Trent 1000 TEN flies on 787 as Boeing deliveries now stand at 495

For the first time a Rolls Royce Trent 1000 TEN (thrust, efficiency and new technology) flew on a 787 that it is meant to power.  The 4th 787-8 flight test aircraft ZA004 (LN 004, N7874) flew with the engine for the first time today.  The newest member of the Trent 1000 family is to make up for performance shortfalls in the earlier Trent 1000 engines and is meant to power all three 787 variants with a thrust of up to 78,000 lbs.  According to Rolls Royce, the Trent 1000 TEN "offers proven new technology; its features include a new compressor system scaled from the Trent XWB engine program and a new turbine design to allow extra thrust. Unique to the TEN is a modulated air system which optimizes the secondary air flow within the engine using a valve system with no moving parts, a robust system that delivers performance benefits. External systems have also been improved and re-designed."

The engine should be certified for use on the 787-10 before the types first flight early next year.  Speaking of the 787-10, While parts for the first aircraft are in position 0 in Charleston, it won't start final assembly in position 1 until Dec. 13th, next Tuesday.  Other parts are en-route to Charleston, namely the section 41 forward fuselage.

Lastly, there was a flurry of 787 deliveries yesterday as Boeing delivered 4 787-9s to customers including British Airways, Hainan Airlines, Aeromexico and Xiamen Airlines which picked up it's 1st of 6 787-9 on order.  Boeing has delivered 6 787s this month so far, 132 this year and 495 since program deliveries began.  ZA674 (LN 513, N793AV) for Avianca is to be delivered on Dec. 20th and will be the 500th 787 delivered to a customer.  This will also be the last delivery in 2016 for Boeing which should end the year with 137 787 deliveries - 35 787-8 and 102 787-9s will have been delivered.  Of the remaining 5 787s to be delivered, 3 have had their customer flight and the other 2 will have their C-1 flights next Tuesday, Dec. 13th.  I expect Boeing to shut down for the holidays around Dec. 23rd.

Air Canada give glimpse of its new 787...and Boeing's revised assembly line

Air Canada posted photos of its first 787, that is due to be delivered later this spring, in assembly in building 40-24.  In my last post, I talked about Boeing revised assembly process which now integrates an additional line position for a total of 5.  The first position of the assembly process now appears to be a dedicated to assembly of large sub-assemblies. 


Specifically the fully assembled wings (with all movable surfaces) is integrated to the main fuselage section in the 1st position.  Next to this large sub-assembly is the rear fuselage (sections 47/48) is integrated with the vertical and horizontal stabilizers.  The forward fuselage (section 41) is positioned ahead next to the 2nd line position. It is at this second line position where all three fuselage sections will be joined together.  Once the second position is cleared the forward fuselage in transferred into the line position, then the main fuselage with the wings attached is moved forward right behind the section 41.  The rear fuselage assembly is then shifted to the left and then moved forward to a place behind the main fuselage assembly.  The three sections are then joined and all appropriate connections are made before the aircraft is moved to the third line position where it would receive its gear and engines.


The new process is part of Boeing's efforts to reduce the build time for each 787 as well as reduce production costs.  It has been reported that Boeing is still assembling 787s at a cost greater than the sales price thus the drive to find efficiencies through efforts like revising the production process as well as programs like "Partnering For Success" will be key to reducing those production costs.


You can see the Air Canada production photos on Facebook by clicking here.

Fuselage sections starting to arrive into Everett for 1st 787-9

Boeing is starting to receive the fuselage sections for ZB001, the first 787-9 to be built.  Boeing received the first section 41 (forward fuselage) from Spirit AeroSystems from their Wichita plant.  This section is not too different from the forward fuselage for the 787-8 thus integrating it into the production system shouldn't present any challenges.  Boeing may have received another fuselage section (either the rear or center section) very early this morning a 747-400 Dreamlifter did arrive into Everett from Charleston where these sections are built up. All the fuselage sections should be in Everett in the next few days if they're not all there already. 

Boeing will load the first 787-9 into position 1 in 40-24 on May 30.  Sources revealed to me that this aircraft should transfer to position 2 around June 9...10 days after first being loaded into position 1 which is quite surprising since it takes about 11 to 12 days for each production 787-8 to progress down each line position.  Extrapolated this could mean that ZB001 would be assembled in about 40 days if there are no complications during the final assembly process.  I do expect it to be a little longer though due to systems integration testing during final assembly which would add about another week at most.  Thus ZB001 could take about 7 weeks in final assembly before it is rolled out to the paint hangar and eventually the flightline to begin gauntlet testing.  ZB001 could be out of 40-24 by the third to fourth week of July, another week for painting and out on the flightline in early August.

