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

Guy Norris Updates 787 Test Flight

Guy Norris of Aviation Week put out a great article describing the short term flight test program, particularly for ZA005 now that this aircraft has entered the test flight program. According to Guy, ZA005 will undertake an abbreviated version of the initial air worthiness testing including flutter testing and stability and control testing among other test points that will be examined with the GEnx-1B engines. This aircraft has essentially the same instrumentation that ZA001 has for it's testing earlier this year.

Guy also talks about the progress on increasing the fuel efficiency of the GEnx-1B engines and GE's desire to get the engines to spec with the PIP (product improvement package) 1 that would be delivered to customers around May of 2011. There are further improvements planned for the GEnx-1B to increase fuel efficiency even further but those improvements won't show up until 2012.

Guy Norris: GE-Powered 787 Enters Test Flight

787 Test Flight Update from Boeing

Boeing Photo

Boeing Press Release:

Boeing 787 Dreamliner Passes 1,000 Hours of Flying

EVERETT, Wash., June 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --The Boeing (NYSE: BA) 787 Dreamliner flight test fleet passed 1,000 hours of testing yesterday. The program estimates that it is about 40 percent through the test conditions required to certify the first version of the all-new jetliner.

"More work remains but we are seeing excellent progress in flight test," said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 program for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "Even more important than the hours we've logged are the test conditions we have completed. The team is being very efficient in getting the data we need."

"It's also important to note that we are making solid progress on the ground testing required on the flight test fleet as well," Fancher said.

Follow the progress of 787 flight test at http://787flighttest.com.

Boeing's Statement on ZA005 First Flight

Boeing Photo

UPDATE: Now that ZA005's first flight is in the bag, sources have told me that the aircraft will go though post first flight inspections as well as some ground tests. The next time this aircraft will fly is June 28th.

From Boeing:

News Release Issued: June 16, 2010 11:04 PM EDT

Boeing Completes First Flight of GE-Powered 787

EVERETT, Wash., June 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The first Boeing (NYSE: BA) 787 Dreamliner with General Electric (GE) engines, the airplane referred to as ZA005, completed its first flight at 6:29 p.m. (Pacific time) today, following a 3-hour-and-48-minute flight over the state of Washington.

GE executives and Boeing employees were on hand to welcome Captains Mike Bryan and Mike Carriker to Boeing Field in Seattle following completion of the flight.

"The airplane handled just like I expected," said Bryan, who captained the flight. "It was just like every other 787 flight that I've flown in the last several months –smooth, per plan and excellent."

"We're pleased to introduce the fifth Dreamliner to the flight-test fleet and to start flight testing with GE engines," said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 program for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "It's taken the collective resources and dedication of our teams to get to this day. There's just nothing like a first flight to validate that it has been worth the sacrifices we have all seen our teams make in the past several years."

ZA005 will be used to test the General Electric engine package and demonstrate that the changes made with the new engine do not change the airplane's handling characteristics.

The sixth, and final, 787 to join the flight test program is expected to fly before the end of July.

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.

Dreamliner 5 taxi tests on video

Matt Cawby got some great pictures and video of ZA005 performing its taxi tests around Everett Field. Things are looking good for the aircraft to conduct its first flight tomorrow. No time has been given but the last four 787s were given 10 AM PT target times for their first flights. Check out Matt Cawby's post:

Matt Cawby: 787 Update - June 15

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.

Boeing restarts 787 part deliveries into Everett

As I had reported last week, Boeing will restart 787 final assembly on Monday, June 14th. This is reinforced with the restart of LCF flights bringing the required fuselage sections into Everett. Yesterday and LCF flew in the rear fuselage for the next 787 to be built...ZA177 (LN 23) for Japan Airlines and horizontal stabs for Air India's first 787, ZA230 (LN 25). Later this afternoon, the forward fuselage will be flown from Wichita to Everett. There should be a line move late this weekend to allow parts for the 23rd 787 to be located in the assembly tool in building 40-26.

Flight Test

ZA002 flew a 2 hour and 35 minute mission this morning (June 8th) out of Victorville. In completing this test flight, the 787 test fleet has completed over 30% of the required 3,100 test flight hours for the program. ZA005 continues its gauntlet testing ahead of a planned first flight on June 16th.

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

787 and 747 news

Here's a rundown on news bits regarding the 747-8 and 787 programs.

Boeing and ANA will test the 787 in Japan this fall. No word on when this fall it will take palce but theDreamliner will be spending a week flying around a select few Japanese airports and allowing ANA staff to perform maintenance during the testing.

Dreamliner Test Flights to Start This Fall in Japan

In a related story, ANA is planning to start flying the 787 on international revenue service in March, 2011 after taking delivery in November, 2010. Prior to next March international debut for the ANA 787, the airline plans to fly the airplane on domestic service. There you have it folks...ANA is expecting first delivery in about 6 months. ANA also plans to start pilot training in September.

