Boeing 787 resumes test flights for FAA approval

Boeing's 787 Dreamliner resumed Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-certification test flights Monday for the first time since an in-flight electrical fire in November grounded the test fleet.

The flights resumed when Dreamliner No. 4 took off Monday from Yuma, Ariz. The test required the pilots to jettison fuel, demonstrating the plane can do so safely in advance of an emergency landing.

Boeing has been flying limited test flights since the end of the year for its own testing purposes, but none that counted toward certification. The resumption of the certification flights with FAA approval is an encouraging sign the 787 program will soon pin down a new delivery schedule after the setback from the fire that forced an emergency landing in Laredo, Texas.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief Jim Albaugh said last week the company needs the FAA "to agree to the fixes we're going to put in place" and to restart certification test flights before the company can release a delivery schedule.

Boeing has said the Laredo incident may have been caused by some debris in the electrical panel. The in-flight fire caused a series of system failures, including loss of the main pilot flight displays.

To protect against a repetition, Boeing has proposed some minor hardware changes to guard against debris and more extensive software changes so that the 787's electrical-distribution system will respond better to the failure of one electrical panel.

It's possible that after the fire and an earlier mishap when a Rolls-Royce engine blew up in a ground test, the FAA may require Boeing to do more extensive certification testing, further pushing out the first delivery to launch customer All Nippon Airways of Japan.

That should become clear when the new Dreamliner delivery schedule is announced sometime within the next two weeks.

Also Monday, the plane that caught fire in November, Dreamliner No. 2, resumed flying from Boeing Field for the first time since it returned from Texas days after the fire.

The test flight Monday included a check on the electronic equipment bay where the fire erupted.

Dominic Gates: 206-464-2963 or dgates@seattletimes.com