In somewhat related news on the production front, it does appear that Boeing will temporarily be slowing down 787-8 production as there looks to be some sort of construction going on within 40-26.  I surmise that Boeing will be getting rid of or modifying some of the original production tooling in position 1.  This would include the "MOATT" or "Mother Of All Tool Towers" which was envisioned as a device to quickly and efficiently join the fuselage sections along with the wings and horizontal and vertical stabilizers.  Unfortunately the promise of MOATT didn't live up to the reality and Boeing is now using some more traditional tools like overhead cranes to move around some of the larger structures like the wings.  These changes will ultimately help Boeing to get to 10/month but in the short term it will slow down production for a couple of weeks.  Because of this ZA562 (LN 127) for ILFC/Aeromexico won't be loaded until after June 9th, perhaps the 10th.  This shouldn't impact deliveries too much as Boeing is still trying to catch up on delayed deliveries due to the lithium ion battery issue which grounded the 787 and stopped deliveries.

 

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.

Flightblogger: Spirit to ship 787 sections at about a 2/month rate

Flightblogger sent out a few Tweets this afternoon about Spirit's prodcution of the 787 forward fuselage sections. Spirit will deliver 10 - 12 787 section 41s this year (2009) to Boeing (they've delivered 3 thus far this year).

They say that they are capable of making 7/month right now but they'll be doing 2/month for the 2nd half of 2009 and for 2010 or until Boeing give them a go for increasing beyond the 2/month rate. The last section they'll deliver this year will be for LN17.

So that automatically says that Boeing expects to produce 2 787s per month until the end of 2010 it seems though if they could up that rate before the end of 2010 I'm sure they'll do that. To me that doesn't sound very promising for their earnings in 2010.

Spirit does plan to up production to 7/month later on but didn't give a time frame as to when that will happen. Boeing has said that it expects to hit 10/month production rate sometime in 2012.

Jon posted an update to his blog:

Jon's Spirit Update

Guy Norris: Intermediate Gauntlet May Start On May 28th.

UPDATE: The LCF did fly in the forward fuselage section for ZA100 (the first production 787 for ANA). All that's left is the main fuselage section and final assembly can start on this airplane.

Some news on the schedule for the 787 first flight. Guy Norris is saying that intermediate gauntlet could start as early as this Thursday (May 28th) but it seems that Boeing may still be finalizing the final content of the intermediate. Guy reported that a final pre-intermediate gauntlet test meeting has been pushed back until tomorrow from today.

Also Matt Cawby is reporting on his web site that ZA001 has undergone VHF/RF radio checks until about 2 PM Monday afternoon when they closed down for the Memorial Day holiday. Additionally, Matt reported that the APU was tested twice, once on right common motor controller starter and the other time on the electric motor pump circuit. Matt also said that full gear swing tests were conducted while the aircraft was in the air mode.

Guy's Report
Matt's Report

Finally, it looks like the LCF might be flying in the nose section for ZA100 this afternoon.

Flightblogger: Dreamliner 1 through 6 Update

LN 1 in building 40-24 taken by Saj Ahmad 4 days ago.

Used with permission from Fleetbuzzeditorial.com

Jon Ostrower has posted a detailed update on 787 line numbers 1 through 6. Read it here.

Here's a summary:

LN 1 (Dreamliner 1): Set to be powered on again very soon. Will go through a "medium blow" pressurization test in early February. The engines nacelles cowlings have been reinstalled as well as the remaining control surfaces. As I reported earlier, Boeing has thrown a lot of resources at LN 1 and Boeing is leaving on some of the temporary fasteners for the duration of the testing program. This decision has saved a lot of time. Speaking of which the time frame for first flight looks to be shifting to the right a bit with some milestones now being classified as TBD. This includes first flight which was thought to be around the April 20th to April 24th time frame.

LN 2 (Dreamliner 2) : Dreamliner 2 had its engines and all flaps installed and work continues to center on finishing up fastener replacement. Jon is also reporting that power on should happen soon followed by the start of ground vibration testing in mid-March.

LN 3 (Dreamliner 3): Dreamliner 3 is on it's legs (landing gear) and has its engine pylons on.

LN 4 (Dreamliner 4): Dreamliner 4 is about to get its legs. This airplane, probably because it's in more complete shape, has a low priority in terms of resources.

