Boeing donates first 787 to Centrair

Well I reported sometime ago that Boeing was going to donate ZA001 to a Japanese exhibitor.  Well the question of whom is solved and it is going to Centrair in Nagoya where parts of the 787 are constructed including the center wing boxes.  I expect the aircraft is expected to depart around June 21 or 22nd for Nagoya.  Here's the press release:

Centrair and Boeing are pleased to announce the donation of the first 787 Dreamliner ever made – a flight test airplane known as ZA001 – to Centrair.

35% of the Dreamliner's airframe structure – the main wing, forward fuselage and center wing box – is manufactured in the Greater Nagoya area and transported from Centrair to Boeing's final assembly plants in the U.S. in a specially converted 747-400 freighter known as the Dreamlifter. Centrair is the only airport in Japan served by the Dreamlifter, which means that ZA001 is coming back to the place that literally gave it wings.

Centrair is delighted that Boeing has chosen to donate the historically significant first test plane, ZA001, to Greater Nagoya, which plays such an important role in the manufacturing of the 787 Dreamliner. Boeing donated the third 787 test airplane, ZA003 to Seattle’s Museum of Flight in November 2014, and the second, ZA002, to Pima Air and Space Museum in Arizona in March this year.

ZA001 first took to the skies on December 15, 2009 from Paine Field, adjoining Boeing's Everett factory, watched by more than 12,000 people. The last flight of this airplane to Centrair is like a "homecoming" for ZA001.

ZA001 will be put on display at Centrair. Through the exhibition, Centrair expects to raise interest in aerospace – and contribute of this "next generation industry" for the Greater Nagoya region. The airport also hopes that it will spur the imagination of the young people of Japan and the next generation of aerospace pioneers.

Boeing Donates ZA002 to Pima Air and Space Museum

In a surprise flight, ZA002, the 2nd test 787-8 was flown to Davis Monthan Air Force Base where it will be turned over to the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tuscon, Az.

The aircraft accumulated over 960 flight hours over 300 flights in support of flight testing and certification of the 787-8.  After it had completed these tasks Boeing stored the aircraft in Palmdale, Ca. until the flight today to Arizona.

ZA002 first flew on Dec. 22, 2009, one week after the maiden flight of sistership ZA001.  It had suffered an in flight fire on November 9, 2010 due to a piece of solder in a power distribution panel had caused a short circuit.  The aircraft landed safely in Texas without any injuries but this fire and the subsequent investigation and required fixes set back the 787 deliveries by 6 months.

Check out Pima's Facebook page for details.

Undelivered Air Canada 787 heading to Iqaluit, Canada, Why?

So this morning, a lot of 787 watcher, including myself observed that Boeing is sending a 787 that is scheduled to be delivered to Air Canada later this month to Iqaluit, Canada.  I'm at a loss to explain why though I'm going to speculate.

Iqaluit has an airport that used for extreme cold weather testing of aircraft.  Boeing has done cold weather testing on the 787 so this may be additional testing of a fully kitted out Air Canada 787 being done for the airline.  The aircraft ZA616 (LN 254, C-GHQQ) was flown to Portland, Or. for painting and then to Boeing Field which is unusual except Boeing's Test Flight group is headquartered there.  It is possible that the test flight crews were fitting out the aircraft with test flight equipment and the engineers were running tests prior to flying to Canada.  Again this is speculation on my part but it's the best possible explanation.

787 test aircraft possibly moving to change incorporation to prepare for delivery

ZA005, Boeing first 787 powered by GE's GEnx-1B engines looks to be done with its career as a Boeing test aircraft testing PIP for the these engines.  Matt Cawby tweeted yesterday these two tweets:

ZA5 N787FT just moved from the Everett flight line to the EMC pic.twitter.com/cC206BKMf7
— Paine Airport (@mattcawby) October 17, 2013

@ureshs Looks like all the flight test equipment was removed while on the flight line
— Paine Airport (@mattcawby) October 17, 2013

It appears that Boeing is preparing ZA005 for its second career with a paying customer, possibly a BBJ customer, by starting change incorporation at the EMC.  It will have to have the orange test flight wiring removed and be bought up to certification specs which may take as long as a year or more.  Its sister ship ZA006, also GE powered, has been in San Antonio, ostensibly going through change incorporation as well but has been there for well over a year.  This may indicate that Boeing doesn't have a customer for it as of now and are going slow on the change incorporation.

