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Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner catches fire at Britain’s Heathrow airport
The 787 uses a powerful electrical system to drive air conditioning and hydraulic functions that are run from compressed air on traditional aircraft designs. That electrical system experienced fire during its development which also prompted changes in its electrical panels.
The Dreamliner which caught fire at Heathrow on Friday was delivered to Ethiopian Airlines in November last year.
It arrived at London, Heathrow from Addis Ababa in the early hours of Friday, according to the Flightradar monitoring web site. The plane was due to make the return journey later on Friday.
Asked whether the incident could lead to the renewed grounding of Dreamliner jets, a spokesman for Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority said decisions on the airworthiness of particular models of plane were made by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
An EASA spokesman said it was too early to say whether the aircraft would be grounded again.
United Continental and Polish airline LOT said they would continue to operate their 787s.
Ethiopian Airlines Dreamliners are powered by General Electric GEnx engines.
