Boeing's 787 Dreamliner suffers more mishaps

LONDON -- Another two incidents struck Boeing's 787 Dreamliner plane on Friday when an All Nippon Airways aircraft suffered a crack to its windscreen during a flight in Japan and an oil leak was found coming from the engine of a separate plane after it landed at an airport in southern Japan, according to a Reuters report.

As a result of the problems with the aircraft this week, the Federal Aviation Administration is announcing today a comprehensive review of the design and manufacture of the Dreamliner planes.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Michael Huerta, head of the Federal Aviation Administrator, are announcing the review at a 9:30 a.m. news conference.

Boeing is cooperating with the review and Ray Conner, president of the company's commercial airplanes division, will attend the news conference.

In the first of the two most recent incidents, according to the Reuters report, ANA's cabin crew saw a "spider-web-like crack" in the window area in front of the pilot's seat just over an hour into a domestic flight. That plane landed safely at Matsuyama airport in western Japan, but its return flight to Tokyo was cancelled, the report said.

"Cracks appear a few times every year in other planes. We don't see this as a sign of a fundamental problem" with Boeing aircraft, a spokesman for the airline told Reuters.The New York Times, citing a spokeswoman for the Japan-based carrier, reported that there were no injuries to passengers or crew.

The oil leak found in the second 787 Dreamliner was discovered after that aircraft landed at Miyazaki airport, in the south of the nation.

Reuters also reported, citing unnamed sources, that U.S. transportation officials will begin a review of the aircraft following other setbacks this week related to a fuel leak, an electric fire and a glitch related to a computer that controls the plan's brake system.

Separately, Bloomberg News reported, also citing unidentified sources because the information has not yet been made public, that the Federal Aviation Administration intends to announce a review later Friday into the 787 Dreamliner's power system.?

Boeing's Dreamliner is made of lightweight carbon composites that Boeing says increases the aircraft's fuel-efficiency, but the plane has been plagued by technical problems since the 787 program was first launched in 2004.

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