ZB002 still on the flightline, has open panels and doesn't have the aircraft registration applied to it.  This indicates that the aircraft is not yet ready to fly but I still anticipate that it will fly towards the end of next week.

Lastly, I'd like to leave you all with a the  profound thought of the day:

If spiders ever realize that people are terrified of them, We’re fucked.
— Ted (@OfficialTedSays) October 18, 2013

Full 787 List

Current 787 Production List

Delivered 787 List

787 Monthly Delivery Tracking

787 Customer Delivery

787-9 Flight Test Hours

 

787-9 flight testing picks up as production 787 flight test tempo increases ahead of planned deliveries

Boeing Photo

Exactly 196 weeks or 3 years and 9 months after the first flight of ZA001 on December 15, 2009, Boeing successfully flew the next member of the 787 family, the 787-9.

Just a few days after the first 787-9 took to the air, the aircraft is packing on flight hours just a few days after taking its maiden flight.  Boeing is leveraging off the flight tests of ZB001's smaller sibling, the 787-8, to aggressively e 787-9's flight test envelope.  Because the aircraft is a  stretch of the 787-8 with the same wing and many of the same systems.  There are differences beyond the stretch of the airframe and these will be tested but given that Boeing has a ton of data already on the aircraft from the 787-8 testing they can pursue a higher flight rate.  It is still Boeing's plan to have a 6 month flight test/certification program.

There are still 2 more 787-9 in production.  The next one, ZB002, is almost complete.  ZB001 took 110 days from the start of final assembly on May 30 to first flight on September 17th.  If ZB002 takes the same amount of time (110 days) and using the July 12th date as the start of final assembly, this aircraft can possibly fly around October 30th.  However, I do expect that Boeing will apply lessons learned during the run up to ZB001's first flight to shorten that time.  It is entirely possible that ZB002 can fly around mid October.  Of course this is all dependent on finishing assembly activities and successful completion on ground testing.  ZB002 should roll out sometime in the first week of October if not earlier.

ZB021, the test aircraft that will be equipped with GE engines started final assembly on August 21st should roll out to the flightline around mid November and should fly by around early to mid December.

In the meantime Boeing is increasing the tempo of production flights has increased in the last few days as Boeing attempts to deliver around 10-12 787s this month.  So far 1 has been delivered.  We should see a good number of deliveries next week including 787s from the Charleston facility.

Lastly, I am attempting to document the 787-9 flight test program on a spreadsheet which is linked below.

Full 787 List

Current 787 Production List

Delivered 787 List

787 Monthly Delivery Tracking

787 Customer Delivery

787-9 Flight Test Hours

 

Boeing rolls out 1st 787-9, deliveries increased last week.

Photo Courtesy of The Boeing Corporation

 

 

Boeing rolled out the first 787-9 to the flightline in preparation for first flight and the start flight and certification testing.  The program is expected to last approximately six months and would use three dedicated flight test aircraft: ZB001 (LN 126, N789EX), ZB002 (LN 133, N789FT), and ZB021 (LN 139, N789ZB) as well as one production standard aircraft that is not equipped with flight test gear: ZB197 (LN 146) which is earmarked for delivery to ANA.

Currently ZB001 is at the Everett fuel dock where it will undergo fueling tests and first start up of its APU.  Later it will move to the flightline for first engine start, gauntlet testing taxi tests and finally first flight.  I anticipate that ZB001 should be flying in about 2 - 3 weeks from now depending on how the other testing goes.  Here's the text of Boeing's press release:

Boeing Rolls Out First 787-9 Dreamliner

Second member of the super-efficient 787 family on track

EVERETT, Wash., Aug. 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] has completed the first 787-9 Dreamliner. The second member of the super-efficient 787 family rolled out of the Everett, Wash., factory today to the flight line, where teams are preparing it to fly later this summer.

At 20 feet (6 m) longer than the 787-8, the 787-9 will extend the 787 family in both capacity and range, carrying 40 more passengers an additional 300 nautical miles (555 km). The 787-9 leverages the visionary design of the 787-8 such as its exceptional environmental performance — 20 percent less fuel use and 20 percent fewer emissions than similarly sized airplanes — and passenger-pleasing features.

With the second and third airplanes in final assembly, Boeing and the 787-9 are on track. First delivery to launch customer Air New Zealand is set for mid-2014.

