Timeline Of The Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s Failures

The tortured path of missteps and accidents leading up to the FAA grounding six of the jetliners yesterday.

Federal officials say they are temporarily grounding Boeing’s 787 Dreamliners until the risk of possible battery fires is addressed.

Image by SAUL LOEB / Getty Images

The Dreamliner is one of Boeing’s most critical products. It has been praised for its high-tech design and fuel efficiency. Airlines set record orders for the jet, and Boeing has almost 800 more Dreamliners on order.

The 787 uses two lithium ion batteries — including one for the auxiliary power unit. The rechargeable batteries, widely used in consumer devices, have some pilots worried because batteries being shipped as cargo are suspected to have caused or contributed to the severity of fires in cargo planes.

When Boeing proposed using the batteries in the 787, the Federal Aviation Administration issued special rules, including a requirement that they be designed to prevent overheating. The severity of overheating is higher in larger batteries, the FAA said in the rule.

3. Nov. 9, 2010: Fire aboard 787 test jet forces emergency landing in Laredo, Texas.

Image by Elaine Thompson / AP

4. Oct. 26, 2011: First commercial flight of Boeing 787 Dreamliner from Narita to Hong Kong on All Nippon Airways.

Image by ANTHONY BOLANTE / Reuters

5. Feb. 6, 2012: Boeing Co. says it identified a problem in the rear section of some of its 787 Dreamliners.

Image by Toru Hanai / Reuters

6. Nov. 4, 2012: United Airlines’ inaugural flight of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner goes to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.

Image by HANDOUT / Reuters

7. Nov 15, 2012: Poland is the first country in Europe to get the Dreamliner plane.

Image by Alik Keplicz / AP

8. July 28, 2012: A 787 Dreamliner’s engine issue leaves debris from the aircraft on the runway at Charleston International Airport and sparks a fire in the nearby grass.

Image by PAUL J. RICHARDS / Getty Images

9. Sept. 5, 2012: All Nippon Airways aborts the takeoff of a Dreamliner after smoke is seen billowing from the plane’s left engine.

Image by KYODO / Reuters

10. Sept. 15, 2012: The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board requests the grounding of certain 787s due to the engine failures.

Image by Toru Hanai / Reuters

11. Nov. 11, 2012: A fire starts in a Qatar Airways Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s ground power unit beneath the plane at the Farnborough Airshow 2012.

Image by MICHAEL BUHOLZER / Reuters

12. Dec. 4, 2012: A United flight makes an emergency landing in New Orleans when one of its six generators fails.

Image by David McNew / Getty Images

13. Dec. 5, 2012: The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issues a directive for 787 inspections after fuel leaks on two planes.

Image by ROBERT GALBRAITH / Reuters

14. Dec. 13, 2012: Qatar Airways grounds one of its three 787s after finding the same electrical problem that affected the Dec. 4 United flight.

Image by MICHAEL BUHOLZER / Reuters

15. Dec. 25, 2012: Air India requests a team of Boeing engineers to address issues described as “teething problems” with the 787 Boeing Dreamliner.

Image by AP / AP

16. Jan. 7, 2013: A battery explodes on a Japan Airlines Boeing 787 minutes after passengers disembarked following a nonstop flight from Tokyo. It takes firefighters 40 minutes to put out the blaze.

Image by HANDOUT / Reuters

17. Jan. 8, 2013: Japan Airlines flight to Tokyo returns to Logan Airport in Boston after a fuel leak is discovered.

Image by Charles Krupa / AP

18. Jan. 8, 2013: All Nippon Airways cancels a domestic flight to Tokyo after a computer indicated there was a problem with the Boeing 787’s brakes.

Image by YOSHIKAZU TSUNO / Getty Images

19. Jan. 9, 2013: All Nippon Airways cancels a 787 flight scheduled to make a domestic trip within Japan due to brake problems.

Image by KAZUHIRO NOGI / Getty Images

20. Jan. 10, 2013: The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration orders review of Dreamliner after an oil leak and window crack discovered on two All Nippon Airways 787s in Japan.

Image by Shohei Miyano / Reuters

21. Jan. 11, 2013: All Nippon Airways reports a crack in the glass of a cockpit window in a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Image by KAZUHIRO NOGI / Getty Images

22. Jan. 13, 2013: Japan Airlines’ Boeing 787 reports a second fuel leak in the same plane that leaked on Jan. 8.

Image by KYODO / Reuters

23. Jan. 16, 2013: All Nippon Airways’ Dreamliner makes an emergency landing at Takamatsu airport in western Japan after smoke appeared in the cockpit.

Image by KYODO / Reuters

Jan. 16, 2013: All Nippon Airways suspends all 17 of its Dreamliners. Kyodo News reports the lithium-ion batteries in some planes have been leaking flammable battery fluid, which then eats through the floor of the plane and spills onto the runway.

Image by Toru Hanai / Reuters

24. Jan. 16, 2013: The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration grounds all six Dreamliners owned by United Arlines pending further investigation.

Image by Toru Hanai / Reuters

25. Jan. 17, 2013: The European Aviation Safety Agency orders all European carriers to ground all 787 Dreamliners, followed shortly by the Indian government grounding all Air India Dreamliners.

Image by Charles Rex Arbogast / AP