery and electrical system while the Dreamliner is airborne. The crew members monitored the batteries and the plane flew over unpopulated areas.

Boeing said information collected during the test flight is now part of the federal investigation into the battery problems. Birtel said that the company can’t give more details about the flight.