In other production news, Boeing delivered 6 787s between Aug. 16th and Aug. 23rd.  Looking ahead o the last week of August they will certainly deliver at least 2 more (1 each to Japan Airlines and Hainan Airlines).  There is a possibility of delivering two more to Air India but these deliveries, which were expected to take place last week and were held up due to Air India's inability to find financing to complete the purchase, may be held even longer due to the aforementioned inability to secure bridge financing.  Boeing had hoped to deliver one more 787 to British Airways this month but due to technical issues which forced the cancellation of 2 attempts to carry out B-1 testing it is now doubtful that this aircraft can be delivered this month.  Boeing will, at the very least, finish up August with 9 deliveries possibly 11.

Full 787 List

Current 787 Production List

Delivered 787 List

787 Monthly Delivery Tracking

787 Customer Delivery

 












ZA272 test flight starts Boeing on the road to 787 return to flight

Boeing conducted the first of 2 (expected) test flights to return the 787 to service.  This afternoon's test flight was FCF (functional check flight) meant to verify the normal operation of the aircraft's systems including the problematic lithium ion batteries.  The flight lasted 2 hours and 9 minutes and Boeing reported that the flight went according to plan.  This was the first flight of the revamped lithium ion containment system and was performed on ZA272 (LN 86, SP-LRC) which will be ultimately be delivered to LOT Polish Airlines.

Boeing will analyze the flight test data and expects to conduct the one and only certification test flight using the same aircraft in the next few days with FAA personnel on board to observe the test.  Further, according to the Wall Street Journal, Boeing will ground test the lithium ion batteries on board ZA005 (LN 5, N787FT), which is also equipped with the new containment system, to failure in order to ensure that the containment system works as advertised.  Even though Boeing has said that they will fly only one certification test flights, the FAA may require that Boeing fly more certification test flights as they deem necessary. 

Boeing is still very confident of the system they have designed that they have not slowed down 787 production and anticipate resuming production flight tests in the very near future though I don't know when that will be.  It would certainly take place after Boeing fixes the 50 787s already delivered before retrofitting them on the aircraft on flightline's at Charleston and Everett.  It would probably take Boeing at least 2 months to return all the 50 787s to flight once FAA approval (as well as approval of the other global aviation authorities).  The Japanese aviation authorities (and others) may ask Boeing to carry out further tests to satisfy their own requirements thus delaying the resumption of service of the fleet of 787s outside of the United States.

Even though Boeing doesn't discuss their testing schedules, I do expect that if there are no issues from the data of this test flight that the certification test flight should occur by Friday or Saturday at the latest.

Currently, Boeing has 27 completed 787s awaiting delivery.  21 are at Everett and 6 are in storage in Charleston.  They're still adding one aircraft per week.

 

Boeing Execs Update on the 787 program through RBC Conference Call

Larry Loftis, VP and General Manager, 787 program and Pat Shanahan, Senior VP and general manager, Airplane Programs at Boeing were hosted on an investor conference call presented by RBC this afternoon.

Here's a synopsis of their comments and what was said on the call:

To date Boeing has delivered 38 787s overall and 35 in 2012 to 8 different customers. Boeing customers have told the company that the aircraft is meeting fuel burn expectations and passengers are also delivering great feedback in terms of comfort of the aircraft.

Started the year at 2.5/month production rate and will end the year at the current rate of 5/month. Boeing is tracking to plan to increase production to 10/month by the end of 2013. 

The next rate increase is to 7/month which is expected in mid 2013, whereupon it will stabilize at that rate before increasing to 10/month.

Boeing is well past the 90% engineering release milestone on the 787-9 and that was completed about 3-4 weeks ahead of schedule. The supply chain is largely the same as the 787-8 but have bought some work back in house. Schedule – the airplane is meeting all engineering milestones.  It is on original schedules with some suppliers ahead of schedule. The major components are currently being assembled by the major (tier 1) suppliers while wing assembly will start later this year into the very early part of 2013.  Boeing will introducing the 787-9 in to final assembly in late spring – late summer of 2013 and flight test in fall 2013 with EIS in early 2014. There will be 3 flight test aircraft with all three currently in production. the wing spars are currently being built at MHI (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries). There is a buffer in the schedule but it is looking like they won’t need it. The 787-9 weight has been stable and has improved by a couple hundred pounds. Boeing is planning for  6 months for flight test, but has been doing flight testing on the 787-8 to gather data to support the 787-9.  We now know why Boeing has been flying ZA005 lately. There is extra flow in the production system that has been allotted to the 787-9 in case there are issues during assembly of that aircraft.
 
