Horizontal tab problems show up on the 787 and other news

Dominc Gates' article on June 24th that revealed Boeing is temporarily halting test flights because of workmanship issues with the horizontal stabilizer's shims and fastener torquing came as a complete shock to those following the program. The problem was bought to attention of Boeing managers on the previous day and Boeing ordered that all 25 assembled horizontal stabs (also known as the tail feathers) be checked of the issue. Boeing acknowledged that some of the parts on the tail feathers may have to be replaced so that the fatigue life of the horizontal stabs is not shortened due to the improperly installed shims and the over torquing on the fasteners. Boeing will inspect each of the test flight 787s starting with ZA002 and ZA003 since these two airplanes are performing their flight tests when the stop flying order was issued. ZA001, ZA004, and ZA005 are in the middle of planned layups and they will be the next to be inspected. Each inspection should last a day or two which means that ZA002 and ZA003 should already be inspected by now. If they are found to need fix, the 8 days that these airplanes will out of service should not effect Boeing test flight plans terribly. I have no word on the results of the inspections as of yet.

If problems are found on any of these aircraft they still may fly though under a reduced flight envelope so as not to strain and fatigue the horizontal stab. It will take Boeing about 8 days to repair each horizontal stab if problems are found. For the production aircraft this won't affect their delivery since these airplanes are not flying and can be easily repaired before delivery. Boeing will focus on fixing any of the issues with ZA001 through ZA006 as these are the test flight airplanes and getting them fixed and returned to flight test will be a priority.

I don't think there will be much effect on the flight test program and their is some margin in the test flight schedule. Boeing main issue to discover who this problem got past quality control and develop methodologies to make sure manufacturing errors like this don't occur. The issue also is why Alenia is having so many manufacturing issues with their product that they deliver to Boeing.

Boeing also says that they're going to go ahead with plans to bring ZA003 to Farnborough next month though they have not finalized those plans as of yet. If they do bring it it will go a log way to repairing Boeing's image vis a vis the 787.

Boeing also announced a production related change. There will production slow down in September due to resequencing of part deliveries into Everett for final assembly. This is due to customers taking different delivery dates. This will allow Boeing suppliers to catch up and to improve the supply chain health. Boeing is planning to implement the resequencing after airplane 27 (ZA178, LN 27) is delivered. Boeing indicated that the resequencing of deliveries shouldn't impact deliveries in 2010 and 2011 to customers.

In some other 787 news, Vietnam Airlines announced that they are switching their order from the 787-8 to the 787-9. The reason being is that the airline believes that the -9 will be a better performer than the -8. This came on the heels of Boeing announcing 3 more 787s orders from an unidentified customer.

Lastly, ZA006 which will be the last test flight 787 to take flight won't fly on July 13th as previously reported but now has been pushed back to July 26th. This is before the horizontal stab issue came to light. I don't know if the new problem will further push back ZA006's first flight or not but this airplane has to be inspected first.

Dominic Gates : Boeing Halts Flights for 787 Inspection

Dominic Gates : Dreamliner Chief Says Production Will Slow In September

Flightblogger : Gaps in horizontal stabilizer prompt another Alenia 787 quality issue

Flightblogger : Boeing plans additional re-sequencing of 787 parts deliveries

Flightblogger : Boeing starts 787 horizontal stabiliser inspections

Guy Norris : Boeing 787 Test Flights Halted

Aubrey Cohen : Boeing finds glitch in 787 horizontal stabilizers

Aubrey Cohen : Boeing inspecting 787s, plans to slow production in September

Flightglobal : Vietnam Airlines switches 787 order to -9s

Bloomberg : Boeing Says 787s May Need New Tail Parts After Inspections

Randy Tinseth : 787 inspections prioritized

Geoffrey Thomas : Boeing to bring 787 to Farnborough, happy with flight testing progress

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.

