Airbus talks to Honeywell as beacon probe spreads Airbus, the commercial jet maker, has contacted the manufacturer of the beacons implicated in this month's Heathrow Boeing 787 fire over the ramifications for its own aircraft, as concern over the beacons spreads. Airbus said it was not so far aware of any overheating incidents involving emergency locator transmitters on its aircraft. The manufacturer had nevertheless been in touch with Honeywell, the equipment's US maker, to "ensure that any recommendations they may have . . . are taken into account as we review the ELT design and the component's integration into Airbus aircraft," it said. Airbus's statement came after Boeing went beyond its previous call for operators of its 787s carrying Honeywell's emergency locator transmitters to check the transmitters by asking operators of several other types to make the same inspections. The US's Federal Aviation Administration warned operators of 787s on July 19 to inspect the wiring and wire routing on Honeywell-manufactured ELTs on the aircraft, to ensure there were no faults. Investigators suspect a fault with an ELT on the 787 led to a July 12 fire on an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft on the ground at London's Heathrow airport. Boeing said on Sunday it was asking specific operators of 717, next-generation 737, 747-400, 767 and 777 aircraft to inspect those with the Honeywell fixed ELT. The transmitters are intended to help rescue workers locate an aircraft that has crashed or ditched in the sea. "The purpose of these inspections is to gather data to support potential rulemaking by regulators," Boeing said. The UK's Air Accident Investigation Branch initially recommended after the fire that all ELTs on Boeing 787s be disabled until the Heathrow fire's cause had been discovered. The FAA stopped short of that, telling operators only to inspect the devices. The probe's growing scope illustrates how concern over the beacons has switched attention away from the 787 - which was grounded for three months from January to April - towards the beacons" general safety. Honeywell said it would continue to co-operate with all the agencies investigating the Boeing 787 fire. "Detailed analysis, inspections and testing are expected to continue for several months before the root cause is finally determined," it said. The FAA did not immediately respond to questions about whether it would widen its instruction to inspect the devices beyond the 787.