Japanese airlines ground all Boeing 787s after emergency landing (update)

A Boeing 787 Dreamliner was forced to make an emergency landing this morning in Takamatsu, Japan, when smoke was found emanating from the cockpit, reports NHK. ANA Flight 692 made the emergency landing at 8:45 this morning on its way to Haneda Airport in Tokyo, shutting down the runway, and NHK’s camera shows that the plane’s emergency slides deployed. According to airport officials, the vessel appeared otherwise normal. The 137 passengers and crew on board are reported to be safe. According to a tweet from Bloomberg (below) and a report from Reuters, ANA has grounded all 17 of its 787s in response to the issue.

In an earlier tweet, Bloomberg reported that the emergency landing resulted from a battery malfunction — the same source of problems as the January 7th fire aboard a Japan Airlines 787 at Logan International Airport in Boston. Faced with a spate of problems with the jet ranging from the aforementioned fires to leaking oil and cracked glass, last week the Federal Aviation Administration launched a full-scale review of the 787's design, manufacture, and assembly. On Tuesday, Japan's transport minister announced that his agency would also be launching an investigation into the aircraft. ANA and Japan Airlines are two of Boeing's biggest customers for the 787, with combined orders for 45 planes between them.

Update: A new report from Reuters indicates that JAL is also grounding all seven of its 787s (an additional two are undergoing inspection) following this morning's news. The country's Transport Ministry reports that the emergency landing is a "major incident" that "could have led to an accident."