First GE powered 787 flies

Photo Courtesy of Liz Matzelle
The first 787 to be powered by GE's GEnx-1B engines finally took o the skies today. In keeping with the 787 tradition, this take off was delayed though this time due to low ceiling clouds and rain showers. It finally lifted off from the Everett runway at around 2:40 PM PT flew around the Seattle area before heading to Moses Lake. An observer told me that the sound of the GEnx engines on the 787 are very conventional sounding compared to the Trent 1000 which have a low pitched buzz saw sound to them. It flew back from Moses Lake and touched down at Boeing Field at about 6:22 PM PT. This now kicks off Boeing-GE certification test flights of the GEnx powered 787. ZA005 joins the Rolls Royce powered test fleet that has been flying for the past 6 months starting with ZA001. Test flights should last another 5 months and the last GE powered aircraft, ZA006, should be flying by July 13th...about 4 weeks from now.

Video courtesy of Liz Matzelle:

ZA005 First Flight from Liz Matzelle on Vimeo.

David Parker Brown of Airlinereporter.com also got a lot of video and photos of today's first flight:

Video and pictures of ZA005 first flight by David Parker Brown

Photos of ZA005 first flight by David Parker Brown

Photos of ZA005 first flight by Liz Matzelle

Flightblogger, Jon Ostrower is writing a in depth article about this particular 787 and its test flight responsibilities.

Flightblogger: Better Know A Dreamliner - Part Five - ZA005

Guy Norris is also writing up a post which should be posted very soon but he does have a couple of pieces up:

Guy Norris: GE powered 787 flies
747-8 and 787 ready for test expansion

Matt Cawby got some amazing video of ZA005 first flight and I highly recommend it:

Matt Cawby: N787FT First Flight

And some video from King5, a Seattle TV station with a unique angle of the take off:


Video Courtesy of King 5

Lastly, ZA003 is flying tonight and when it lands it will push the 787 flight test hours to 1000 flight hours. Stay tuned for information on that.

Six Months In...787 Flight Test Update

As Boeing is prepares to add the fifth 787 to the test flight program, the current Rolls Royce test fleet is accumulating test flight hours though at a lower pace compared to a month ago. ZA004 and ZA001 have been out of the test flight picture with ZA001 receiving new engines and just recently returning to the sky and ZA004 receiving some needed instrumentation for the upcoming flight loads testing. ZA004 should return to the air by the end of the month.
Six months after ZA001 took to the air, the combined test flight hours stand at a shade under 983 hours. The average per flight hours is 4 hours and 12 minutes but thus far in June, the test flight fleet has flown 22 missions for almost 105 and half hours making the average flight last 4 hours and 47 minutes. Over the past three months the average hours per flight has steadily increased with Boeing flying longer missions on each of the airplanes and accomplishing more tasks on each flight.

Later this week it is expected that the total 787 test flight hours flown will break the 1000 hour mark and by early next week Boeing would be 1/3 of the way through its flight test program.
In order to achieve the 3,100 test flight hours by mid November of this year (22 weeks), the test flight fleet would have to fly 96 hours and 13 minutes per week. With the addition of ZA005 to the test flight program tomorrow and the anticipated first flight of ZA006 on July 13th, Boeing should be able to achieve its certification goals by mid-November.

ZA003 taking a jaunt around the western US

Most the 787 test flights involved flying circuits around Washington State (when they at Boeing Field) or over the Pacific (when at Victorville). Well today ZA003 is taking a a leisurely jaunt around the country according to Flightaware.com. The track takes the 787 eastward over Washington, Idaho and Montana then heads southeast over Wyoming, Colorado, nips a part of Kansas then over Oklahoma into Texas. It takes a right turn over Texas then flies a north westerly route over southern New Mexico and southern Arizona going into California close to the California-Mexico border and flies along that border at which point near San Diego it will turn north and fly over LA and San Francisco. It then takes a direct northerly route from there going over northern California, through Oregon and into Washington State and ending at Boeing Field in Seattle. This flight test should last a little over 8 hours.

Check out the Flightaware live flight tracking for this flight.

