Various media sources, including the Seattle Times and the Wall Street Journal, are reporting that Boeing is inspecting the wings on 43 787 Dreamliner jets under construction after the wings’ supplier discovered hairline cracks caused during manufacturing.
The wings are made by Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., which notified Boeing that a change in the way fasteners were applied to connect aluminum shear ties on the wing ribs of the carbon fiber-composite wing panel.
According to sources, the fasteners were over-tightened without the use of manufacturing fillers, compressing a gap in the structure and in some cases caused hairline cracks of less than an inch. If left unchecked, they can cause unintended stress on the jet's structure and could lead to further damage.
None of the 123 Dreamliners delivered to date are affected by the wing issue.
The affected wings are either on the production lines in Everett, Wash., and North Charleston, S.C., or still at the Mitsubishi plant in Nagoya, Japan.
Boeing officials expect each jet will take one to two weeks to inspect and correct. Almost half of the 43 aircraft have been inspected and seven have been undergoing pre-delivery flight tests.
Airbus recommends older A380s get inspections
Separately, Airbus Group is recommending airlines inspect the wing spars on early production A380 superjumbo jetliners at 6 and 12 years after delivery. The company had found potential cracking as part of a structural fatigue test on a factory mockup that stresses the aircraft more than three times its expected lifetime in service. The earliest A380s, now over six years old, have already been inspected with no findings, according to an Airbus spokesman.