 "Honeywell faces scrutiny as UK probes 787 fire")
An emergency beacon made by Honeywell International Inc is under scrutiny in a probe of last week's Boeing Co 787 fire at London's Heathrow airport.
The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said on Tuesday it's looking at the emergency locater transmitter situated near the back of the Dreamliner where the July 12 fire occurred.
"We can confirm that Honeywell have been invited to join the investigation," the AAIB said in an emailed response to questions. "The ELT (emergency locator transmitter) is one of several components being looked at in detail as part of the investigation. It would be premature to speculate on the causes of the incident at this stage."
A fire related to a conventional product such as a transmitter, instead of the new technologies used on the Dreamliner, would take pressure off Boeing, said Hans Weber, chief executive officer of Tecop International Inc., a San Diego-based aerospace consulting company.
'Following leads'
"That's conventional technology," Weber said in a telephone interview. "It would be an off-the-shelf product."
Still, it's too early to speculate on the cause, Weber said. Fire investigations on aircraft often take longer because officials have to sift through the damage carefully so as not to destroy evidence, he said.
The AAIB had said previously its probe included Ethiopian Airlines, Boeing and other European and US aviation agencies. "The travelling public can be sure we are investigating all possible causes and following up all leads," it said on Tuesday.
Honeywell's emergency beacons have been certified for use since 2005 without a single reported issue, Steve Brecken, a spokesman for the company, wrote in an email. Morris Township, New Jersey-based Honeywell has sent technical experts to Heathrow to help with the probe and "at this time it is premature to speculate on the cause of the fire".
Boeing shares
Brecken said Honeywell will work with Chicago-based Boeing and the AAIB as well as the US National Transportation Safety Board to assist in determining the cause of the fire.
Honeywell rose less than 0.1 per cent to $82.34 at 9:44 am in New York. The stock dropped yesterday after Dow Jones reported scrutiny of the beacon. Boeing fell 0.4 per cent to $105.24 and had surged 40 percent this year through July 15.
Japanese airlines, the first operators of Boeing's 787, said they checked their fleets and found nothing unusual.
ANA Holdings Inc, operator of the world's largest 787 fleet, completed inspections of its 20 Dreamliners on Monday, spokeswoman Megumi Tezuka said.
Japan Airlines Co, which operates nine 787s, also said its inspections of the planes on Monday found nothing unusual, according to spokesman Taro Namba.
GS Yuasa Corp, the Kyoto, Japan-based maker of some batteries used in the 787, has not been asked to cooperate in the probe, spokesman Hiroharu Nakano said. The company had been involved in previous investigations regarding lithium-ion batteries after some it made for the 787 overheated, leading to a grounding of the entire Dreamliner fleet.
Empty plane
Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd, the Tokyo-based supplier of centre wing boxes for the 787, was not involved in the latest probe, said spokesman Fusao Watanabe.
No one was on board the Ethiopian Airlines plane at the time of the fire, and the carrier is still flying its three other 787s while awaiting the results of the probe.
Emergency locater transmitters emit a radio signal after a crash to help rescuers find the plane. They are equipped with a lithium-manganese battery, a form of rechargeable lithium-ion technology, according to the official.
The battery has a different chemical formulation from the larger lithium batteries implicated in the two incidents in January that prompted US regulators to ground the fleet. All lithium-ion batteries are made with flammable material.
GPS data
The beacon, which weighs 6.6 pounds, has a service life of 10 years and should run for 50 hours once activated. The device is built to withstand operating temperatures from minus 20 to plus 55 Celsius, Honeywell said on its website.
Earlier ELTs broadcast a tone over an air-traffic radio frequency. Newer models broadcast a global-positioning system location to satellites, which then notify ground stations of a possible crash and its whereabouts. They are equipped with a battery so they can continue to broadcast after a crash.
Through June, Boeing had delivered 66 787s to 11 airlines and a leasing company, including six to United Continental Holdings Inc. The Dreamliner has a list price of $206.8 million.
The US Federal Aviation Administration restricted the fleet from flying on January 16 after the lithium-ion batteries overheated on two aircraft, with one catching fire in Boston with no passengers aboard.
In that incident, a Japan Airlines Co 787 experienced what US safety investigators called an uncontrolled chain reaction that charred the battery. The second malfunction occurred on an ANA Holdings plane that took off from Japan and was forced to make an emergency landing.
The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said on Tuesday it's looking at the emergency locater transmitter situated near the back of the Dreamliner where the July 12 fire occurred.