787 and 747 News - June 10, 2010

Flightblogger and Guy Norris reported just yesterday that the FAA has moved one step closer to giving Boeing approval for type commonality for crew qualifications between the 787 and the 777 aircraft. Boeing wants to have this approval to allow 777 pilots to be qualified to fly the 787 after only 5 days of training. In doing so this would allow airlines to have one pool of pilots that would be able to fly both aircraft with minimal costs. The savings would be huge and bolsters the 787s economic case.



According to Guy Norris, the approval needs to be completed in three steps. The first is systems which has been completed. The second is handling qualities...both aircraft should have similar handling qualities. It is this second step that has been completed and approved. The last step is validation of the training course for pilots which includes the 787 check rides with the FAA. There is no word on when the third step will be completed but I have to assume that Boeing would like to have it done prior to first delivery to ANA who is a large 777 operator.



ZA001 is still in layup after having its engines changed out and should fly again towards the end of the month. Boeing is also adding artificial ice shapes to the leading edges for tests and then the airplane should be at Edwards Air Force Base later this summer for Vmu (velocity minimum unstick) testing. Here ZA001 will basically drag its tail on the ground and see what the slowest speed the 787 can take off at. ZA004 is also expected to be back in the air by the end of June for flight loads testing. It is currently getting additional instrumentation in order for them to conduct the testing. ZA002 and ZA003 are currently flying with the Boeing test fleet accumulating over 938 hours.

Guy Norris : 787 closer to 777 commonality approval


Flightblogger : Carriker: 787 designed with 777 handling in mind

Flight testing appears to be going very well for the 787. So much so that Boeing is closer to deciding to send the 787 to Farnborough. As I had reported earlier, Boeing will most likely not make a decision until early July but odds are that they will send ZA003 to Farnborough. Flightblogger reported yesterday that Boeing is planning to send both ZA003 (787) and RC503 (747-8F painted in Cargolux livery) to Farnborough. Later Boeing tweeted that they're "planning on the 787" but "the 747-8 is looking less likely." This is pretty much true in my opinion as Boeing is behind in flight testing of the 747-8F. I don't think they could spare the aircraft or the time to send the aircraft to Europe.

Flightblogger : Boeing's Farnborough Outlook ZA003 and RC503

Boeing Photo


Lastly, Boeing showed solid proof of the progress of the 747-8I. The first fuselage panels of the aircraft are now in Everett. The first airplane should be rolled out towards the end of this year with first flight early next year.

First GEnx 787 starts gauntlet testing; 787 Test Fleet Exceeds 900 Flight Hours Flown

UPDATE (9:10 Eastern Time): Guy Norris posted a 787 update on the Things With Wings Blog at Aviation Week. He writes about testing composites as well as using resin infused composites for the 787-9. Lastly, he reviews the flight test program to date. It great article and certainly worth the read.

Guy Norris : 787 - composites under the hammer and more tests

This weekend was very eventful for the 787 program. First ZA002 flew an eleven and a half hour test flight on June 5th (Saturday) out of the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville. Both ZA002 and ZA003 flew this weekend with ZA001 and ZA004 undergoing installation of additional instrumentation and in the case of ZA001 a change out of it's Trent-1000 engines.

Today, June 6th, the first 787 with the GEnx-1B engines started gauntlet testing as I had reported earlier in the week. These tests are taking place in the run up to ZA005's first flight which is expected to take place around June 16th. Matt Cawby posted a great video on his blog of ZA005 engines running at high RPMs:

Matt Cawby's June 6th 787 Update

End of May 787 Update

Not too much to update here but what I lack in quantity I hopefully make up in quality!