All Nippon Plans First 787 Overseas Flights in March

Flightblogger: ANA sees November 787 delivery, January EIS, March International Debut

Yesterday, ZA002 performed a 12 hour test flight out of Victorville. Sources have told me that testing during this flight included, NGS/Tank Thermal Testing, airspeed calibrations, and TEVC (trailing edge variable camber) cruise optimization testing. The same sources said that testing went so well that additional test conditions were also completed during the same test flight. Both ZA001 and ZA004 are still undergoing work on the ramps. ZA005 will start the mini-gauntlet on June 6th (this weekend) and then start the run up for first flight on June 16.

RC521 (747-8F) in tug collision, Boeing details test flight program for the fourth 747-8F, and engineers fix the flap buffet issue on the 747-8F. Flightblogger has a great update including the imminent start of NAMS testing on RC521 as well as what roles the 4th test flight aircraft (RC503) will in the 747-8F flight testing.

Flightblogger: Boeing details role of fourth 747-8F flight test aircraft

Lastly, some news about the 787 competitor. Louis Gallois, CEO of EADS is saying that much of the schedule margin in the A350 program has been eaten up and that from a scheduling perspective, the program is "tense." The program has already delayed final assembly and first flight on the first A350 though they have not delayed the first delivery which is scheduled for 2013.

Bloomberg: Airbus A350 Timing ‘Tense’ as Gallois Takes Cue From Dreamliner

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.

Boeing moves 787s around, final assembly activities temporarily stopped

Boeing has temporarily stopped final assembly activities on 3 787 in order that 3 other 787s that have completed the side of body modifications are finished.

In doing so, Boeing has towed ZA151 (LN19) to a spot on the Boeing flightline and took ZA175 (LN 20) and ZA 176 (LN 21) went into temporary storage at the ATS Hangar. In their place Boeing put ZA100 (LN 7) in building 40-26 position 4, ZA101 (LN 8) in position 3 and ZA102 (LN 9) in position 2. These planes all have undergone the side of body modifications. It is anticipated that these airplanes will be in 40-26 for a little bit more than a month. When Boeing is ready to resume production ZA100 will be moved to 40-24 (767 final assembly line) and the line will pulsed so that ZA177 (LN 23) can start final assembly. The two of the three booted airplanes will return to the assembly hall once the reassembly activities are completed on the three early build production airplanes. ZA151 will go to the paint hangar soon and ZA175 and ZA176 will return to 40-26 once the reassembly activities are completed.

In other news, ZA005 may finally light the GEnx-1B engines today. I'll post if that happens.

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.

Some other 787 tidbits

Trying to get some more infomration on a slow new day today.

ZA001 will be taking to the air today for another flutter test flight today.

Matt Cawby reported in a post that ZA102 (LN 9) has finished its side of body modifications that were done in the Everett flightline tent.

Matt Cawby's 787 Update - March 9

This aircraft will be moved in the next couple of days to building 40-24 to one of the 767 slant positions on the 767 final assembly line to finish reassembly activities. The aircraft that is there now, ZA005 (LN 5) will be moved out to the flightline. Speaking of which, Dreamliner 5 and Dreamliner 6 won't be making their first flights until the 2nd quarter so that mean we won't see the GEnx-1B airplanes up until April at the earliest. ZA530 (LN 10) will be moved into the flightline tent to begin its side of body modifications.

ZA002 has landed in Victorville for a few weeks of flight testing then it'll be back to Boeing Field.

Here's Boeing's press release:

News Release Issued: March 9, 2010 3:59 PM EST

Boeing 787 Begins First Flight-Test Operations Outside of Washington

VICTORVILLE, Calif., March 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The second Boeing (NYSE: BA) 787 Dreamliner, ZA002, landed at 10:53 a.m. local time today in Victorville, Calif. This marks the beginning of the first flight-test operations outside of Washington state for the program.

The airplane will be stationed at Victorville for approximately three weeks. The crew will conduct ground effects testing among other activities.

During ground effects testing, the pilots fly the airplane very close to the runway to gather data regarding the aerodynamic effects and performance of the airplane during the takeoff and landing phases of flight. Quantifying this performance is part of the certification requirements for all new airplanes.

"Victorville's airfield is the former George Air Force Base," said Randy Neville, chief pilot for ZA002. "There is ample ramp space for parking and plenty of on-site facilities. There is a long runway and plenty of level, clear land along the approach to the runway. We can operate there without disrupting air traffic control or other commercial aircraft."

A crew of more than 150 employees will be stationed at Victorville while the airplane is there.These include the flight test engineers and support personnel required to prepare the airplane for each day's flights and to monitor performance and test equipment.

"Our confidence in the reliability of this airplane grows day by day," said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 program. "Taking the airplane out of state for the first time is a big step, but one we're ready for."

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

Keep the line moving........

Now that Boeing is well into flight testing let's see how production is coming along on future 787s. As always, readers can scroll down to the bottom of this blog to see where the 787s are from ZA001 to the aircraft that is just starting it's assembly at Everett.

