A snag in production is causing a big headache for Boeing.
"Hairline cracks have been discovered in the wings of some 787s still being built. Boeing says none of the 122 Dreamliners already in service are affected." (Via WIS-TV)
Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries makes the wings for the Dreamliners. Businessweek reports it was the one to discover the cracks and tell Boeing the cracks might've occurred because of a change in manufacturing.
CNBC says Boeing has already started inspections of the 42 planes currently in production and has even decided on a way to fix the problem.
"The defective area will be trimmed away and then a fabricated piece of aluminum will be put on." (Via KUSI)
Boeing expects to take one or two weeks to inspect and fix each plane. This is just the latest issue the Dreamliner model has run into.
One Dreamliner made an emergency landing after experiencing battery problems. That's on top of an electrical fire that started on an empty 787 and a fuel leak on another plane. All three incidents occurred in January 2013.
But demand is still high for the more fuel-efficient 787s. Air Cargo News says Boeing is building the Dreamliners at a rate of 10 airplanes per month. It hopes to increase that to 14 a month by 2016.
The Wall Street Journal reports Boeing doesn't expect the fixing of the hairline cracks to affect the number of planes it will deliver.
Although Boeing did tell the publication that airlines expecting to receive their 787s soon might see a delay, not receiving them until sometime after March.
