Boeing Moves ZY998 to Fatigue Test Rig

Boeing Photo

Boeing announced, this morning, that it had moved the fatigue test air frame to the test rig at building 40-41. Here's Boeing's Press Release:

News Release Issued: February 2, 2010 9:16 AM EST

Boeing Moves 787 Dreamliner Fatigue Test Airframe to Testing Rig

EVERETT, Wash., Feb. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Boeing (NYSE: BA) on Sunday moved the 787 Dreamliner fatigue test airframe to its structural test rig. The test rig is located in the northwest corner of the Everett, Wash., site.

Test set up is expected to begin immediately, with tests commencing midyear.

"Unlike static tests, where loads are applied to the airplane structure to simulate both normal operation and extreme flight conditions, fatigue testing is a much longer process that simulates up to three times the number of flight cycles an airplane is likely to experience during a lifetime of service," said Scott Fancher, 787 vice president and general manager, Commercial Airplanes. "This testing is instrumental in confirming the longevity of the airplane."

787 News

Boeing's production of 787 continues as the flight testing program is well underway. Boeing just started final assembly on the 16th airplane destined for LAN. LN 16 is also known as ZA531 (ZA530 is assigned to LN 10).

The current production and aircraft disposition list is below as well as at the bottom of the blog at all times:



Lastly, Flightblogger is reporting that ZA002 should be flying again around now and that ZA001 should be back in the air around Feb. 2, 2010 (Groundhog Day). Finally, ZY998, the fatigue test air frame is finally being moved to building 40-41 where it will go through 3 years of test to see how the air frame will fair over a life time of service.

Flightblogger: Pre-flight and layup: A 787 and 747 Round Up

747-8 still hasn't moved. At last report Boeing wanted to rerun some gauntlet tests. No word on how the retesting has gone or when taxi tests will begin.

787 Update - January 10, 2010

Yesterday another flight test 787 showed up on the Everett ramp being prepared for it's first flight. Sources tell me that this aircraft is ZA004 but a registration has not yet shown up on it's side.

ZA003 should show up very soon on the Everett ramp as well very soon to start it's preparations for first flight.

Both ZA003 and ZA004 are projected to have their first flights in the first week of February.

Additionally, Matt Cawby reported on his blog that the fatigue test air frame is very close to finishing its side of body modifications and should be moved to the fatigue test area around January 30th to start 3 years of fatigue testing. It will be moved out of the temporary hangar that is on the Boeing flight line.

Matt Cawby's January 9, 2010 Blog Update

Flightblogger got a great article up on the production challenges that the 787 still faces now that the aircraft has entered test flights. Thus far Boeing has completely assembled 1 complete 787s (LN 1 through LN 11) plus two test air frames (ZY997 and ZY998). Currently there are 4 aircraft undergoing final assembly (LN 12 through LN 15) and parts of LN 16 are just starting to arrive in Everett. Flightblogger is reporting that Boeing planes to start increasing production on the 787 round mid February.

Flightblogger: Dreamliner Production Challenges Lie Ahead

Finally through today, January 10, 2010, the 787 test fleet has accumulated over 45 and half hours test flight hours. Also today, Za001 flew the longest 787 test flight thus far at 5 hours and 48 minutes. You can track the 787 flight test hours by going to this spreadsheet here.