A Boeing 787 caught fire on the tarmac at London's Heathrow Airport on Friday, followed hours later by a technical problem aboard another 'Dreamliner' that forced the plane to turn back from a trans-Atlantic flight. The incidents sent Boeing's stock down more than 7 percent at one point.
The first incident involved an Ethiopian Airlines plane with no passengers aboard. The second occurred aboard a Thomson Airways flight en route from Manchester, England to Sanford, Fla.
The Ethiopian jet suffered what a Heathrow spokesman described as an "onboard internal fire" while sitting at the gate. Photographs appeared to show fire damage just forward of the tail section.
In a statement, the airline said smoke was detected coming from the plane more than eight hours after it was parked. "The aircraft was empty when the incident was observed," Ethiopian said in a brief statement. "The cause of the incident is under investigation by all concerned."
A fire in January in Boston aboard a grounded Japan Airlines 787 occurred underneath in the midsection of the fuselage, where the avionics compartment is located. It was later attributed to a and forced a months-long grounding of the 50 aircraft in service around the world. While the plane was cleared to , there have been reports of since then.
In a tweet, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending an "accredited representative" to London-Heathrow to assist in an investigation of the latest 787 fire.
Meanwhile, U.K.-based Thomson Airways says one of its 787s traveling from England to the U.S. had to turn back on Friday after experiencing a technical issue, The Associated Press reports.
The AP quotes Thomson as saying that Flight 126 traveling from Manchester Airport to Sanford, Fla., had returned to Manchester "as a precautionary measure."
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