787 flight activity picked up this week as the weather cleared long enough for Boeing to send up another 787 on its 1st flight. Yesterday There were 4 787 flights including the B-1 flight for ZA285 (LN 45, N27901) for United Airlines. There was supposed to be another test flight of ZA238 (LN 54, VT-ANJ but it didn't occur.
As Boeing aggressively ramps up flight tests this month deliveries are also starting to take shape. This evening, Boeing delivered United's 4th 787 (ZA289, LN 55, N45905). According to a press report by Bloomberg, Qatar is expecting to take delivery of two 787s on Dec.19th. I also expect Boeing to further deliveries of 787s to ANA (2), United (1)and JAL (1). Wild card deliveries can be made to Air India (2) and possibly China Southern (that airplane still has to make its 2nd test flight).
Now all this continues despite the recent spat of glitches that the 787 has experienced. The most notable one is the issue with the starter generator supplied by Hamilton Sundstrand. A second 787, ZA460 (LN 57, A7-BCA) experienced the fault and landed while being delivered to Doha from Victorville. The generator is being swapped out and the aircraft should enter service soon but the issue is troubling. Akbar (U-Turn Al) Al-Baker again vociferously complained about the teething problems of the 787 to the media (after the first revenue flight of Qatar's 787 to London) but Qatar is still planning to take delivery of 2 787 next week. Still Boeing along with Hamilton Sundstrand and the FAA are looking into the issues. Jon Ostrower of the Wall Street Journal reported that 2 other 787s are affected...one other delivered 787 that belongs to United and an undelivered 787 for Qatar (one of the two that are to be delivered next week). The FAA said the issue doesn't appear to be safety of flight issue and aside for Air India reporting unspecified "electrical problems" no other 787 customers have come forth with electrical probles as of late. Dominic Gates of the Seattle Times also has an article on the 787 electrical issue.
On the production front, expect things to slow down as Boeing enters its traditional Holiday break. One aircraft (ZA513, LN 97, JA819A) for ANA will be loaded into the final assembly line and that will be the last until after New Year.
As of today, Boeing has delviered a total of 40 787 to 8 customers worldwide. They've delivered 37 in 2012 and have to potential to deliver anywhere from 6 to 8 more airplanes this month.
Showing posts with label ZA285. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ZA285. Show all posts
Friday, December 14, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
Weather likely to slow down 787 deliveries over next few days
The Everett weather may be looking to put a hold on deliveries for the next few days and may ground aircraft all together. The Seattle area is expecting rain....a lot of it as Mt Ranier is forecasted to have 10 FEET of snow but the lower elevations, while not getting that much, will probably be clobbered as well with large amounts of rain. Boeing is still stuck at 35 deliveries in total to 8 customers. There has been some movements of assembled aircraft with ZA504 (LN 15) moving to the Runaway storage area and ZA150 (LN 17) moving to the EMC. In a surprise move, ZA381 (LN 36, B-2726) was moved to the EMC, ostensibly for change incorporation. This MAY indicate some movement to deliver 787s to the Chinese (China Southern and Hainan) but it's too early to tell. This aircraft could easily go back to the temporary parking/storage that it had previously occupied. ZA175 (LN 20) finally made it inside the EMC to continue change incorporation and finally ZA287 (LN 52, N26903) was moved to the paint hangar and should be out soon. Interestingly ZA285 (LN 45, N29601) is still out on the flightline even though it was pulled out of the EMC earlier.
With the Thanksgiving holidays coming up along with the rainy weather in the Pacific Northwest, don't expect too much happening out of Everett this week. There is supposed to be a line move early next week. Lastly, there is a rumor that Air India will be able to pay for another 787 this week and fly it away from Charleston but so far nothing has happened.
With the Thanksgiving holidays coming up along with the rainy weather in the Pacific Northwest, don't expect too much happening out of Everett this week. There is supposed to be a line move early next week. Lastly, there is a rumor that Air India will be able to pay for another 787 this week and fly it away from Charleston but so far nothing has happened.
Monday, August 27, 2012
787 Everett surge line activated
UPDATE: I just got this from Scott Lefeber at Boeing:
Boeing has finally activated the 787 surge line for the final assembly of the 787. The surge line allows Boeing to increase production of the 787 sooner while Boeing Charleston ramps up over the next 16 months to 3 airplanes per month. Thus far, Boeing plans to deactivate the surge line after Charleston reaches the 3/month output but there are rumblings that the surge line may remain to further push the total 787 output to beyond 10/month. The surge line was ready early this summer but Boeing opted to use the three position line to conduct change incorporation on the existing assembled 787 inventory. This allowed Boeing to get more 787s prepared for delivery during this past summer.
The surge line will have three positions each will mirror its counterpart in the existing final assembly line in 40-26 in terms of funcions though it's not exact mirror in terms of the layout, so the work that is done on the airframe in position 1 in 40-26 will be the same that is done in position 1 in 40-24, etc. The main exception that both lines will share the use of position 4 in 40-26 and position 3 in 40-24 is slanted while the other two positions are in line.
On Friday, ZA538 (LN 80) was loaded into the position 1 in the 40-24 building after ZA500 (LN 11) was cleared from that position and taken to the 40-51 ramp. There are two other positions in the line for production but currently those spots are being occupied by two other 787s that are undergoing change incorporation. It is thought that when ZA538 is done with position 1 then ZA505 (LN18) which is currently in position 2 will be moved out to allow final assembly to continue. The same will be true for position 3 which is currently occupied by ZA285 (LN 45). After this last plane is cleared from 40-24 the surge line will be a dedicated final assembly line with no change incorporation activities planned to be done on it. All those activities will continue at the Everett Modification Center.
Boeing activated the temporary surge line on Aug. 24 by loading the first airplane into final body join. The 787 program is making steady progress toward increasing the production rate from the current 3.5 airplanes per month to 10 per month by the end of 2013.
Boeing has finally activated the 787 surge line for the final assembly of the 787. The surge line allows Boeing to increase production of the 787 sooner while Boeing Charleston ramps up over the next 16 months to 3 airplanes per month. Thus far, Boeing plans to deactivate the surge line after Charleston reaches the 3/month output but there are rumblings that the surge line may remain to further push the total 787 output to beyond 10/month. The surge line was ready early this summer but Boeing opted to use the three position line to conduct change incorporation on the existing assembled 787 inventory. This allowed Boeing to get more 787s prepared for delivery during this past summer.
The surge line will have three positions each will mirror its counterpart in the existing final assembly line in 40-26 in terms of funcions though it's not exact mirror in terms of the layout, so the work that is done on the airframe in position 1 in 40-26 will be the same that is done in position 1 in 40-24, etc. The main exception that both lines will share the use of position 4 in 40-26 and position 3 in 40-24 is slanted while the other two positions are in line.
On Friday, ZA538 (LN 80) was loaded into the position 1 in the 40-24 building after ZA500 (LN 11) was cleared from that position and taken to the 40-51 ramp. There are two other positions in the line for production but currently those spots are being occupied by two other 787s that are undergoing change incorporation. It is thought that when ZA538 is done with position 1 then ZA505 (LN18) which is currently in position 2 will be moved out to allow final assembly to continue. The same will be true for position 3 which is currently occupied by ZA285 (LN 45). After this last plane is cleared from 40-24 the surge line will be a dedicated final assembly line with no change incorporation activities planned to be done on it. All those activities will continue at the Everett Modification Center.
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