787 Test Fleet Surpasses 1000 flight hours flown

With a 1 hour and 50 minute test flight on June 16th, the 787 test flight fleet surpassed the 1000 flight test hour mark. ZA003 landed at 7:50PM PT and the total, according to my accounting is 1000 hours and 30 minutes. This time might be refined when Boeing updates it's flight test web site on May 17th.

ZA001 to ZA004, what's happening

The 787 test flight fleet seems to be taking a break from flying...at least a few of the airplanes.

ZA001 - is in a pre-certification layup where it is also getting the Wedge 5.5 software upgrade which is already loaded on ZA004 and ZA002. So far it is not scheduled for any flights in the next three weeks.

ZA002 - also in a lay up but I'm not sure for what.

ZA003 - is curently being frozen into an ice cube in warm and sunny Florida.

ZA004 - will continue flying though I'm not sure when it is scheduled to go up next.

Still no word on the TIA though I'm hearing a rumor that it will issued this week.

Albaugh speaks at JP Morgan Aerospace Conference

James Albaugh, Boeing Commercial Aircraft President, spoke at a JP Morgan Investors conference this morning. Here are a few snippets:

• 787 should receive the TIA (Type Inspection Authorization) by the end of this month (March).


• Boeing right now putting out 2 787s per month will be up to 2.5 airplanes per month by August, 2010 and up to 10/month by end of 2013.


• ZA003 should fly this Sunday (confirms what I had reported earlier here)


• ZA001 reached speeds of around M0.97 (in a dive) during testing.


• Expects first 787 delivery from Charleston in 1st quarter 2012


• Boeing has used up some of the 787 flight testing contingency and had about one to one and a half months of contingency left in the test flight program.


• New 747-8 coming "on line" on March 15, 17 (this means that Initial Airworthiness Testing is complete by then so that the two remaining 747-8 test airplanes will be in the air next week).

In other news, ZA003 ran its engines yesterday on the Boeing flight line and should be conducting its gauntlet testing towards the end of this week followed by first flight on March 14th. ZA002 has departed this morning for Victorville where it will continue flight testing.

A bit of surprising news is Boeing's award of 747 LCF Dreamlifter operations from Evergreen International to Atlas Air.

Unsurprisingly, Evergreen International is upset but their contract was for 35 years but is renewable every 5 years and it was due for renewal this year. Here's an article focusing on Evergreen's reaction.

Also, unsurprisingly, Flightblogger is reporting that the LCF contract was given to Atlas as part compensation for the delays to the 747-8F, 12 of which Atlas has ordered. Atlas is due to take over LCF operations from Evergreen this September. Boeing will retain ownership of the 4 LCFs.

Flightblogger: Sources: Dreamlifter Deal Part of 747-8 Compensation to Atlas

Fleetbuzzeditorial.com : Boeing's Big Choices

Flightblogger: ZA002 going to So. Cal.

Flightblogger is reporting that ZA002 will fly to Victorville, Ca. this week as part of the 787 flight test program. The Southern California Logistics Airport (SCLA) is in the high desert of southern California and has a a long 15,000 ft runway and dry weather which would be ideal for Boeing to conduct flight testing.

It is not known when or how long ZA002 will beat Victorville or if other 787s will be joining it but the certification test program has the 787 test fleet making trips away from Boeing Field at times.

Flightblogger : Roadtrip! 787 heading for Victorville this week.

Through today's test flights, the 787 fleet has racked up slightly over 250 test flight hours across the three plane test fleet. ZA00 s expected to return to the air very soon (possibly by the end of this coming week) and ZA003 is expected to take to the air for the first time around March 14th. ZA005 should follow soon after that.

Continuing the roadtrip theme, Guy Norris at Aviation Week is reporting on his blog that Boeing is seriously considering sending the 787 AND the 747-8 to the Farnborough Air Show this summer. It would the first time since 1982 that two new Being Commercial Air products would be featured at the air show. Of course, all this hinges on how well the test program goes for both these airplanes.

