ZA101 to start final assembly soon

The second production 787 ZA101 bound for ANA will soon enter final assembly at Boeing's Everett plant. The forward fuselage section for this aircraft was delivered on Friday, July 24th and the main fuselage section was delivered this afternoon, Sunday, July 26th. This sections join the wings along with the tail/rudder and the horizontal stabilizer that are already in building 40-26. The rear fuselage has yet to be delivered but should be soon. Final assembly activities should get underway soon. Flightblgger had earlier reported on this as well as saying that parts for the ninth 787 won't arrive until sometime in August and parts for the tenth plane won't arrive until sometime in October. The slow down is attributable to the side of body structural issue that Boeing revealed on June 23, 2009.

Flightblogger: Factory gauntlet begins at 6:30AM PT on April 20th

UPDATE (April 20, 2009, 3:16PM): Boeing has confirmed to Flightblogger that the factory gauntlet has indeed started and should finish by tomorrow morning. An external computer has been hooked up to Dreamliner 1 to test how the airplane "flies." Read Jon's post here.


According to Jon Ostrower, ZA001 will start the first of three gauntlet tests this morning at around 6:30 AM PT. It is expected that this gauntlet should be done by early morning on April 21st thus paving the way for ZA001 to be moved to the flightline.

Jon also confirmed that the flight test wiring is mostly connected and all the external panels have been reinstalled.

Boeing is also getting an accurate measurement of the 787 OEW (operating empty weight) by removing the ballast and weighing the aircraft. It's not known what the result was but it is widely expected to be over the contractual weight.

Jon also reported that the rear fuselage section that was just delivered for ZA100 (Dreamliner 7) was 96% complete. Read Jon's post here.

As I reported on this blog earlier, it is expected that all traveled work in the 787 program will be eliminated starting with Dreamliner 8 (ZA101).

Lastly, Matt Cawby on his photoblog reported that Dreamliner 1 completed engine and APU fire protection systems tests in both the ground and air modes. See Matt's posting here.

Dreamliner 5 to start final assembly soon

The 5th flying 787 should start final assembl by tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest now that all the major assemblies have been delivered to Boeing's Everett facility. This is another important milestone in the 787 program as this plane will be the first GEnx powered 787 and will be used to certify the GEnx powered 787.

I expect that the airplane parts arrived with about a 95% to 98% completion. I think with Dreamliner 8 we'll see no traveled work from the major tier 1 partners and improved final assembly time from Boeing.