Windshield cracks as AI's 787 lands in Melbourne

For the second time in less than a month, glitches surfaced in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, with cracks appearing on the windshield of a Delhi-Melbourne-Sydney flight operated by Air India (AI).

The government-owned airline said the windshield of AI 311 from Delhi to Melbourne had cracked upon landing, around midnight on Sunday. There were 75 passengers.

“The crack, however, did not endanger passenger safety at any point. The passengers on the return leg were booked on different flights and taken care of. Men and material have been dispatched to Melbourne and the aircraft will be airworthy in 10 hours,” said an official at the airline.

TROUBLED DREAM

• For the second time in less than a month, glitches surfaced in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner
• The Dreamliner has been facing technical glitches, which started with cases of its batteries catching fire in January, forcing airlines across the world, including Air India (AI), to ground their entire fleet of the aircraft for some months
• On October 12, a panel fell off an AI Delhi-Bangalore Dreamliner

The Dreamliner has been facing technical glitches, which started with cases of its batteries catching fire in January, forcing airlines across the world, including AI, to ground their entire fleet of the aircraft for some months. On October 12, a panel fell off an AI Delhi-Bangalore Dreamliner.

Last week, aircraft manufacturer Boeing said it was going to focus all its energy to further improve the plane’s reliability. Dinesh Keskar, senior vice-president (sales, Asia-Pacific and India), said, “We have a team in place here which monitors the operations and we are in touch with them. We develop plans together, as to how we are going to fix it and we are already in that mode.”

Adding: “Today, worldwide we are at 97 per cent reliability. We are not pleased with that; we will improve that.” He said it was a safe airplane and had never caused concern on this aspect.

On the panel falling off, the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) is also probing. Keskar’d earlier said there was some misinformation. “The panel fell off at Bangalore airport. It has been recovered and never put the lives of passengers or the aircraft at risk, as it was an access panel and not a pressurised one," he had informed.

AI has ordered 27 Boeing 787 aircraft, of which it has received nine. The 10th is likely to arrive in India this week.