TOKYO--Japanese regulators said Thursday that no potential
problems or defects had yet been found in an inspection of the
supplier of a burnt battery found on an All Nippon Airways Co.
(9202.TO) 787 Dreamliner.
"We haven't heard of any (problematic) things yet," said Shigeru
Takano, a director with the transport ministry's air transport
safety unit.
Japan's Civil Aviation Bureau began inspecting the headquarters
and a battery plant of GS Yuasa Corp. (6674.TO) on Monday. CAB
inspectors are joined by a team from the U.S. Federal Aviation
Administration in looking into the battery's design and production
processes.
The probe will look into each production process to ensure that
quality control and battery design technology are appropriate. The
probe will continue at least through Friday.
The CAB will soon begin analyzing data received from the Japan
Transport Safety Board, which scanned the battery's interior over
two days at a facility of the Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency.
An overheated battery set off alarms during a domestic flight of
an ANA Dreamliner last week, prompting an emergency landing.
The JTSB will send the battery's charger to its U.S. maker to
check whether it works properly, although no schedule has been set,
said JTSB Director-General Masahiro Kudo.
On Tuesday, a team of experts led by the U.S. National
Transportation Safety Board--which is investigating a separate
incident on a Japan Airlines Co. (9201.TO) 787 in Boston--visited
the Tucson-based maker of 787 battery chargers, Securaplane
Technologies Inc., to gather data on the devices.
Write to Yoshio Takahashi at yoshio.takahashi@dowjones.com
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