Boeing has 3 final assembly lines going for the 787 and allows them a greater degree of flexibility to manage the ramp up of the 787 while introducing the 787-9 into the system.  The current plan is to continue to have the production split between Everett and Charleston at 70%/30%.  Boeing has been very pleased with the improvements in the production system over the last 12 months. The quality of the work and processes improve everyday, and the learning curve is tracking to their expectations. The curve at Charleston has been very good (for a new site, makes your wonder if Boeing had better expectations). Boeing has transferred best practices at Everett to Charleston and information is flowing back and forth very freely.  Boeing's intents is to make sure they have one standard set of best practices for both sites (one production system for 2 sites). 

Boeing has the ability to go beyond the 10/month production rate. The ability to go beyond 10/month will be determined by the market.  There's no constraint on bricks and mortar aspect of increasing the rate. Boeing has an understanding of the capabilities of the suppliers as well as their own capabilities.  The question will be the capacity of the suppliers and the rate to adding capacity.

By the end of the year, Boeing will have 60% of pre-LN 66 airplanes delivered. The remaining aircraft that are awaiting change incorporation will be delivered during 2013 to 2015 (Boeing currently has 23 aircraft undergoing change incorporation or awaiting change incorporation including 3 test airplanes).  The ones that remain are the lower line number and will take longer to complete as the extent of the changes  needed are extensive. There are firm homes for the majority of the planes that have yet to go through change incorporation. there are a couple that still need to find a customer (I'm guessing that these are ZA004 and ZA005).

With regards to delays, Boeing says that there  aren't any systemic delays (which would take weeks or months to resolve) in the production system but one off delays amounting  to a few days delivery of the 787 to customers because they are still learning.  Boeing would not comment on delays to specific customers or countries (China).

On the 787-10, Boeing is not ready to launch yet as they still have some work to do before they are ready to launch the program.  (Note they have said anything about Authority to Offer, ATO). Technically they are confident of the 787-10; operationally and financially they are trying to be more measured with their plans for the aircraft.  They are expecting an EIS at the back end of this decade (2017-2019 timeframe?).  It depends on when Boeing has finished the work they are engaged in with regards to the 787-10.  Boeing expects substitutions between the family of 787 models (go up or down within the different 787 models).

787 flight test activity picks up speed

UPDATE: ZA263 (LN 71, ET-AOR) and ZA238 (LN 54, VT-ANJ) both made their first flights today (9/12/12)

During the past few day, flight test activity at Everett has picked up with 787s destined for ANA, JAL and United all taking to the air to continue Boeing/customer test flights. This is being done with eyeing deliveries of these airplanes later this month.

Additionally re-work activity looks to be increasing as two more 787s, one for Qatar and one for ANA have just moved into the paint hangar, signalling their readiness to start the pre-flight program.  There are now 6 787s outside of the EMC hangar that are in various phases of re-work with another 5 aircraft inside the hangar.  Among these 11 airplanes at the EMC include 4 airplanes for United Airlines.  All assembled 787s are now out of the 40-24 surge line and are either parked outside or are at the EMC.

Speaking of production, interestingly the last two positions in 40-26 are unoccupied while there is only the one position in the 40-24 surge line occupied (position 1).  The next 787 won't be loaded into position 1 in 40-26 until Sept. 17th...next Monday.  I'm not sure of the reason but it might be due to a short break before Boeing starts production at the higher rate of 5/month during September.  They also may want to ease the bottleneck on the flightline with many of the positions already full with 787s waiting to be delivered.

Lastly, the first 787 for Hainan Airlines finally broke cover and is now at the Everett fuel dock.  No doubt it is waiting for a spot to open up which should happen in the next few days.

Looking at the 787 production and disposition chart, Boeing strategy is obvious.  Get the late build 787s out the door and into customer hands while at the same time assembly and delivering post LN 65 airplanes thus increasing the delivery rate.  As time goes on deliveries should hold steady as the increase in the production rate from 3.5 to 10 offsets the decrease in the number of 787 airframes that need change incorporation and pre LN 65 airplanes are delivered with increasing frequency in the next 12 to 18 months. There are about 18 787s that are still in storage around Everett but that is quite an improvement as many airplanes are going through change incorporation or are in various stages of pre-flight or Boeing/customer pre-delivery test flights.