787 flight testing slowed down this past weekend (Memorial Day Weekend) with only one airplane flying, ZA002. This airplane surpassed 250 flight hours this past weekend. ZA001 is swapping out it's Trent 1000 engines and is about midway through that exercise. It is not, as far as I have learned, a swap out of the Trent package "A" engines (which was what this aircraft has been flying with since December) with the improved package "B" engines. The fourth 787, ZA004 will receive the improved package "B" Trent 1000 in September. The package "B" engines is supposed to deliver a specific fuel consumption that is within 1% of what was promised to customers. These engines incorporates design improvements to get that fuel consumption close to what is contractually promised by Rolls Royce. ZA004 is receiving some APU updates and additional instrumentation and ZA003 was given the weekend off for the Holidays. The 787 test fleet has flown the most hours in the program during the past one month, logging over 330 hours spread across over 100 flights. The per flight utilization also went up to 3.2 hours per flight. Most of this is attributed to ZA004 performing Nautical Air Miles Testing over the eastern Pacific just west of the Baja Peninsula.

To date the 787 test fleet has accumulated over 880 flight test hours during more than 280 flights.

Coming up

So far so good with flight testing. ZA002 flew to Victorville this morning (June 1) and is joining ZA004 in flight test duties. The two airplanes will be testing independent of one another. ZA002 will undertaking NGS (nitrogen generating system) tests as well as some other small testing duties.

ZA005 is still scheduled to fly around June 16th and ZA006 will be flying around July 13th.

On the production front, look for LN 23 to start final assembly around June 14th. Boeing held up final assembly of 787s for one month to allow the supply chain to get caught up in work instead of sending the fuselage sections to Everett along with travelled work. Look for parts for this airplane to start arriving next week though some parts are already in for this airplane.

Lastly, I asked Boeing about sending the 787 to the Farnborough Air Show. They said no decision has been made yet and it will depend on the progress of flight testing. They anticipate that a decision should be made closer to the time of the air show in mid July.

787 undergoing thermal tests in San Antonio

Boeing Photo

ZA003 flew from Eglin Air Force Base to Lackland Air Force Base yeasterday where the aircraft will under go therrmal test particularly wheel well thermal tests. According to Boeing ZA003 will be in San Antonio for two days but it is expected to be the first of many visits of the 787 to Lackland Air Force Base.

Boeing will also use the facility to perform modifications on some of the 787s that are being produced.


Here's Boeing's Press Release:

Dreamliner Arrives in San Antonio

SAN ANTONIO, April 29, 2010 – The Boeing 787 Dreamliner made its first landing in San Antonio, April 28 at Lackland Air Force Base. A crew of approximately 70 people traveled onboard the airplane from Eglin Air Force Base in Florida where ZA003, the third 787 airplane to be built, successfully completed a series of extreme-weather tests. Additional thermal test data will be collected while in San Antonio.

Boeing has already announced that modification of some 787s will be done at the San Antonio site.

“It’s great to have the 787 in San Antonio,” said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 program, Commercial Airplanes. “We are excited to be working with the team there. This is just a short visit for testing but we will be back with more airplanes.”

ZA003 is expected to stay in San Antonio for about two days.

787 undertaking long duration flight tests

ZA004 has been engaged in long duration test flights over the last couple of days with two flights that lasted about 9 hours each. A source told me that these flights are performing steady state performance certification testing as well as laminar flow evaluations. ZA004 is in the air again today for another long duration test flight. The FAA is on board for these test flights. In other news, it is expected that ZA003 will be making the flight from Eglin Air Force Base to San Antonio for further hot condition environmental testing. It has successfully completed the testing at the McKinley Climatic Laboratory.

Lastly, Randy Tinseth put up a blog post addressing the temporary suspension of part deliveries into Everett. Boeing is delaying the shipping of the next two 787s (LN 23 and LN 24) due to parts shortages going into the suppliers.

Randy Tinseth : Temporary adjustment to 787 supplier deliveries

Boeing Announces 787 extreme weather testing

Boeing Photos

Boeing announced the start of extreme weather testing on the 787. It now appears that Boeing will conduct both cold weather as well as hot weather testing at the McKinley Climatic Laboratory at Eglin Air Force Base. ZA003 is expected to be there for about two weeks. The aircraft will be subjected to extremes in temperatures and then technicians will go through and do a simulated preparation for flight to see how the systems act after being exposed to temperature extremes. This will not be the only extreme weather testing for the 787. There will be more testing which will probably also involve flight testing in the temperature extremes. Here's

Boeing's press release:News Release Issued: April 22, 2010 4:21 PM EDT

787 Dreamliner Undergoing Extreme-Weather Testing in Florida

VALPARAISO, Fla., April 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Boeing (NYSE: BA) 787 Dreamliner has begun a series of extreme-weather tests at Valparaiso, Fla. A special hangar at the McKinley Climatic Laboratory at Elgin Air Force Base allows the airplane to experience heat as high as 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 Celsius) and as low as minus 45 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 43 Celsius).

