Turkish Airlines took delivery of its first 787-9 last week with plans to press the aircraft into service on domestic flights before expanding to international operations mid-July. Those flights might face some challenges as the first aircraft was damaged on the ground in Istanbul after delivery.
Reports suggest that the aircraft window melted out of its mount in the fuselage. How did it get so hot? Seems that the company was filming inside the plane and had it fitted inside and out with studio lighting to make that work. The heat from those lights caused the window to melt.
Unlike traditional aircraft windows the 787 features an electrochromatic film in the middle of two thinner pieces of glass. This allows them to “dim” rather than requiring a window shade. It was a selling point for Boeing on the 787s but also means the windows behave differently than those on other aircraft types. In this case that resulted in the melting and deformation of the window.
The carrier announced Bali as the first international destination, with Atlanta, Washington-Dulles and the Bogota/Panama triangle route also expected with additional deliveries over the coming year.
Assuming the carbon fiber fuselage is not damaged the replacement process should be relatively easy and the overall impact to operating schedules minimal. If the fuselage is also damaged, however, the repair work would take longer to complete.
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