The curious case of the Boeing plane that diverted four times in 25 days

Yahoo

05-02-2025

Credit: FlightAware
An American Airlines Boeing 787 aircraft has diverted four times in four different cities within just 25 days, sparking debate among online aviation sleuths.
The recurring incidents were flagged on the social media platform Bluesky, by an account under the name JonNYC, who wrote: 'If I'm getting the full picture, this 787 has had an incredibly bad month or so – not quite like much I've really seen before. Diversions, aborted take-offs, out of service.'
On closer investigation, it does appear that the plane, a 787-8 Dreamliner with the registration code N819AN, has indeed had a thoroughly eventful 25 days. And thanks to online flight-tracking services like FlightRadar24 and Flight Aware, we can piece together the exact movements of the aircraft.
Let's take a look at what we know about the four diversions of N819AN between Jan 7 and Feb 1, and try to answer the following question: why does the same plane keep taking off and aborting its journey not long after?
The first issue with N819AN occurred on Tuesday, Jan 7, 2025. The plane was due to depart from Amsterdam Schiphol at 1.05 pm but ended up taking off at 2.46 pm. After taking off, the pilot made a northeasterly turn just eight minutes into the flight, performed an elaborate holding pattern (presumably to dump fuel in the North Sea) before landing at Schiphol at 4.16 pm. According to airlive.net, it was met by emergency vehicles on the runway.
Three days after its first diversion, N819AN successfully completed its 7hr 18m flight to Philadelphia. It landed at 6.30 pm with a scheduled 3hr 30m turnaround, after which it was due to return across the Atlantic to Dublin. However, after taking off at 10.17 pm, the plane performed a 180-degree turn 18 minutes into the flight. It landed back in Philadelphia at 11.12 pm.
Three days later, on Jan 13, N819AN successfully made it to Barcelona. However, the following day its flight to Philadelphia was cancelled. Then, on Jan 19, on a scheduled flight back across the Atlantic to Philadelphia, the plane once again diverted. The plane took off at 2.05 pm and appeared to begin its return to Barcelona Airport just 11 minutes into the flight. It landed at 2.39 pm.
On Jan 23, N819AN landed at Dallas-Fort Worth International, where American Airlines has a maintenance hangar. The aircraft remained at Dallas for seven days, before completing four successful flights (to Philadelphia, to Madrid, back to Philadelphia and then to Zurich). Things were looking up. Or were they?
On Feb 1, N819AN took off from Zurich at 10.39 am but started its return to the airport after just seven minutes of the flight. It landed back at Zurich Airport 45 minutes later, at 11.24 am.
Usually, a plane diversion occurs due to harsh weather conditions. However, pilots may also divert due to medical emergencies, security threats, natural disasters, incidents at the arrival airport, or mechanical issues. It is not clear why these four flights were diverted – The Telegraph awaits a response on this matter from American Airlines and Boeing.
Here's what we do know: N819AN (a 787-8 Dreamliner) first flew on March 27 2017, making it nearly eight years old. Online sources suggest that American Airlines' fleet has an average age of between 12 and 13 years old, so N819AN is by no means poised for retirement in the near future.
We also have some further (unverified) details courtesy of Simon Hradecky, a software developer who founded the website The Aviation Herald, which tracks aircraft incidents around the world. On Jan 9, commenting on the Amsterdam diversion, he posted: 'The crew announced an issue with the flaps so they needed to return to Amsterdam. The flight was postponed to the next day as flight AA-9605, but could not depart with the crew announcing a hydraulic leak.'
Trying to make sense of the situation, pilot Brian Smith, who flew Boeing aircraft for commercial airlines over a 26-year period, explains why the recurring diversions could be cause for concern.
'It's unusual for an aircraft to experience so many technical diversions in such a short space of time. If the same defect keeps recurring, that is a cause for concern, because it implies that the engineering department is unable to definitively identify the root cause of the problem,' says Smith.
'A diversion in flight is a decision made by the captain after all checklists have been completed, and options discussed with the co-pilot; it is necessarily a collaborative process. Checklists follow a logical series of steps to determine the fault, isolate the defective system and if necessary, direct the crew to 'Plan to land at the nearest suitable airfield' in the case of a serious issue.
'In the vast majority of cases, faults are rectified satisfactorily and there is a clear paper trail that describes what rectification has been carried out. Some defects are deemed 'acceptable' when they do not have any discernible impact on the safety of flight and any maintenance and operational procedures required are adhered to.
'Defects that recur often require deeper fault finding to find the problem, but this is rare. Modern aircraft have extensive Built in Test Equipment (BITE) which can give in-depth clues to what is wrong. Sometimes it's a computer or sensor that is playing up. In older aircraft there may be something like a chafed wire or connector; the possibilities are myriad.
On the topic of flaps defects, Smith says: 'Flap defects are uncommon, and rarely present a serious problem. If however, they won't retract, a diversion will be needed because the drag of the extended flap will create a fuel penalty, making a longer flight implausible. All aircraft remain fully controllable even with the most complex of flap defects.
'The aircraft in question clearly needs to be examined very thoroughly and should not be released again until the fault is rectified. This might even trigger a test flight or series of flights, without passengers, to prove its airworthiness. I am sure the airline will do what is right in this case and passengers should not be unduly concerned.'
As of Feb 4, aircraft N819AN remains on the runway at Zurich Airport. The Telegraph will keep an eye on developments, and will update this page as and when we receive a response from American Airlines or Boeing. If you wish to track the aircraft's movements yourself, you can do so by following this page on Flight Aware.
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