However, the key to this strategy is clearing the bottleneck of airplanes that are complete and ready to be delivered both in Everett and at Charleston.  So far two have been delivered this month but at least 5 more should be delivered this month possibly reaching as high as 8 more including 787s for Air India at Charleston.  Another question mark is deliveries to Qatar Airways which seemed stalled.  There has not been a test flight of any of the 2 787s for Qatar recently though a 3rd one is now in paint.  There could be slippage of this into October.

Boeing flies first SC built 787 and Air India will take delivery this month

Boeing has successfully flown the first North Charleston built 787 today (LN 46) for Air India.  The B1 flight flight lasted about 5 hours as it flew off the South Carolina coast.  The plane will later fly to Texas where it will be painted and then return to Charleston for further test flights and delivery to Air India at the end of June.

Here's Boeing's press release:

Boeing Conducts Inaugural Flight of First 787 Built in South Carolina

Dreamliner on track for mid-year delivery to Air India 

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C., May 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Boeing (NYSE: BA) today marked another 787 milestone as the first Dreamliner built in South Carolina completed its first flight. Piloted by Tim Berg and Randy Neville, the airplane successfully conducted a five-hour test flight. More than 5,000 Boeing South Carolina employees watched a live broadcast of the airplane as it took off from Charleston International Airport. 

"This is a proud moment for our Boeing South Carolina team and for Boeing," said Jack Jones, vice president/general manager, Boeing South Carolina. "In April, we gathered on the flightline to watch this airplane roll out of final assembly. Today, we watched as this airplane successfully completed its first production flight - one step closer to delivering our first South Carolina-built 787 Dreamliner to our customer." 

Today's production flight test profile tested the airplane's controls and systems in a series of scenarios designed to verify the airplane operates as designed. The tests occurred in all stages of flight beginning prior to taxi, through final landing and taxi. 

During the flight, the crew checked the functionality of onboard systems at high and medium altitudes. They also checked backup and critical safety elements including cabin pressurization, avionics, and navigation and communications systems. In addition, they shut down and re-started each engine during flight. 

"First flight of this South Carolina-built airplane is a significant achievement and our teammates did a great job working together to make this happen," said Berg. "The airplane performed exactly as we expected." 

The airplane will be flown to Ft. Worth, Texas to be painted with Air India's livery before returning to Boeing South Carolina for a mid-2012 delivery.

Speaking of Air India, 787 and delivery...this soap opera couldn't get any weirder.  It was reported (in the Indian press and picked up by the local US press) that the Aviation Minister, Ajit Singh, was not going to travel to the US for the delivery because it was being pushed back two weeks.  Now today Air India says they will take delivery of the first 787 at the end of May and that Singh's cancellation was due to the on going Air India-pilots saga.

Meanwhile as Air India tries to sort out its mess here's a couple of articles of interest:

Inside Boeing’s 787 Factory

Air India to get its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner by May-end  

While we're waiting for more 787 deliveries, here's some more pictures of the Blue Angels here at Long Island:

Blue Angels at Republic Airport

May 21, 2012 Update - The Blues are in town

Boeing teased many people when a flightaware alert went out announcing the first flight or the 1st Charleston produced 787.  ZA237 (LN46) for Air India was supposed to fly at 3pm EST but the flight never went off.  This is possibly due to weather conditions in the area as tropical depression Alberto (first tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season) was still lingering off the Georgia coast but was expected to drift to the northeast during the week.

Nonetheless, this indicates that Boeing is ready to proceed with first flight unless there is maintenance issue.

While we're waiting you can enjoy some photos of the Blue Angels that I took on Monday afternoon as they were arriving at Republic Airport in Farmingdale.

Blue Angels Arrival at Republic Airport

First SC built 787 scheduled to fly this Friday

It's looking like Boeing is setting to fly the first Charleston built 787 this Friday. Randy Neville, a Boeing 787 test pilot fresh from the 787 World Tour flew ZA003 from St. Louis today then left for Charleston in order to take ZA237 (LN46) on its first flight scheduled for May 18th.  Randy was on ZA001 when it went up on its first flight on Dec. 15, 2009.  Now he's tasked with taking this very special 787 into the South Carolina skies.  This airplane should deliver in mid to late June.