Guy Norris: Show Time!

Guy also reports on the upcoming trip for ZA002 to California as well as updates on the rest of the 787 flight test fleet. Of note is that ZA003 will have it's two day gauntlet test this week. This would corroborate a flight test date of March 14 for this airplane.

Guy Norris : 787 Heads South

Dreamliner 3 to fly around March 14; BCA Chief Talks

Sources have told me that ZA003 should fly (penciled in) around March 14th and Dreamliner 4 should return to the skies within the next one week after installation of more flight test equipment. Meanwhile the 787 test fleet is still racking up the hours with yesterday's test flights pushing the total test flight hours to over 225. Dreamliner 1 go to as fast as 0.96M at 33,000 feet in a test flight conducted on March 3, 2010.

Seattle Times reporter Dominic Gates had a revealing interview with Boeing Commercial Airplane group head Jim Albaugh.

Here's the extended interview:


In it he says Boeing prefers to build its commercial airplanes in the Puget Sound region of Washington State but only if they can get labor peace from IAM and SPEEA. The prospects of labor unrest is what motivated Boeing to locate the second line to Charleston, SC. Also very revealing is that Boeing will now dial down the 787 business model for future aircraft programs and not outsource as much work as they did for the 787. This will include the design, testing and production of the wings. Boeing will return more of the engineering in house for parts of the aircraft such as flight controls, composite fuselage and the wings. The outsourcing was driven more by business decision making rather than engineers making those decisions.

You can read the entire article below:

Dominic Gates' Interview with James Albaugh

Boeing confirms ZA003 first flight in March

Boeing confirmed a story I ran yesterday (Flight Test Review) regarding the status of ZA003 which is the next 787 to fly. Because Boeing has elected to install some flight test equipment that was to be installed at a later time, the date for the aircraft's first flight has slide to March. I have been told that it'll be around mid-March.

Flightblogger put up a post on his blog describing the situation and the path forward. The aircraft is ready for flight but Boeing has elected to install the equipment now as opposed to later in the flight test program as Boeing will be able the fly ZA003 more often.

Flightblogger: Boeing confirms ZA003 first flight slide to March

Boeing Announces ZA004 First Flight

Boeing Photo

This just out from Boeing:


News Release Issued: February 24, 2010 8:57 PM EST

Boeing's ZA004 Joins 787 Flight-Test Program
EVERETT, Wash., Feb. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- A third airplane has joined the Boeing (NYSE: BA) 787 Dreamliner flight-test program. ZA004, the fourth flight-test airplane to be built, took off at 11:43 a.m. local time from Paine Field in Everett, Wash. The program plan called for ZA004 to fly before ZA003 because the data ZA004 is collecting is needed more quickly both for certification and development of the 787-9.

Captains Heather Ross and Craig Bomben completed a three-hour-and-two-minute flight at 2:45 p.m., landing at Boeing Field in Seattle. Flight-test personnel were also on board to monitor airplane performance.

"Airplane No. 4 operated flawlessly today," Ross said after landing. "We've got a lot of work ahead of us but I can't imagine a better start to the flight test program for this airplane."

Ross will serve as chief pilot for ZA004. This airplane will be used to accomplish the following types of tests: aerodynamics, high-speed performance, propulsion performance, flight loads, community noise and extended operations (ETOPS) and other test conditions.

During today's flight, the airplane reached an altitude of 30,000 feet (9,144 m) and an airspeed of 255 knots, or about 293 miles (472 km) per hour. As the testing of the 787 fleet progresses, the airplane will fly at its expected in-service maximum altitude of 40,000 feet (12,192 m) and speed of Mach 0.85.

"We are continuing to make good progress on the flight test program," said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 program, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "The team is staying focused and disciplined in keeping the priority on safety and execution of the plan."