After the airplane is stabilized at either the hot or cold temperatures, flight test technicians will follow the Airplane Maintenance Manual to perform the steps required to prepare the airplane for flight release and operate under these conditions. Sensors and monitors will allow the test team to determine if all systems hardware and software operate as expected.

Cold-weather testing is being conducted first, with preliminary hot-weather testing to follow. Additional extreme-weather testing will be conducted later in the flight test program.

"We have Dreamliner customers who will operate the 787 in a wide variety of environments throughout the world," said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 program for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "This testing is about ensuring that the airplane meets the expectations of our customers."

A crew of approximately 100 people traveled from Seattle to support the test operations on ZA003, the third 787 airplane to be built.

The McKinley Climatic Laboratory is the second remote testing location for the 787 Dreamliner. The second airplane in the fleet, ZA002, performed a variety of tests in Victorville, Calif., last month. The testing in Florida is expected to last nearly two weeks.

About the Boeing 787 Dreamliner

The 787 Dreamliner is an all-new twinjet designed to meet the needs of airlines around the world in providing nonstop service between mid-size cities with new levels of efficiency. The airplane will bring improved levels of comfort to passengers with larger windows, bigger baggage bins and advances in the cabin environment, including lower cabin altitude, higher humidity and cleaner air. Delivery of the first 787 is planned for the fourth quarter of 2010.
Fifty-seven customers around the world have ordered 866 787s since the program was launched in April 2004, making the Dreamliner the fastest-selling new commercial jetliner in history. Delivery of the first 787 is planned for the fourth quarter of 2010.

Boeing also has a great video of the aircraft going through the deep freeze in the ice locker.

Freezin' in Florida

Guy Norris has an article on Aviation Week reviewing the 787 testing thus far including the extreme weather testing now on going:

Guy Norris: Boeing 787 Begins Extreme Weather Tests

Boeing talks 787 progress and possible 777 upgrade

Boeing Photos

Jim McNerney, speaking on Boeing’s earnings conference call, says that flight testing of the 787 is on track and that Boeing still plans to deliver the 787 as planned by the end of the year. The 787 just received its expanded Type Inspection Authorization (TIA) from the FAA which means that the certification flights tests will begin. While this will be the longest (and most important) phase of the test flight program it also means that a lot of the risk in the 787 program has been retired. Boeing says that the aerodynamic configuration of the 787 is now fixed and that there won’t be any need for changes in the shape of the aircraft. Now essentially the FAA has to collect data for them to be assured that the aircraft is safe to operate in regular passenger service.

Another 2,600 hours?

To date, Boeing has accumulated over 500 flight test hours on the 4 test airplanes (the final two should be in the air in late May and mid June). That leaves about 2,600 of flight test hours that need to be flown by the end of 2010. Boeing has said that while some of the flight test schedule margin has been eaten they would be able to gain some of that margin back because data collection on each flight has been greater than anticipated as well as maturity of the aircraft systems has proven to be better than anticipated. In order to fly the 2,600 flight hours by the end of November (allows Boeing to receive type certification and prepare the first 787 for delivery in December) they would need to fly the test fleet over 81 hours per week. Not an impossible task but they would need to start doing that now. However, as Boeing tests the aircraft and sees no needs for configuration changes in the aircraft or the systems. This has opened up contingency and because they are getting much more data from each flight and retiring more of the risk and certification requirements it will lessen the need for more flights to accomplish all the required tasks. As future flights are flown Boeing feels that they can do more on each flight than they anticipated which would mean that they could add to the schedule margin. This is certainly a huge positive for the program and means that when ANA receives its first aircraft, it should be a matured system. All in all there is a lot of confidence in the 787 program especially with the testing that has been done thus far and what they can accomplish by the start of the 4th quarter. The tentative schedule for the 787 test fleet is as follows: ZA001 - won't fly until early May; ZA002 - should fly around April 30th; ZA003 - should fly around April 27th, ZA004 - should fly soon.

