US safety team in Japan for 787 probe
2013-01-18 12:57
Tokyo - A team of US safety investigators arrived on Friday at the Dreamliner whose emergency landing this week sparked the worldwide grounding of Boeing's flagship plane, an official said.
"A team of the US NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) comprising four officials arrived at Takamatsu airport this morning to cooperate with our investigation," Mamoru Takahashi, spokesperson for Japan Transport Safety Board told AFP.
The US and Japanese officials "are now holding a meeting to discuss what kind of issues they will focus on in their investigation", he said.
The team from the NTSB, an independent US investigative body, may be joined by officials from US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Boeing, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported from New York.
The move came as Dreamliners around the world sat on the tarmac after being grounded until a fire risk is fixed.
Authorities in Chile, Ethiopia, Europe, India, Japan and Qatar followed the US Federal Aviation Administration in halting all 787 flights after a smoke alert forced a Japanese Dreamliner to make an emergency landing on Wednesday.
The FAA, in grounding all US-registered 787 aircraft late Wednesday, highlighted "a potential battery fire risk in the 787".
Last week, the FAA announced a comprehensive review of the 787 following a series of safety incidents.
- SAPA
