During a ground test in South Carolina over the weekend, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner expelled a piece of debris that landed on grass and caught fire. It’s just the latest setback for the $US200 million passenger megaplane of the future.
The Chicago Tribune reports that the National Transportation Safety Board is in the “early stages” of investigating Saturday’s incident, which temporarily shut down the airport in North Charleston, South Carolina. Boeing wasted no time downplaying the ordeal as an innocuous-sounding “engine issue”.
It’s the latest setback in a string of incidents for the $US200 million Dreamliner, which finally made its first commercial flight last year after being delayed for ages. Boeing recently discovered a fuselage problem that lead to delayed shipments, and five 787s were grounded in Japan due to corrosion. Come on, guys, it’s called the Dreamliner. This plane has been nothing but a nightmare so far. [Chicago Tribune]