777 or 787-10

One big development from yesterday’s earning’s conference is that Boeing may decide to do an update of the 777 instead of developing the 787-10. This could have plenty of advantages which include reduced development time, lower R& D expenditures as well as better performance vs. the 787-10 (and by extension the A350-900 and A350-1000). A decision on this may be made by the end of this year.

Saj Ahmad of Fleetbuzzeditorial.com has a great analysis piece on the 777 vs 787-10.

Improved 777 May Get Nod Ahead Of 787-10

Better Late Than Never – 787 Moves Up A Gear

Lastly, Flightblogger is in Florida freezing his b**t off with ZA003. Check it out here.

787 get expanded Type Inspection Authorization...Finally

Boeing Photo of ZA003 at Eglin Air Force Base


The FAA has given Boeing the expanded TIA (Type Inspection Authorization) for the 787 last night. This now means that Boeing and the FAA will undertake test flights and ground tests to certify the 787. Boeing is still planning for first delivery by the end of this year to ANA. Boeing also announced that ZA003 is in Florida to undertake extreme weather testing after flying 5 hours from Boeing Field to Eglin Air Force Base. Boeing also noted that the 78 test fleet has now exceed 500 test flight hours. I'm still trying to find out when flight test will start to take place with FAA inspectors and engineers aboard but I anticipate that it will be soon. Here's Boeing's press release.

News Release Issued: April 20, 2010 11:14 PM EDTBoeing 787 Flight-Test
Program Progressing
EVERETT, Wash., April 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) granted Boeing (NYSE: BA) expanded type inspection authorization (TIA) today, clearing the way for its personnel to fully participate in future test flights and for the collection of required flight-test data. Initial TIA was granted Feb. 11, which supported the collection of flutter certification data.
The expanded TIA marks the FAA's confirmation that the airplane and team are ready to collect additional certification data. Boeing achieved the expansion by demonstrating the readiness of the airplane throughout a variety of speeds, altitudes and configurations.
"This TIA expansion is another significant step toward delivering airplanes to our customers. We remain on track to deliver the first airplane to ANA this year," said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 program, Commercial Airplanes.
In addition to receiving expanded TIA, Boeing finalized the aerodynamic configuration of the 787.
"We have completed sufficient testing to decide that no additional changes to the external lines or shape of the airplane are required," said Fancher. "Having an airplane match its expected performance with so few changes is rare and speaks to the maturity of the design."
The 787 flight-test fleet logged its 500th hour of flying April 16. On Sunday, ZA003, the flight-test airplane outfitted with interior elements, landed in Florida, where it will go through extreme weather testing at McKinley Climatic Laboratory at Eglin Air Force Base.
Boeing released two videos highlighting flutter and ground effects testing. These videos feature commentary by the pilots and the chief project engineer and are available on http://www.boeing.com/ and http://www.newairplane.com/.

Flightglobal had picked up this story and you can read their article here. Fligtblogger also has a post on his blog about the TIA.

Flightblogger: Boeing 787 granted Type Inspection Authorization

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.

ZA003 headed cross country to Eglin Air Force Base

The third Dreamliner, ZA003, is at this moment flying to Eglin Air Force Base to take part in cold soak tests at the USAF's McKinley Climatic Laboratory. The 787 flew out of Boeing Field at 7:08AM PST for the 787s first cross country flight which should take about 5 hours or so even though Flightaware shows a flight time of 45 minutes...we knew the 787 is supposed to be fast but c'mon!

