Air India 787 Dreamliner’s maiden flight aborted
03 Aug 2011
Can anything go right for Air India? The first 787 Dreamliner manufactured for India's flag carrier India made its maiden flight on 31 July but found the sortie aborted after a few minutes declaring an emergency, which was eventually traced to a failed sensor.
Carrying the factory number ZA233, Airplane 29, clad in Air India livery, departed Boeing's Everett, Washington facility on a standard production flight for an initial checkout of the aircraft's systems.
Minutes after departure, the aircraft reported ''a flap problem'' and then returned back to base citing an issue with its flight controls.
Boeing says the aircraft "performed a safe landing" and the issue was traced to a failed sensor. It declined to offer any additional information on the nature of the emergency.
ZA233 is expected to be eventually registered as VT-AND, but has been assigned a temporary US registration of N1006N.
The aircraft is only the third production 787 to fly to date, with the first, Airplane Nine, ZA102, flying in January, followed in March by Airplane 23, ZA177, for Japan Airlines.