787 Follow Up - Feb. 19th

It looks like Boeing is on track to get Dreamliner 4 in the air by early next week, perhaps around Monday Feb. 22nd. Boeing still has to finish gauntlet testing and conduct taxi tests prior to first flight. Stay tuned on that. Additionally, Dreamliner 3 should be in the air about a week later.

Flightblogger has an article out about the Boeing finalizing the 787-9 in about 4 months from now pending successful completion of the ultimate load test on the 787-8 wing. Both the -8 and the -9 version will share the same wing which means less fuel but Boeing still plans to have greater range with the larger payload for the 787-9 because of weight saving improvements that will be incorporated into the 787 at different block points.

Flightblogger: Boeing to finalize 787-9 in June

Dreamliner 4 to start gauntlet testing; Dreamliner fleet exceeds 150 flight hours

Matt Cawby reports in his blog that Dreamliner 4 will start gauntlet testing today (Feb. 19th). This indicates that ZA004 should join the test flight program soon. The question is how soon. Boeing has said that both Dreamliner 3 and Dreamliner 4 will be flying by the end of February.

Matt Cawby's February 18th Post

However, Flightblogger Jon Ostrower reports that Dreamliner 4 should fly around February 21st and Dreamliner 3 should fly around March 2nd. I'm not sure how long Boeing will take for the gauntlet tests but they would have to run some sort of taxi tests before first flight. I'm not sure if Boeing would be able to get her in the air by Sunday but we'll see. I'm more inclined to think that ZA004 will take to the air around the 26th but I have been wrong before.

Flightblogger's 787 Test Flight Program Update

Flightblogger's 787 Month Two Update

Dreamliner 1 and Dreamliner 2 continue flutter tests towards receiving the TIA for the 787. Yesterday, Boeing pushed ZA001 further with speeds hitting 0.88M or a little over 500 knots. The aircraft's cruising speed is about 0.92M so Boeing is certainly building up to that and will be able to do more extensive testing in the high speed regimes once Dreamliner 4 gets into the test flight program. Up through February 18th, the two Dreamliners have accumulated almost 155 hours of flight time spread over 47 flights.

In the two months that the 787s have been flying, Boeing had achieved about 5% of the flight test hours they say that they will fly by the time the aircraft is certified and delivered to ANA. Boeing aims to have about 3,100 flight hours logged by that time between the 6 test flight airplanes. They still have a very long way to go. While the addition of airplanes 3 and 4 to the test flight program will aid immensely in getting more hours logged, I have to wonder if Boeing will be able to achieve their flight hours targets given the pace of flight testing thus far. There has been some delays and some minor squaks that have kept the two Dreamliner's on the ground more than Boeing probably would like but I have been expecting that ZA004 and ZA003 would have been further along compared to where they are now. The two 787s have been flying about 4 to 5 hours on each sortie not the 8 hour average which is what Boeing had indicated that they will be flying. Again time will tell and hopefully Boeing will be able to add on the flight hours with the addition of airplanes 3 and 4.

In other news, Mike Mecham, of Aviation Week broke the news that the first 747-8F to be delivered to a customer was rolled out of the Everett final assembly building (presumably it's in the paint hangar). RC501 should return to the skies shortly. Flightblogger also reported that Vought start manufacturing the first parts for the 747-8I, the newest passenger version of the 747. This airplane should start final assembly around May rolled out late 2010 and have first flight in the first quarter of 2011 with delivery to a VIP customer in the 4th quarter of 2011.

Mike Mecham's Blog Post

Flightblogger: Vought starts 747-8I production

Fleetbuzzeditorial.com : 747-8 Update

787 flight tests ramping up and closing on 100 flight hours

Position of ZA001 and ZA002 during flight tests on February 6, 2010 using AirNav Live Flight Tracker 6.0.