"We can confirm that Honeywell have been invited to join the investigation," the AAIB said in an emailed response to questions. "The ELT (emergency locator transmitter) is one of several components being looked at in detail as part of the investigation. It would be premature to speculate on the causes of the incident at this stage."
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Boeing is working to revive the reputation of its 787 fleet, which was grounded worldwide earlier this year after lithium-ion batteries overheated on two aircraft. Boeing shares on Monday recovered most of their loss from July 12, the day of the blaze on board the parked Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise 787 at London Heathrow. Honeywell makes dozens of components for the aircraft, from distance measuring equipment to tail-cone lights.
A fire related to a conventional product such as a transmitter, instead of the new technologies used on the Dreamliner, would take pressure off Boeing, said Hans Weber, chief executive officer of Tecop International Inc., a San Diego-based aerospace consulting company.
'Following leads'
"That's conventional technology," Weber said in a telephone interview. "It would be an off-the-shelf product."
Still, it's too early to speculate on the cause, Weber said. Fire investigations on aircraft often take longer because officials have to sift through the damage carefully so as not to destroy evidence, he said.
The AAIB had said previously its probe included Ethiopian Airlines, Boeing and other European and US aviation agencies. "The travelling public can be sure we are investigating all possible causes and following up all leads," it said on Tuesday.
Honeywell's emergency beacons have been certified for use since 2005 without a single reported issue, Steve Brecken, a spokesman for the company, wrote in an email. Morris Township, New Jersey-based Honeywell has sent technical experts to Heathrow to help with the probe and "at this time it is premature to speculate on the cause of the fire".
Boeing shares
Brecken said Honeywell will work with Chicago-based Boeing and the AAIB as well as the US National Transportation Safety Board to assist in determining the cause of the fire.
Honeywell rose less than 0.1 per cent to $82.34 at 9:44 am in New York. The stock dropped yesterday after Dow Jones reported scrutiny of the beacon. Boeing fell 0.4 per cent to $105.24 and had surged 40 percent this year through July 15.
Japanese airlines, the first operators of Boeing's 787, said they checked their fleets and found nothing unusual.
ANA Holdings Inc, operator of the world's largest 787 fleet, completed inspections of its 20 Dreamliners on Monday, spokeswoman Megumi Tezuka said.
Japan Airlines Co, which operates nine 787s, also said its inspections of the planes on Monday found nothing unusual, according to spokesman Taro Namba.
GS Yuasa Corp, the Kyoto, Japan-based maker of some batteries used in the 787, has not been asked to cooperate in the probe, spokesman Hiroharu Nakano said. The company had been involved in previous investigations regarding lithium-ion batteries after some it made for the 787 overheated, leading to a grounding of the entire Dreamliner fleet.
Empty plane
Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd, the Tokyo-based supplier of centre wing boxes for the 787, was not involved in the latest probe, said spokesman Fusao Watanabe.
No one was on board the Ethiopian Airlines plane at the time of the fire, and the carrier is still flying its three other 787s while awaiting the results of the probe.
Emergency locater transmitters emit a radio signal after a crash to help rescuers find the plane. They are equipped with a lithium-manganese battery, a form of rechargeable lithium-ion technology, according to the official.
The battery has a different chemical formulation from the larger lithium batteries implicated in the two incidents in January that prompted US regulators to ground the fleet. All lithium-ion batteries are made with flammable material.
GPS data
The beacon, which weighs 6.6 pounds, has a service life of 10 years and should run for 50 hours once activated. The device is built to withstand operating temperatures from minus 20 to plus 55 Celsius, Honeywell said on its website.
Earlier ELTs broadcast a tone over an air-traffic radio frequency. Newer models broadcast a global-positioning system location to satellites, which then notify ground stations of a possible crash and its whereabouts. They are equipped with a battery so they can continue to broadcast after a crash.
Through June, Boeing had delivered 66 787s to 11 airlines and a leasing company, including six to United Continental Holdings Inc. The Dreamliner has a list price of $206.8 million.
The US Federal Aviation Administration restricted the fleet from flying on January 16 after the lithium-ion batteries overheated on two aircraft, with one catching fire in Boston with no passengers aboard.
In that incident, a Japan Airlines Co 787 experienced what US safety investigators called an uncontrolled chain reaction that charred the battery. The second malfunction occurred on an ANA Holdings plane that took off from Japan and was forced to make an emergency landing.