Currently inside building 40-26 there are 4 787s in various stages of assembly. LN 14 is at position 4 and LN 17 has just started final assembly. LN 18, a 787 destined for ANA is the next one and will start final assembly on March 1st after a line pulse on February 28th. Airplane 14 will move to the paint hangar at that time and airplane 13 (for ANA) will be moved out to the Boeing flightline.

Around the middle of March, it is expected that airplane 9 (also for ANA) will complete its side of body mods in the flightline tent and be moved to building 40-24 to occupy a spot that is currently taken up by LN 5. LN 5 will be moved outside to the Everett flightline and LN 10 (for LAN) will be moved into the flightline test for side of body mods.

Looking a little forward, Boeing will be looking to assembly airplanes 19 (for Royal Air Maroc) and 20 (for Japan Airlines) in March

Flight Test Review

Boeing Photo
Yesterday was a busy day for Boeing...and this blogger! Boeing has a large staff to keep track of all the flight testing going on but I'm just all by my lonesome trying to keep up with all the events that were going on. So here's a summary plus a little look forward.

ZA001 - Took off yesterday at around 11:42 AM PT and proceeded to fly for about 6 hours easily the longest 787 test flight to date. During that time ZA001 reached speeds of about 0.93M or about 538 knots and as a high as 30,900 ft as this aircraft continues the all important flutter tests ahead of receiving the TIA (Type Inspection Authorization).

ZA002 - Took off yesterday at about 9:11AM PT and only flew for about an hour and twenty minutes. It flew no higher than about 16,000 feet and reached speeds of around 0.54M or about 310 knots. It continues to evaluate the stability and control characteristics of the 787. It landed and Moses Lake and was on the ground for a few hours (presumably conducting ground tests) then took off and flew straight into Boeing Field.

ZA004 - Flew for the first time yesterday morning at about 11:43AM PT yesterday morning and flew directly to 30,000 ft where it would cruise around at speeds of about 0.68M. The airplane flew for about 3 hours which included a touch and go at Moses Lake and then flew directly to Boeing Field in Seattle.

Going forward - I heard that we shouldn't expect ZA003 to be in the air until mid March at the earliest so for the time being we'll be entertained with the flying of Dreamliners 1, 2, and 4. Know I was told that if Boeing readies ZA005 sooner than that would be the next fly because each 787 test airplane is on its own independent assembly and test track. ZA005 does have its GEnx-1B engines installed and the pace to get the airplane ready for its first flight is quickening. It could be that ZA003 and ZA005 could fly at about the same time it all depends on how each of these airplanes progresses through the reassembly process and the pre-flight ground testing that will follow.

For now ZA004 will be conducting some ground tests but will return to the air soon according to Guy Norris and I expect that ZA001 will push out the flutter envelope further in the days to come.

Guy Norris' 787 Update

Randy Tinseth also marked the first flight of ZA004 with a blog post of his own. In it he explained the need to fly Dreamliner 4 because of data that Boeing engineers need to help with the design of the 787-9. I suspect that Boeing will quickly ramp up test flight on ZA004 as quickly as possible.

Randy's Journal - First Flight of ZA004

Boeing Photo

One last note, Boeing and United Airlines jointly announced that they had finalized United's order for 25 787-8. United also has options on a further 50 787s though I'm sure they can switch those options (as well as the firm orders) amongst the different 787 variants (current and future). Here's the joint press release from Boeing and United:

News Release Issued: February 25, 2010 11:04 AM EST

Boeing and United Airlines Finalize 787 Order

United to expand international service with fuel-efficient Dreamliner

SEATTLE and CHICAGO, Feb. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Boeing (NYSE: BA) and United Airlines (Nasdaq: UAUA) have finalized an order for 25 787-8 jetliners. The agreement includes the opportunity to purchase another 50 Dreamliners.

"Boeing and United Airlines share an 80-year partnership," said Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "United, which launched the Boeing 777, now begins a new chapter with the 787 Dreamliner, the most technologically advanced commercial jetliner ever built."

The order is valued at $4.2 billion at average list prices.

"United's Boeing 787 order represents a substantial investment in our future and will enhance the significant progress we are making in improving the global competitiveness of our company while providing the opportunity to open new profitable markets and serve a broader range of international destinations," said John Tague, president of United Airlines.

United expects to take delivery of the 787s at the same time it will begin to retire its Boeing 747s and 767s operating on international routes.
The 787 Dreamliner, currently in flight test, will provide greater fuel efficiency,
allowing airlines to add new, nonstop city pairs and the additional frequencies that passengers prefer.

The 787 also promises a more comfortable flying experience for passengers. Its innovations include a new interior environment with improvements in air filtration, higher cabin pressurization resulting in reduced physical fatigue, larger windows, more stowage space, improved lighting and other passenger-preferred conveniences.

The technologically advanced 787 will also provide airlines with up to 45 percent more cargo revenue capacity.

Including United Airlines, 57 customers around the world have ordered 876 Dreamliners, making the 787 the fastest-selling new commercial jetliner in history.