Boeing is gradually ramping up the 787 flight test program with the 2 current test flight aircraft in the air simultaneously for the second day in a row. Boeing now has accumulated well over 92 hours of test flight under its belt out of the planned 3,100 hours of flight time needed for testing and certification. Boeing is conducting stability and control tests with both airplanes and are working towards the type inspection authorization which will allow FAA inspectors aboard for the certification flights that would follow the TIA. ZA004 is expected to fire up it Trent 1000s very soon and ZA003 will be conducting deployment tests of the emergency slides. Both airplanes will be flying in the test program within the next 3 weeks.

747-8 Taxi Tests and 787 Flight Tests

UPDATE 4: RC501 has finished taxi tests today but on the last high speed taxi run, smoke apparently developed from the righ hand gear possibly indicating a brake problem. Details are unknown at this time.

UPDATE 3: ZA001 took off at 2:22 PM PST and is flying in eastern Washington State as is ZA002. ZA002 is to the noth of ZA001 at this time.

UPDATE 2: ZA001 will be returning to the air at around 1:5 PM PST. Looks like Boeing is settling into the test program quite nicely. They can surpass 100 787 flight hours either today but most likely tomorrow.

UPDATE: RC501 is performing it's taxi tests on the runways and taxiways of Paine Field this afternoon. Meanwhile ZA002 has departed Boeing Field for another test flight. No word on if ZA001 will be joining her in the air.

Liz Matzelle has a short video up of RC 501 on Everett's runway


RC501 is about to start it's taxi tests. It's about 1 PM in Everett Right now and the aircraft has its engines turning at this moment.

ZA002 is also on deck to make another test flight this afternoon. It was supposed to be up by now but still have no indications of it lifting off.

Through yesterday, Boeing has amassed over 87 flight test hours with both ZA001 and ZA002. Word from Guy Norris is that ZA004 will run its engines for the first time very soon and ZA003 will conduct evac slide deployment tests, also very soon.

Guy Norris

Guy Norris: More Dreamliner 3 pictures inside and out

Guy Norris had a great posting this morning with more pictures of the Dreamliner 3 from yesterdays 787 interior reveal. Today Boeing will be doing evacuation slide deployment tests on Dreamliner 3, Guy reports.

Some other 787 news: Garuda Indonesia, who had a letter of intent to purchase 10 787 from Boeing has decided to swap out the 787 for the 777-300ER. This doesn't have an effect on the 787 order book as the LoI was never finalized and a deposit never placed with Boeing. It is unknown if the 777-300ER order is a firm order or an LoI.

Guy Norris: 787 - ZA003 Inside and Out

The always charming Mary Kirby had a great article on FlightGlobal about the ZA003 interior and its plans in the test flight program.

Mary Kirby: First 787 with interior to fly by month's end

Mary Kirby: Details from Boeing's 787 interior event in Everett

On Monday I'll be covering the 747-8 first flight from the East Coast and look for reports on the taxi tests that are expected to start this weekend.

Pics of 787 ZA003 interior

Boeing Photo

Boeing lead reporters today of a tour of ZA003 which has a representative passenger interior (not an airline ordered interior).

Runway Girl (aka Mary Kirby) and Airline Reporter (aka Dave Parker Brown) have put their pictures and reports on Twitter.

Check out their pics here.

Guy Norris has a couple of great pics including a picture of the dimmable windows at different settings. Quite amazing!

Guy Norris: 787 Interior Unveil

Hopefully there will be more pictures soon from Airline Reporter and others.

Here's Boeing's Press Release:

News Release Issued: February 3, 2010 3:49 PM EST

Boeing Unveils First 787 Dreamliner Interior on 3rd Flight-Test Airplane

EVERETT, Wash., Feb. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Boeing (NYSE: BA) today publicly unveiled the first 787 Dreamliner to feature interior components. The third flight test airplane, ZA003, has a partial interior that provides a glimpse into the new flying experience the airplane will offer. Configured for flight-testing purposes, the interior includes instrumentation racks, flight-test equipment and workstations for engineers.

