Matt Cawby who regularly shoots video and photos of Boeing's Everett flight line recorded an interesting piece of video yesterday at Everett which is below:
Matt Cawby Video
In the video the 747 LCF is loaded with fuselage section for the 787. What is interesting is that these are not the pre-stuffed ready to join sections that would normally arrive into Everett to be taken to final assembly but parts that are normally constructed by Alenia in Grottaglie, Italy and then flown to Boeing Charleston to be assembled with parts from Japan to form the main fuselage section that is finally delivered into Everett. Why these particular parts were flown direct to Everett and not Charleston is a mystery but I think we can reasonably speculate that because of Boeing's review of Alenia production processes and manufacturing standards, these parts might be part of the inspections that Boeing has ordered across all the 787 that have been built. Hopefully there is nothing seriously wrong with the parts but it does say that Boeing is a little nervous about one of its major suppliers.
Showing posts with label Grottaglie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grottaglie. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Boeing conducts inspection of Alenia built 787 parts
James Albaugh, head of BCA, gave us quick update of the787 program. among the pieces of information he revealed is that Boeing is doing more of the design work for the 787-9 and is making very good progress with the next 787 version.
However, Boeing is finding more issues with Alenia built parts on the 787 and as a result is conducting more inspections of all the 787s built to date. As of now I do not know what these issues are or which Alenia built parts are subject to the new inspections but Boeing wants to make sure that these parts are "up to Boeing standards." This may explain why the 787s have flown on a limited basis for the last week and a half. Only today did ZA001 and ZA004 flew on an extended basis accumulating about 11 flight hours between the two test flights.
Boeing is planning to move more 787 production in house and I won't be surprised if Alenia's contract to build 787 sections is taken away from Boeing and would be produced at both Everett and Charleston in the next 5 years. Much of this is based on reviewing Alenia's 787 production and assembly in Grottaglie which was initiated by improper workmanship on the horizontal stabilizers. There seems to be no complaint of the Japanese built sections or the parts produced by Spirit. Albaugh also said that Boeing is quite happy that they bought out Alenia's share of Global Aeronautica (now name Boeing Charleston) as well as all of Vought's share of the 787 program.
James Albaugh also said that ZA006 should fly later this month though sources have told me that September 12th is still the date that is being shown on internal Boeing schedules. Albaugh also said that they have delivered 70% of the required certification documentation to the FAA though they've only completed about 47% of the test flights hours so far. Boeing can conceivably be at the 50% mark in about 10 days depending on the pace of test flights.
Bloomberg: Boeing Inspects 787 fleet
However, Boeing is finding more issues with Alenia built parts on the 787 and as a result is conducting more inspections of all the 787s built to date. As of now I do not know what these issues are or which Alenia built parts are subject to the new inspections but Boeing wants to make sure that these parts are "up to Boeing standards." This may explain why the 787s have flown on a limited basis for the last week and a half. Only today did ZA001 and ZA004 flew on an extended basis accumulating about 11 flight hours between the two test flights.
Boeing is planning to move more 787 production in house and I won't be surprised if Alenia's contract to build 787 sections is taken away from Boeing and would be produced at both Everett and Charleston in the next 5 years. Much of this is based on reviewing Alenia's 787 production and assembly in Grottaglie which was initiated by improper workmanship on the horizontal stabilizers. There seems to be no complaint of the Japanese built sections or the parts produced by Spirit. Albaugh also said that Boeing is quite happy that they bought out Alenia's share of Global Aeronautica (now name Boeing Charleston) as well as all of Vought's share of the 787 program.
James Albaugh also said that ZA006 should fly later this month though sources have told me that September 12th is still the date that is being shown on internal Boeing schedules. Albaugh also said that they have delivered 70% of the required certification documentation to the FAA though they've only completed about 47% of the test flights hours so far. Boeing can conceivably be at the 50% mark in about 10 days depending on the pace of test flights.
Bloomberg: Boeing Inspects 787 fleet
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Dreamliner 4 delayed?
Parts for Dreamliner 4, the fourth test flight 787, have yet to be delivered to the final assembly line in Everett, Washington. Both the forward fuselage (section 41) the main fuselage (section 11/45, 43, 44,46) are still in their respective partner sites in Wichita and Charleston.
There is one LCF in Everett right now one in Charleston and the third one is flying (as of 10:30 PM EDT) to Grottaglie, Italy.
Boeing has said that LN 4 would start final assembly by June 30th. Even though there is still 2 days to do that, it is highly unlikely that this will be met due to the lack of movement of these two critical sections.
The reason for this apparent delay is unknown. It could be issues with the main fuselage section in Charleston. It is doubtful that there are issues with section 41 as that is complete though it is possible that perhaps there are issues after completing assembly of this section.
Another reason might be due to work still on going on LN 3. After LN 2 moved to position 3 about a week ago, LN 3 still stayed in position 1. There might be issues with that airplane. I'm trying to get more information.
There is one LCF in Everett right now one in Charleston and the third one is flying (as of 10:30 PM EDT) to Grottaglie, Italy.
Boeing has said that LN 4 would start final assembly by June 30th. Even though there is still 2 days to do that, it is highly unlikely that this will be met due to the lack of movement of these two critical sections.
The reason for this apparent delay is unknown. It could be issues with the main fuselage section in Charleston. It is doubtful that there are issues with section 41 as that is complete though it is possible that perhaps there are issues after completing assembly of this section.
Another reason might be due to work still on going on LN 3. After LN 2 moved to position 3 about a week ago, LN 3 still stayed in position 1. There might be issues with that airplane. I'm trying to get more information.
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