Boeing Co. has asked airlines to inspect emergency locator transmitter beacons on a range of planes after ANA Holdings Inc. and United Airlines found faults in the devices on 787s linked to a fire in a parked Dreamliner.
The aircraft maker asked operators to inspect aircraft with fixed ELTs from Honeywell International Inc., Randy Tinseth, a Boeing marketing vice president, said on a blog Sunday. Planes to be checked include the Boeing 717, the next-generation 737, the 747-400, 767 and 777.
ANA, the biggest operator of 787s, already started checks on other planes with Honeywell ELTs last week after completing inspections on its fleet of Dreamliners, said Maho Ito, a Tokyo-based spokeswoman at the carrier. Boeing's recommendation spreads the investigation beyond the 787, which was prevented from flying for three months earlier this year following two cases of lithium-ion batteries melting, in the first global grounding of a model since 1979.
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