The pilots executed a safe landing and at all times had positive control of the airplane and all of the information necessary to perform that safe landing. Initial inspection appears to indicate that a power control panel in the aft electronics bay will need to be replaced on ZA002.

In addition to the information already released about the incident, data show that the total duration of the incident was less than 90 seconds, the fire lasted less than 30 seconds, the airplane concluded the event in a configuration that could have been sustained for the time required to return to an airport suitable for landing from any point in a typical 787 mission profile.

"We have successfully simulated key aspects of the onboard event in our laboratory and are moving forward with developing design fixes," said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 program. "Boeing is developing a plan to enable a return to 787 flight test activities and will present it to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as soon as it is complete." 

Engineers have determined that the fault began as either a short circuit or an electrical arc in the P100 power distribution panel, most likely caused by the presence of foreign debris. The design changes will improve the protection within the panel.  Software changes also will be implemented to further improve fault protection.