US starts investigation into Boeing 787 in Japan

A ground staff works under an United Airlines' Boeing Co's 787 Dreamliner plane after its flight from Los Angeles, at New Tokyo international airport in Narita, east of Tokyo January 17, 2013. Airlines scrambled on Thursday to rearrange flights as Europe, Japan and India joined the United States in grounding Boeing Co's 787 Dreamliner passenger jets while battery-related problems are investigated.[Photo/Agencies]

OSAKA - Four members from of the US team to probe Boeing 787 Dreamliner started Friday to examine a passenger jet operated by All Nippon Airways (ANA) that made an emergency landing earlier this week, local press reported.

The investigating team consists of representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board and Boeing Co. arrived at Takamatsu Airport in the western Japanese prefecture of Kagawa on Friday morning, and the American inspectors began checking the 787 jet sit at the airport, jointly with accident investigators from Japan's Transport Safety Board according to the daily Mainichi Simbun.

The report noted that the members were expected, in particular, to check the lithium-ion battery in an electrical room below the cockpit. Earlier reports cited the officials at ANA as saying that the battery was blackened, and solution had leaked from inside the device.

Their investigation in Takamatsu will continue this weekend.