What happened to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner at Heathrow Airport in 2013?

On 12 July 2013 a Boeing 787 Dreamliner jet caught fire at Heathrow Airport. The incident occurred just months after the entire fleet was grounded worldwide due to concerns over their lithium-ion batteries. Fortunately there were no casualties.

How did the Boeing 787 Dreamliner fire at Heathrow Airport start?

The source of ignition isn’t clear however ground crew quickly extinguished the internet fire - no one was on the plane during the incident.

Fire-retardant foam was sprayed at the airliner. An area on top of the fuselage in front of the tail appeared to be scorched.

What can the industry learn from the Boeing 787 Dreamliner fire at Heathrow Airport?

On the same day as this incident a different Boeing 787 Dreamliner Jet was flown back to Manchester airport and aborted its scheduled flight - it was speculated that it had a similar issue.

On 7 January 2013 a battery overheated and started a fire on a Japan Airlines 787 at Boston's Logan International Airport. Nine days later, an All Nippon Airways 787 had to make an emergency landing in Japan after a battery started to give off smoke.

Technically the batteries are not used during flight - only when braking and when on the ground. However, Boeing was quick to respond, indicating a new battery unit to be fitted to the fleet of 50 Dreamliners. The new batteries operate at a much cooler temperature and are encased in a metal container.

Boeing indicated that it has used more than 200,000 engineering hours investigating and rectifying the problem. At the time of the incident Boeing was manufacturing seven Dreamliner planes per month.