Flightaware for BOE 3

Flightblogger had revealed earlier this week that ZA003 would perform cold soak test at Eglin Air Force Base. I'm not sure how long it'll be there and what temperatures it will exposed to but they will run the 787s systems to see how they act in the extreme cold though I'm guessing they wouldn't run the engines or APU inside the lab.

Flightbloggers 787 updates

Jon Ostrower aka Flightblogger had a couple of cool (one literally) posts that is 787 related.

The first one dealt with the paint scheme for JAL's first 787 which is currently in final assembly. The color scheme is based from drawing submissions from local children. Check it out:

Flightblogger: 1st JAL 787 livery

The 2nd post is concerns cold soak testing for the 787. Flightblogger says that ZA003 may be flying soon to Elgin Air Force Base's McKinley Climatic Lab on the Florida pan handle to conduct cold soak testing. Moreover, ZA003 might be departing for the cold soak testing as early as April 18th (next Sunday). As part of the required certification testing, the aircraft must be able to withstand temperatures of around -40 to -50 degrees Fahrenheit.

Flightblogger: Answering the 787 cold soak question once and for all

Update on 787 Flight Test

So I got a few words on the 787 flight test progress.

The first bit of news is that Boeing should get the Type Inspection Authorization (TIA) around the middle of this week. This is tentative but has shown up on the 787 master phasing plan. We'll know more by the 7th.

Both ZA003 and ZA004 were supposed to fly this past weekend but ZA004 had some minor APU issues so it's flights this past weekend were cancelled. No word on ZA003 flight. These planes could fly as early as today (April 5).

Lastly, ZA002 could be back in the air between today and Wednesday (April 7th). ZA005 is schedule to fly by May 16th and ZA006 should be in the air by June 6th.

Stay tuned in the ever changing program.

787 review and look ahead

Now that the first quarter of 2010 has come to an end, it seems like a good time for a brief review and a look ahead.

Thus far the 787 flight test fleet has accumulated over 406 test flight hours (through March 31st) spread over 134 flight. ZA001 has conducted most of the test flight as expected with ZA002 conducting the second most flights.

There is some concern amongst many followers of this program (including articles in the Wall Street Journal) that the 787 hasn't been flown enough to achieve the needed flight test hours for certification. Boeing has said that the test flight program will entail 3,100 flight hours spread across the 6 test airplanes. In order for Boeing to have the necessary hours by mid November which is 32 weeks from now (I picked mid-November as it will allow Boeing enough time to get the production 787 ready for customer delivery by Dec. 31, 2010...another 6 weeks) they would need to fly the test fleet at a clip of 82 hours per week starting now.

James Albaugh has stated that the 787 test fleet would be flying around 90 hours per week starting around the middle of this year. However, if Boeing is to meet it's 787 delivery target that it has set for itself, then it would need to start flying longer 787 sorties starting now. Currently, Boeing is averaging a little over 3 hours per flight through the 134 flights that have been conducted thus far. Boeing does plan on flying longer flights but that probably won't occur until the FAA has issued the Type Inspection Authorization that is needed to formally kick off the certification process. That was supposed to have happened by today as of the time I'm writing this post it has not occurred.

Flight Test Look Ahead
In the meanwhile, ZA001 continues to fly test flights. ZA002 is in the midst of upgrading it flight software to the Wedge 5.5 version that ZA004 had recently tested on the ground and in the air. This is the service-ready version of the 787 flight software. It is anticipated that ZA002 should be back in the air by the end of next week (around April 9th). Both ZA003 and ZA004 should both be flying again by Saturday, April 3rd. ZA005 is on the Boeing flightline, preparing for it's first flight and should be flying around May 8th. This will be the first flight of the GEnx-1B on the 787. The last flight test aircraft (also equipped with the GEnx-1B), ZA006, should be in the air by June 4th and is currently in building 40-24.

Production
787 production continues apace with an important milestone taking place yesterday. LN 20 (ZA175), a 787 for Japan Airlines, started final assembly. This is the first weight optimized 787 to enter into final assembly and is introducing a major block point change with weight savings incorporated into the aircraft.

