Saturday, July 27, 2013

Boeing paints and rolls out 1st 787-9

Images courtesy of the Boeing Company

 
Boeing released a statement and photo of the 1st 787-9 after completing the painting of the aircraft.  Boeing said that it had rolled the aircraft out of the paint hangar so all you plane spotters please get to Everett for more photos.  Hopefully it wasn't rolled back into one of the assembly hangars. 
 
This plane is complete in the time frame I had predicted a couple of months ago (roll out in late July) and I still expect that first flight should occur (barring any unknown unknowns) by late August to early September to kick off the 6 month flight test/certification program.  Boeing will be giving a briefing on the 787-9 flight test and certification program but they will be using 3 instrumented aircraft (ZB001, ZB002, ZB021) and a 4th production standard aircraft (ZB197) which will not be instrumented.
 
Here's Boeing's Press Release: 
 

First Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner Features New Boeing Livery

EVERETT, Wash., July 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] continues to make progress on the first 787-9 Dreamliner, which also has become the first 787 to don the new Boeing Commercial Airplanes livery. The airplane has just rolled out of the paint hangar.
This refreshed look for the Boeing family began with the 747-8 and evolved with the 737 MAX. The new livery retains many of the features of the original 787-8 livery, adding a prominent number on the tail to help distinguish among models within the same product family.
The 787-9 will complement and extend the 787 family, offering airlines the ability to grow routes opened with the 787-8. With the fuselage stretched by 20 feet (6 meters), the 787-9 will carry 40 more passengers an additional 300 nautical miles (555 kilometers), with 20 percent less fuel use and 20 percent fewer emissions than similarly sized airplanes. The 787-9 leverages the visionary design of the 787-8, offering the features passengers prefer such as large, dimmable windows, large stow bins, modern LED lighting, higher humidity, a lower cabin altitude, cleaner air and a smoother ride.
Boeing is on track to roll out and fly the 787-9, currently in final production, in late summer. First delivery to launch customer Air New Zealand is set for mid-2014.

6 comments:

8milesperminute said...

Cant wait until we get some of one we ordered here.. B787-8 is nice but its small.. fast, and flies far.. but small none the less.. the B787-9 is a bit bigger and in my opinion.. a bit better looking.. something to look forward to ;-)

TravelingMan said...

Congratulations to Boeing! It's a great looking plane and will perform wonderfully.

Trapperpk said...

Thank you Uresh for alerting the followers of this 787 saga. Congratulations to Boeing for the Paint shop roll-out. Quite a change, over the 787-8 roll out on July 7,2007. What a difference that 18 Billion in developmental money spent on this family of Aircraft makes as a -9 is fully loaded to fly in the next month or so.

Unknown said...

Now that you're noting number of "test flights" on the "Delivered" spreadsheet I would suggest that the 10th JAL only be credited with 6 as the flight after the C-1 was a photo flight on which absolutely no testing took place.

1coolguy1 said...

3 ANA are in Storage/Change Incorporation. Considering the number of planes ANA has accepted, therefore have been delivered as approved by ANA, what stands between Boeing and delivering these, as it would seem ANA will accept all 787's they can get?
What causes them to be in this status and not readied for pre-flight status?

I can understand the AI and other slow accepting airlines if they are doing this, but why ANA?

Andrew Munsell said...

Nice car with a great paint scheme to match an awesome plane.
http://seattletimes.com/html/picturethis/2017734709_pt_lamborghini.html