New Delhi: The Boeing 787 Dreamliner's unending trouble with spoilers — speed retardation devices on the wings that move up and down — saw over 200 passengers supposed to fly from Frankfurt to Delhi on Thursday night taxiing out of the airport twice only to return to the aerobridge minutes later each time. The aircraft had to be finally grounded in Germany on Thursday night as by the time the problem was sorted, night curfew had kicked in at Frankfurt.
The problem started when AI 123 on Dreamliner (VT-AND) first taxied out of Frankfurt and a problem was detected with the spoilers. This device acts as a speed breaker on an aircraft and its actuators make it go up or down on wing tips during takeoff to alter drag and during landing to increase rate of descent. Without this important device perfectly functional, an airplane can't be allowed to get airborne.
"The problem was sorted out in about 90 minutes. By this time, the flight time duty limitation of the crew (maximum time that a crew is allowed to operate for) got keeping in mind the time spent on ground and the remaining flying time to Delhi. An exemption from the FTDL was obtained. And then the aircraft was ready to fly to Delhi. But it was not allowed to take off as the 9pm airport curfew time at Frankfurt may have been breached," said an official.
24/05/14 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
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The problem started when AI 123 on Dreamliner (VT-AND) first taxied out of Frankfurt and a problem was detected with the spoilers. This device acts as a speed breaker on an aircraft and its actuators make it go up or down on wing tips during takeoff to alter drag and during landing to increase rate of descent. Without this important device perfectly functional, an airplane can't be allowed to get airborne.
"The problem was sorted out in about 90 minutes. By this time, the flight time duty limitation of the crew (maximum time that a crew is allowed to operate for) got keeping in mind the time spent on ground and the remaining flying time to Delhi. An exemption from the FTDL was obtained. And then the aircraft was ready to fly to Delhi. But it was not allowed to take off as the 9pm airport curfew time at Frankfurt may have been breached," said an official.
24/05/14 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
