Launch customer All Nippon Airways repeatedly replaced batteries on Boeing 787 Dreamliners even before overheating problems emerged, according to a report overnight.
The disclosure prompted the US National Transportation Safety Board to call for Boeing to provide a full operating history of the lithium-ion batteries used on the grounded aircraft, according to the Associated Press.
The regulator made the call after becoming aware of battery problems at ANA that occurred before a battery fire in a 787 parked at Boston airport on January 7. Boeing has already collected some of the information, a spokesman said.
ANA said it had replaced batteries on its 787 aircraft some 10 times because they failed to charge properly or showed other problems, and informed Boeing about the swaps.
Japan Airlines also said it had replaced 787 batteries. It described the number involved as a few.
All 50 787s in service around the world remain grounded after an ANA flight made an emergency landing in Japan when its main battery overheated two weeks ago.
ANA spokeswoman Megumi Tezuka was quoted as saying the airline was not required to report the battery replacements to Japan’s transport ministry because they did not interfere with flights and did not raise safety concerns.
Having to replace batteries on aircraft is not uncommon and was not considered out of the ordinary, she said.
Japanese and U.S. investigators looking into the 787’s battery problems shifted their attention this week from the battery-maker to the manufacturer of a monitoring system. That company makes a system that monitors voltage, charging and temperature of the lithium-ion batteries.
The NTSB said yesterday that it was conducting a chemical analysis of internal short-circuiting and thermal damage of the battery that caught fire in Boston.