- Date
- January 7, 2013, 10:30 local (15:30 UTC)
- Place
- Boston, MA
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Other
- Aircraft
- JA829JBoeing 787
- Defining event
- Other: Fire/smoke (non-impact)
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 5, 2015
- Report
- Board-adopted at Board Meeting
- Investigation class
- Class 1
- NTSB office
- Major Investigations Division
- Safety recommendations
- Yes
- Case key
- 85973
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the incident.
On this page
Probable cause
an internal short circuit within a cell of the auxiliary power unit (APU) lithium-ion battery, which led to thermal runaway that cascaded to adjacent cells, resulting in the release of smoke and fire. The incident resulted from Boeing's failure to incorporate design requirements to mitigate the most severe effects of an internal short circuit within an APU battery cell and the Federal Aviation Administration's failure to identify this design deficiency during the type design certification process.
Findings · 7
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The Safety Board's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Pages/aviation.aspx. The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-14/01. On January 7, 2013, about 1021 eastern standard time, smoke was discovered by cleaning personnel in the aft cabin of a Japan Airlines (JAL) Boeing 787-8, JA829J, which was parked at a gate at General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport (BOS), Boston, Massachusetts. About the same time, a maintenance manager in the cockpit observed that the auxiliary power unit (APU) had automatically shut down. Shortly afterward, a mechanic opened the aft electronic equipment bay and found heavy smoke coming from the lid of the APU battery case and a fire with two distinct flames at the electrical connector on the front of the case. None of the 183 passengers and 11 crewmembers were aboard the airplane at the time, and none of the maintenance or cleaning personnel aboard the airplane was injured. Aircraft rescue and firefighting personnel responded, and one firefighter received minor injuries. The airplane had arrived from Narita International Airport, Narita, Japan, as a regularly scheduled passenger flight operated as JAL flight 008 and conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 129.
Factual narrative
The Safety Board's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Pages/aviation.aspx. The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-14/01. On January 7, 2013, about 1021 eastern standard time, smoke was discovered by cleaning personnel in the aft cabin of a Japan Airlines (JAL) Boeing 787-8, JA829J, which was parked at a gate at General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport (BOS), Boston, Massachusetts. About the same time, a maintenance manager in the cockpit observed that the auxiliary power unit (APU) had automatically shut down. Shortly afterward, a mechanic opened the aft electronic equipment bay and found heavy smoke coming from the lid of the APU battery case and a fire with two distinct flames at the electrical connector on the front of the case. None of the 183 passengers and 11 crewmembers were aboard the airplane at the time, and none of the maintenance or cleaning personnel aboard the airplane was injured. Aircraft rescue and firefighting personnel responded, and one firefighter received minor injuries. The airplane had arrived from Narita International Airport, Narita, Japan, as a regularly scheduled passenger flight operated as JAL flight 008 and conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 129.
Aircraft
- Registration
- JA829J
- Reported as
- Boeing 787
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 34839
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Part 129
- Operator
- Japan Airlines International Co Ltd
- Registered owner
- Japan Airlines International Co Ltd
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Departed
- Narita, OF
- Destination
- BOS · Boston, MA
- Airport
- BOS · Gen Edward Lawrence Logan Intl
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
Docket · 104
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 23, 2013, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 312 MB in all.