Dreamliner Woes Continue With Brake Issues

A Boeing 787 Dreamliner had to make an emergency landing on Sunday because of a brake system problem, which marks the third time this month that a Dreamliner airplane has run into problems, AFP reports.

The United Airlines flight was en route to Denver from Houston when the problem with the brake indicator popped up and it turned back to Houston as a precautionary measure.

Earlier this month, a Japan Airlines flight bound for Singapore was forced to turn back mid-flight because of problems with its anti-icing system. A day later, an All Nippon Airways flight was cancelled because an engine would not start, AFP reports.

These are the latest in a string of problems that have plagued the much-heralded, fuel-efficient Dreamliner. The entire fleet was grounded worldwide for four months starting in January after its lithium-ion batteries overheated on two planes and one of them – a Japan Airlines plane caught fire while still parked in Boston. Boeing said it could not ascertain why that happened but issued a modification that would prevent it from happening again. The FAA, which issued the global alert after the incidents happened, approved the battery system improvements in April.

Boeing did not give a reason for the brake malfunction on the United flight on Sunday or how long it would take to repair it. But in a bid to show that it is back on track, it announced a new, bigger version of the Dreamliner at the 2013 Paris Air Show last week and said it has booked orders for more than 100 planes, worth $300 billion.

Singapore Airlines and Air Lease Corporation booked the biggest orders for the 787-10 version last week, at 30 planes each. United Airlines will buy 20 and British Airways will buy 12 planes. The air show saw a flurry of announcements from Boeing and Airbus about their fuel-efficient planes, the Airbus A350 and the Dreamliner, which are the first commercial jets to be made with lightweight carbon composites.