Monday, August 16, 2010

Boeing 787 News Roundup

Let's get to it...

Boeing announced today that they have provisional approval to start pilot training courses for the 787. The provisional approval will become permanent when the 787 achieves final certification. The pilot training program allows pilots to transition to the 787 in as little as 5 days to as many as 20 depending on the level of experience of the pilots. It's Boeing's aim to transition a 777 pilot to the 787 in as little as 5 days due to the commonality that the 787 shares with the 777.

Here's Boeing's Press Release:

SEATTLE, Aug. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Boeing (NYSE: BA) Training & Flight Services has been granted provisional approval for its 787 Dreamliner pilot training courses by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). With the 787 pilot training courses, pilots can transition to the new airplane in five to 20 days, depending on pilot experience. Boeing 777 pilots can qualify to fly the 787 in as little as five days, given the high level of commonality between the two airplane types.

"Gaining FAA approval for our courses is a significant milestone as we ramp up to the start of flight training," said Mark Albert, director of Simulator Services and 787 Training Program, Boeing Training & Flight Services. "It validates our approach to provide world-class training solutions at great value for the 787 Dreamliner."

Local FAA offices will approve individual operator training courses and these may be based on provisional approvals.

"This achievement is another important step in ensuring the readiness of our 787 support products and services," said Mike Fleming, 787 director of Services and Support, Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Boeing Training & Flight Services is working with the FAA to obtain provisional approval of the training devices at which point formal pilot training will commence. The provisional designation will be removed once the airplane is fully certified.

The Boeing 787 pilot training program uses a sophisticated suite of training devices including a full-flight simulator, flight training device and desktop simulation station to ensure that pilots are ready to fly the Dreamliner.

"The Training & Flight Services team stands ready to provide best-in-class 787 pilot training," said Roei Ganzarski, chief customer officer, Boeing Training & Flight Services. "Our global network of campuses allows our customers to train where they want, when they want."

There are currently eight training suites at five Boeing Training & Flight Services locations around the world in Tokyo, Singapore, Shanghai, Seattle and Gatwick, U.K.
Today ZA001 flew down to Edwards Air Force Base to conduct landing and take off performance tests which will feature the 787 dragging it's tail across the runway to determine the Vmu (velocity minimum unstuck) which is the slowest speed that the 787 can take off. ZA004 should be taking to the air again by Wednesday but the other three airplanes are not flying and no information is known as to when they'll return to the air. Both Flightblogger and Guy Norris have post up about this:

Flightblogger: Edwards Air Force Base awaits ZA001

Guy Norris: 787 - "Fun" about to start?

Lastly, there is disconcerting news about the Rolls Royce Trent 1000 failure which was broken by Flightblogger. Apparently there was a failure of the intermediate pressure turbine and the failure was not contained (meaning that debris had come through the cowling). This failure has not stopped test flight and Rolls Royce says that they have an understanding of the failure and says that this will not impact the program. Nothing has been said about what fixes may need to be incorporated if any.

Flightblogger: 'Package A' Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 suffers engine failure

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