Boeing is slowly ramping up 787 production and the next aircraft LN 21 (ZA176) will enter final assembly around April 12th thus ZA 175 would be in position 1 for about 2 weeks before pulsing to the next assembly position. The dramatic reduction of traveled work (two words that hasn't been mentioned in some time) certainly has helped as well as the learning curve when it comes to assembling the 787s. Now the concern is managing the change incorporation process of the existing production 787s though Boeing does have a plan for that.

Flightblogger 787 Flight Test Review

Flightblogger has put up an update along with pictures and video of the current 787 progress to date. In it he describes what has been done and what is in store for the immediate future with the 6 test airplanes as summarized below:

ZA001 : Completed flutter testing and is now commencing high speed stability and control testing.
ZA002 : Still in Victorville after completing ground effects testing but is due to return to Boeing Field tomorrow, March 23rd.
ZA004 : Will finish up flight testing of the version 5.5 service ready software today, March 22nd and then will go into a period of extended ground testing
ZA003 : Going through a planned post first flight layup. I'm not sure when she's due to fly again.
ZA005 and ZA006 : Still at Everett Field with ZA005 due to be moved to paint shop soon for aqueous wash of it's fuel tanks. Word I've gotten is that ZA005 won't be in the air until around May 8th and ZA006 won't fly until around June 4th. These are estimates by the way.

Flightblogger: 787 Flight Testing Month 3 (Plus 7)

Lastly, there's a great article taking a look inside the 787 telemetry room at Boeing Field. The article is authored by Jason Paur of Autopia. This is great for those of us who don't really understand the goings on of flight testing of a new commercial airliner.

A Look Inside the Brains of Boeing 787 Flight Test

Three Months In

Boeing Photo

Three months into 787 flight testing Boeing is slowly ramping up the number of airplanes to the test flight fleet with the recent addition of ZA003 to the test flight program yesterday. However, through three months since ZA001 took flight, the program has accumulated just shy of 307 flight hours spread across 101 flights and 4 test airplanes.

Boeing has indicated that the program will need 3,100 flight hours (3,700 ground test hours) for full testing and certification. Additionally, Boeing Commercial Airplane Group chief, James Albaugh, said that by mid year the test flight fleet will be flying about 90 hours per week on average.

Given the 307 hours already flown (not even 10% of the total needed) three months in, Boeing would need to fly another 2,793 hours. Assuming another 8 months for those flight test (taking us to mid November, 2010), then Boeing would need to fly about 350 hours per month on average or over about 88 hours per week across the test flight fleet.

Mind you that right now there are 4 test airplanes in the fleet with some planes flying less hours than others given the flight test assignments for each airplane. For example, ZA003 will log significantly fewer hours in the air due to the cabin testing it will be doing versus ZA001. Thus much of the flight testing would fall on ZA001, ZA002, ZA004 and the unflown ZA005. ZA005 won't be flying until early May and ZA006 won't be flying until early June according to sources. Thus if Boeing plans to deliver by the end of the 4th quarter (they would need time to flight test the production airplanes as well as incorporate any changes that are needed), they would need to get more aggressive with flight testing as they are flying, on average, about 96 hours per month granted that flight testing has ramped over of the months. Boeing has achieved 100 test flights in the 3 months since ZA001's first test flight.

In December, the 787 flight test program logged 18 hours and 57 minutes across 5 flights. That averages about 3 hours and 47 minutes per flight.

In January, the flight test team logged 47 hours and 23 minutes across 13 flights. That is an average of 3 hours and 38 minutes, slightly lower than December.

In February, the 787 was flying 136 hours and 40 minutes across 46 test flights. That is an average of 2 hours and 58 minutes of flying time which is dramatically lower than January.

Through the first 15 days of March, the test flight fleet has flown 103 hours and 50 minutes over 37 flights. This equates to an average of 2 hours and 49 minutes per flight....even lower than February.

Thus utilization of the test flight fleet has been decreasing since first flight. If Boeing hopes to certify and deliver the 787 then the aircraft test flight utilization has to dramatically increase.