United confirms electrical problem on second 787 in its fleet

The growing number focused further attention on issues with the revolutionary carbon-fiber and plastic composite plane, which has been rolled out to customers over the past year.

Spokeswomen for United and Boeing said the problems on United's planes occurred in an electrical distribution panel, not a generator, as had been previously believed.

On Dec. 4, a United flight from Houston to Newark, New Jersey, made an emergency landing after it appeared that one of its power generators failed.

Last Thursday, Qatar Airways said it had grounded one of its three 787 jets because of the same problem United had experienced.

On Friday, the Seattle Times reported that the second United jet had electrical problems, bringing the total to three.

The newspaper quoted United as saying that on the Dec. 4 flight, "a power-distribution panel caused a nuisance generator fault indication", prompting the emergency landing. That meant a warning light came on when it shouldn't have. United said it "replaced the panel and returned the aircraft to service".

The Boeing spokeswoman said the power-distribution panel that developed the latest problem was different from one that caught fire during 787 testing in 2010.

The United spokeswoman declined to give further details because the problems are still being investigated and details about them may change.

On Friday, Boeing CEO Jim McNerney said in a television interview

... contd.