"This airplane is specifically configured to test the passenger experience elements of the airplane," said Tom Galantowicz, director of 787 Interiors, Commercial Airplanes. "Our engineers and flight-test team use a disciplined process to certify the various elements of the interior and conduct airplane-level verifications."

The interior includes 135 seats, multiple lavatories and two crew rests. Certifying the interior components involves analyses and testing of the lighting, lavatories, stowage bins, dimmable windows and galleys.

Passengers will be welcomed onto the 787 by sweeping arches, dynamic lighting, larger lavatories, more spacious luggage bins and electronic window shades whose transparency they can change during flight.

"Our team is making great progress and is looking forward to getting this airplane in the air later this month," Galantowicz added.

Flight testing will continue in the months ahead. Delivery of the first 787 to launch customer ANA (All Nippon Airways) of Japan is planned for the fourth quarter of this year.

Norris and Mecham Update on the 787

Boeing Photos

Aviation Week's Mike Mecham and Guy Norris each posted an update on the 787.
Guy Norris reports that ZA001 will return to the skies tomorrow after a planned lay up following completion of the initial airworthiness tests. Boeing will fly the aircraft with test pilots and test engineers abroad the plane. ZA002, which completed a 4 hour and 11 minute flight today, has been flying with test engineers aboard since January 27th.

Tomorrow's flight of ZA001 will be an extended check out flight with some of the new test equipment aboard along with the engineers to operate them and to examine real time data feeds.

The next set of tests is to explore flutter effects at higher speeds and altitudes as well as expansion of the flight envelope beyond 0.65 Mach and 30,0000ft altitude. Once these next set of tests are complete, Boeing expects to receive the TIA (type inspection authorization) by the end of this month which would allow FAA inspectors aboard to observe the certification testing that would follow TIA testing. Thsu far, ZA001 has 59 hours and 15 minutes of flight time with 15 flights and ZA002 has 15 hours and 51 minutes of flight time spread across 5 flights. The test fleet has accumulated 75 hours and 6 minutes of flight time across 20 sorties.

Guy Norris: 787 update - ZA001 set to return tomorrow

Mike Mecham reported from the Singapore Air Show that both ZA004and ZA003 are following their paths to first flight. ZA004 should fly around middle of February while ZA003 should fly at the end of February.

Mike Mecham: ZA004 and ZA003 in the wings

End of the month 787 Update

This morning Boeing launched a 787 flight test dedicated web site so that anyone can keep tabs on the 787 flight test progress. It includes of all things the cumulative flight test hours for the flight test fleet as well as for each individual airplane.

Hey Boeing, who did you get that idea from?

The hours they've calculated are from internal flight times they've calculated and not based on the hours that are posted on flightaware.com (you can link to the flightaware database by clicking on the individual aircraft. The number of flight hours they're calculating is about 3 hours more than what I have posted. I don't know the reason for the discrepancy.

The web site is very extensive and has a lot of information including the flight test roles for each of the 6 test airplanes, video and news reports from the flight test team and pilots, as well as the usual multimedia suspects one comes to expect. Boeing needs to be applauded for providing a greater degree of transparency at this critical stage of the 787 program.

Boeing 787 Flight Test Site

There are a few other tidbits coming out the 787 program through Matt Cawby. He has video of ZA004 gear swing test as well as reporting that the wings for LN 17 was flown in. This may mean that LN 12 has exited the final assembly line. Matt also reported that Boeing conducted VHF radio checks with ZA003. Lastly, Matt also reports that the third 747-8F (and third flight test aircraft) was moved to the Boeing flightline on Wednesday though it still is unpainted.

Matt Cawby's January 28th Posting

787 and 747-8 First Flight Update

Flightblogger is reporting that ZA001 should return to the air by the end of the month (I presume he's talking about end of January). He also said that ZA002 should also be back in the air very shortly. This is on top of the news that I learnt this weekend that ZA004 should be in the air by mid Feb. and ZA003 should fly by the end of Feb. In 5 weeks there should be 4 787s flying around.

