In this Jan. 11, 2013 photo, Transportation Secretary Raymond LaHood speaks during a news conference at the Transportation Department in Washington, discussing a comprehensive review of Boeing 787 critical systems, including the design, manufacture and assembly. LaHood, the only Republican member of President Barack Obama's first-term Cabinet, says he plans to leave the Obama administration. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
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In this Jan. 11, 2013 photo, Transportation Secretary Raymond LaHood speaks during a news conference at the Transportation Department in Washington, discussing a comprehensive review of Boeing 787 critical systems, including the design, manufacture and assembly. LaHood, the only Republican member of President Barack Obama's first-term Cabinet, says he plans to leave the Obama administration. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
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In this image released by the National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB Materials Engineer Matt Fox examines the casing from the battery involved in the Japan Airlines Boeing 787 fire in a plane that had already landed in Boston at NTSB headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013. (AP Photo/NTSB)
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FILE - In this July 8, 2007, file photo, visitors look at and take photos of the first production model of the new Boeing 787 airplane after it was unveiled to an audience of several thousand at Boeing's assembly plant in Everett, Wash. The Boeing 787 was a plane that promised to be lighter and more technologically advanced than any other, but once production started, the gap between vision and reality quickly widened. The jet that was eventually dubbed the Dreamliner became plagued with manufacturing delays, cost overruns and sinking worker morale. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
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National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman points to a reporter during a news conference at the NTSB in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner battery that caught fire earlier this month in Boston shows evidence of short-circuiting and a chemical reaction known as "thermal runaway," in which an increase in temperature causes progressively hotter temperatures, federal accident investigators said. -It's not clear to investigators which came first, the short-circuiting or the thermal runaway, Hersman said. Nor is it clear yet what caused either of them, she said. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman speaks during a news conference at the NTSB in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner battery that caught fire earlier this month in Boston shows evidence of short-circuiting and a chemical reaction known as "thermal runaway," in which an increase in temperature causes progressively hotter temperatures, federal accident investigators said. -It's not clear to investigators which came first, the short-circuiting or the thermal runaway, Hersman said. Nor is it clear yet what caused either of them, she said. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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National Transportation Safety Board's Joseph Kolly, holds an fire-damaged battery casing from the Japan Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner that caught fire at Logan International Airport in Boston, at the NTSB laboratory in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013. The battery that caught fire in Boston shows evidence of short-circuiting and a chemical reaction known as "thermal runaway," in which an increase in temperature causes progressively hotter temperatures, federal accident investigators said. However, it's not clear to investigators which came first, the short-circuiting or the thermal runaway. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2012 file photo, a Boeing 787 takes off from George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. Boeing’s Dreamliner has had a rough week, capped off Friday, Jan. 11, 2013 with a decision by the Federal Aviation Administration to review everything from the design to manufacturing of the new airplane. Government officials were quick to say that the plane is safe, however a fire Monday, Jan. 7, and subsequent spate of technical problems raised enough questions to prompt this highly unusual review. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Eric Kayne)
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FILE - In this Oct. 1, 2012 file photo, the flight deck of a Boeing 787 is shown at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after it landed on the first day of service on a Tokyo-Seattle route. Boeing’s Dreamliner has had a rough week, capped off Friday, Jan. 11, 2013 with a decision by the Federal Aviation Administration to review everything from the design to manufacturing of the new airplane. Government officials were quick to say that the plane is safe, however a fire Monday and subsequent spate of technical problems raised enough questions to prompt this highly unusual review. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
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Loc Phan, foreground, and Kari Brown who both work for Hexcel which manufactures carbon fiber components for Boeing, look at a door on a disply model of part of the aircraft as Boeing celebrated the opening of a new manufacturing plant in West Jordan, Utah on Friday, Jan. 11, 2013. The U.S. government stepped in Friday to assure the public that Boeing's new 787 "Dreamliner" is safe to fly, even as it launched a comprehensive review to find out what caused a fire, a fuel leak and other worrisome incidents earlier in the week. (AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Francisco Kjolseth)
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In this image released by the National Transportation Safety Board and released Jan. 11, 2013, NTSB Investigator Mike Bauer works inside the Boeing 787 "Dreamliner" airplane under investigation at Boston's Logan Airport on Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013, in Boston. The government stepped in Friday to assure the public that Boeing's "Dreamliner" is safe to fly, even as it launched a comprehensive review to find out what caused a fire, a fuel leak and other worrisome incidents this week. A fire ignited Monday, Jan. 7, in the battery pack of an auxiliary power unit of a Japan Airlines 787 empty of passengers as the plane sat on the tarmac at Boston's Logan International Airport. It took firefighters 40 minutes to put out the blaze. (AP Photo/NTSB)
FAA approves test flights for Boeing 787
Boeing won permission on Thursday for test flights of its 787 as it tries to fix battery problems that have kept the plane grounded.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the test flights will have restrictions, including pre-flight testing and inspections, and in-flight monitoring. The tests are limited to airspace over unpopulated areas.
Boeing said the tests will begin "soon" on one of the six airplanes it used for testing before the 787 was certified by the FAA in late 2011. It said the batteries will get a pre-flight inspection, and battery-related status messages will be monitored.
The plane, labeled ZA005, was seen on the ground at Boeing Field near Seattle with stairs leading to the two cargo doors near where the two batteries are housed, KING 5 TV reported on Tuesday.
Boeing said that flying the plane will allow it to test the in-flight performance of its batteries and generate data to help the investigations.
"The company has marshaled an extensive team of hundreds of experts and they are working around the clock focused on resolving the 787 battery issue and returning the 787 fleet to full flight status," Boeing said Thursday. It didn't say how many test flights are planned.
The planes still can't be used for passenger flights until the FAA is satisfied that the battery problem is fixed. The grounding order issued on Jan. 16 meant that Boeing even needed FAA permission to fly an empty 787 from Texas to Washington state on Thursday after it had been painted.
Each 787 has two lithium-ion batteries. One of them caught fire on a 787 after it landed in Boston on Jan. 7. Smoldering in another battery prompted an emergency landing in Japan on Jan. 16, leading to the FAA's order grounding the planes later the same day. The National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday that the Boston fire was sparked by a short-circuit inside one cell of the battery, but the cause of the short-circuit isn't known yet.
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