Ethiopian 787 in LHR - ELT Battery on fire?

Neelam Mathews

July 16, 2013

Investigators of Britain's Air Accident Investigations Branch (AAIB), and FAA  are looking into whether a fire on  the Ethiopian 787 at LHR last week was caused by the battery of an emergency locator transmitter built by Honeywell International.

Powered by a non-rechargeable lithium-manganese battery, the ELT is located in the aft fuselage section.

Airlines were told in 2009 by the FAA to replace a Honeywell transmitter that had failed in tests. Honeywell is believed to be checking whether the transmitter on the Ethiopian Airlines was the same model as the one named by FAA.