Also a source has told me that the 747-8F (RC501) should fly on Sunday, Jan. 31st or 6 days from now. I still have no word on how the gauntlet testing went on that airplane. Given that Boeing has an earnings conference call on for this Wednesday, I wouldn't be surprised if they make some sort of announcement around that time about the 747-8 first flight as well as more info on the 787 flight test program.

Dreamliner 4 and Dreamliner 3

I just heard that Dreamliner 4 (ZA004) will fly around Feb. 14th and Dreamliner 3 (ZA003) will fly around the end of Feb.

787 Update - January 10, 2010

Yesterday another flight test 787 showed up on the Everett ramp being prepared for it's first flight. Sources tell me that this aircraft is ZA004 but a registration has not yet shown up on it's side.

ZA003 should show up very soon on the Everett ramp as well very soon to start it's preparations for first flight.

Both ZA003 and ZA004 are projected to have their first flights in the first week of February.

Additionally, Matt Cawby reported on his blog that the fatigue test air frame is very close to finishing its side of body modifications and should be moved to the fatigue test area around January 30th to start 3 years of fatigue testing. It will be moved out of the temporary hangar that is on the Boeing flight line.

Matt Cawby's January 9, 2010 Blog Update

Flightblogger got a great article up on the production challenges that the 787 still faces now that the aircraft has entered test flights. Thus far Boeing has completely assembled 1 complete 787s (LN 1 through LN 11) plus two test air frames (ZY997 and ZY998). Currently there are 4 aircraft undergoing final assembly (LN 12 through LN 15) and parts of LN 16 are just starting to arrive in Everett. Flightblogger is reporting that Boeing planes to start increasing production on the 787 round mid February.

Flightblogger: Dreamliner Production Challenges Lie Ahead

Finally through today, January 10, 2010, the 787 test fleet has accumulated over 45 and half hours test flight hours. Also today, Za001 flew the longest 787 test flight thus far at 5 hours and 48 minutes. You can track the 787 flight test hours by going to this spreadsheet here.

787 Tid Bits from Boeing

With today 2nd quarter earnings release from Boeing we also got a little bit more information on the status of the 787.

1) Boeing will release a revised schedule sometime during the 3rd quarter (of this year).
2) Boeing has identified a fix and have conducted some very initial testing
3) The fix they have chosen is straight forward
4) Boeing is looking at ways to carefully implement the fix in the aircraft. This confirms Flightblogger's earlier post that the accessibility to the area needed to install the fix is going to be difficult. Boeing says that they won't sacrifice quality of the 787 for speed though.
5) The new delays will be putting pressure on the 787 profitability (though I'm not sure if that's overall profitability or short term profitability).
6) McNerney says that the787 issue is a local issue with a localized fix needed. This is not an issue with the overall wing design.
7) Boeing says that certification work is still ongoing.
8) Positive news - ZA003 and ZA004 have had power on

787 Update - July 7, 2009

A quick round up of the latest goings on:

1) ZA001 finished final gauntlet testing. Boeing wrapped that up on the evening of July 2nd.
2) Boeing will perform low speed taxi tests and that may occur as early as today though Flightblogger said that it may have occurred last night. Nevertheless, low speed taxi tests are right around the corner. The high speed taxi and RTO won't occur until after the side of body fix is installed onto ZA001. After the low speed taxi tests Boeing will continue ground tests on the 787 fleet to mature the systems so they just won't be closed up and doing nothing while they implement the fix.
3) Flightblogger said that a formal Boeing-Vought announcement on the Boeing purchase of Vought's 787 operations could come as early as this morning.
4) Flightblogger found out the registration forthe next two 787s: ZA003 will be registered as N787BX and ZA004 will be registered as N7874