LN 5 (Dreamliner 5): Dreamliner 5 is about to start final assembly. The main fuselage section is undergoing some traveled work installation prior to being sent into position 1 on the final assembly line. Section 41 arrived 100% complete and the rear fuselage arrived 95% complete. The pylons for the GEnx engines have been installed on the wings. This aircraft has arrived in a more complete state than the previous aircraft.

LN 6 (Dreamliner 6): The wings have come in and are virtually complete and have been painted as well.

ZY997 and ZY 998: The static and fatigue test airframes continue to have their fasteners replaced. for the static airframe this should be done by middle of February and thus set the stage for the resumption of static tests that are needed prior to first flight.

Forward Fuselage of Dreamliner 5 heading for Everett

Looks like the forward fuselage section (section 41) for Dreamliner 5 is being shipped tonight on the LCF. Here's the flightaware alert

It's entirely possible that the main fuselage can be delivered next week and LN 5 will enter final assembly before the end of the month. The wings for LN 6 have already been delivered to Everett.

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.

First 787 Completes Power On

Image Courtesy of Boeing

Boeing continues to demonstrate that it's gotten the 787 program back on track. Today Boeing issued a press release announcing that the first 787 (ZA001) has completed the full power on process and now all of the 787s systems are powered on.

Now comes the additional tasks of making sure that all the systems are talking to one another as well as finishing the assembly tasks including loading up the final versions of the software and reattaching the engines.

Boeing will not roll out the 787 to the flight line until September 6th and first flight will not occur until very, very late in October.

Boeing accomplished the very important task 10 days early. They had previously said that power on will occur by June 30th and here they were able to accomplish it by June 20th. One has to wonder if the rest of Boeing schedule is going to be conservative? They will probably need any extra margin built in to the schedule to deal with any major issues. If all they encounter are minor ones then it is possible that the 787 schedule can be moved forward.

On a related note, a LCF flew into Everett last night from Wichita, presumably it was carrying section 41 (forward fuselage) for ZA004 though I haven't been able to confirm that. Boeing has said that they plan to start construction on ZA004 by June 30th and it was revealed on this blog that final assembly is due to start around June 21st though Boeing still doesn't have the center fuselage section for this plane yet from Global Aeronautica.

Also ZY998, the static test frame was scheduled to be moved yesterday but there was no sign of movement out of 40-26. It is possible that this move will occur this weekend thus pushing out the start of final assembly on ZA004 by a few days.

Edit: Jon Ostrower just told me that the LCF didn't bring in the forward fuselage for LN 4 and that section is not due to arrive until next week. Instead it had delivered the HTP (horizontal tail plane) for LN 5

787 Dates to Watch For

Hi all fellow 787 watchers (if there is such a thing). Well a liitle while after watching Tiger make a run for the US Open title (I'll be watch the playoff tomorrow...should be real exciting), I heard of a few dates concerning the 787 program and a few milestones to watch out for now that power on has started:

6/19 - ZY998 will move from building 40-26 to 40-24 (the 767 line) and at the same time LN 2 will move up one spot in 40-26 to position 3 and LN 3 will move to position 2. Because:

6/20 - Final assembly will start on LN 4. We do know from Jon Ostrower's report that section 41 for this airplane will arrive on 6/19. Presumably the main fuselage section will arrive on or before the 19th as well.

7/20 - ZY998 will move to the fatigue tes tare for the start of the 3 year long fatigue tests. At the same time LN 1 will move out of building 40-26 and into building 40-24. My guess for the move to 40-24 is to finish up small items do more power on testing and pre ground test testing (testing flying surfaces, landing gear retractions, etc) while still making room for LN 5. This may mark the last time this airplane in on the 787 final assembly line. ZA001 being moved out of 40-26 will make room for ZA 005 the first Dreamliner to be fitted with the GEnx engines.

7/21 - ZA005 (LN 5) will start final assembly in position one and LN 2, LN 3 and LN 4 will be moved up one position respectively.

9/6 - ZA001 will be considered "shop complete" and moved out to the flight line for the start of ground tests.

Late October 2008 - First flight of ZA001, the first 787.

These are further milestones to look at in order to judge Boeing's success with the revised program schedule.

Nosing Ahead

The Seattle Time and Flightblogger visited Spirit Aerosystems yesterday and provided some great information and pictures on the production of the 787 forward fuselage.

Check out their links:

787 Front Office

On Board Dreamliner 4

Seattle Times Article