Currently Boeing is conducting tests on ZA506 (LN47) which is destined for ANA.  However current information is that this airplane and ZA507 (LN48) will not deliver this month and is more likely to deliver in June.  This means that only ZA233 (LN29, VT-AND) will deliver this month to Air India.

Meanwhile Boeing had its Investors Day conference today.  There was no new information out of today's conference though it seems that Boeing is now studying a 787 production rate greater than 10.  They're still planning for a rate increase this fall to 5/month.

Good news for the 787

The last week or so has provided some welcomed good news for the 787s. First was Boeing's announcement that they had increased the production rate to 3.5 aircraft per month. This was sooner than planned as Boeing had expected that the rate would be increased later this sprig. Boeing is still planning to be at 5/month by the end of this year though if the supply chain continues to show this sort of improvement then it may be sooner. This is a very, very good sign for the program.

The second bit of good news came out today when Boeing announced that they had completed the certification test program for the 787 with the end of the certification program for the GEnx-1B powered version of the Dreamliner. ZA236 (LN 35, VT-ANH) had completed the final bit of F&R and ETOPs testing late last month and flew back to Everett. Boeing had also completed all the final ground tests that they needs to perform. I anticipate that Boeing should receive final type certification for the GEnx powered 787 in the next 1 to 2 weeks. This should still give the company time to deliver the first GE powered Dreamliner to Japan Airlines by March 31st. In fact ZA236 which just completed the certification test flights is back out on the flightline at Everett but painted in Air India colors this time indicating that this aircraft might soon be delivered soon.

Currently, information that I received a bout two weeks ago shows that Boeing has planned to deliver three 787s this month. They are:

ZA117 (LN 40, JA806A) on March 16 for ANA
ZA177 (LN 23, JA822J) on March 31 for JAL
ZA179 (LN 33, JA825J) on March 31 for JAL

In addition Boeing is not planning any B1 flights for any 787. The three aforementioned 787s have all had their B1 flights though they have yet to fly any subsequent pre-delivery flights. IT does seem that the shim issue has slowed down the pace of pulling out the prepared 787s to the flightline to begin the pre-delivery process. The other unknown is if ZA236 will be delivered this month. A lot of that will depend on if the airplane is ready and if Boeing and Air India have concluded negotiations on compensation for the 787 delays.

Lastly, now that the build rate has gone up in Everett, Boeing will still need to park those new 787s around Everett. Boeing has started parking 787s on the Kilo 6 (K6) taxiway at Everett. This taxiway is in the southwest part of the airport near the Flying Heritage Museum. The first one to be parked there was ZA288 (LN 53) for United Airlines. Space is becoming a premium at Everett and the pace of 747 and 787 deliveries has slowed. April will be critical as the 787s that are built at the newer rate will be pushed out the door and that means even more 787 on the Everett ramp unless Boeing starts to deliver those that are in re-work during April. As added pressure, Boeing is also upping the 747 rate to 2/month later this year.

Getting close to the finish line

UPDATE (10AM) ZA236 is flying back to Everett today. This is a strong indication that F&R/ETOPs testing is complete. The F&R/ETOPs certification testing for the GEnx-1B powered 787s was based out of Boeing Field. With the airplane heading back to Everett the testing appears complete and this airplane can be released in order to prepare it for delivery to Air India.

Boeing's efforts to complete 787 flight testing with the GEnx-1B engines are close to being completed if they aren't finish already. ZA236 has flown just under 153 flight test hours thus far. The aircraft needed to fly about 150 F&R/ETOPs flight hours to finish the certification program for this version of the 787. Boeing has not confirmed that they are finished with the tests as of yet. The true indication that they are complete is when ZA236 flies back to Everett to finish preparations for delivery to Air India.



As far getting other 787s ready for delivery, there are about 10 787 at the Everett Modification Center that are undergoing change incorporation or shim inspection in the rear fuselage as well as one airplane in 40-24. Three of these airplanes were aircraft that are close to being delivered (to Japan Airlines or ANA) including ZA177 (LN23, JA822J), ZA179 (LN33, JA225J) and ZA117 (LN42, JA806A). Once these airplanes are inspected and repaired (if needed) then they will continue they typical preparations for delivery. The list of 787s at EMC is below with the locations highlighted in green. These are the airplanes I anticipate will be the next few that will be delivered. Interestingly enough these include a few of the very early build airplanes, ZA100 (LN 7), ZA534 (LN 10), and ZA501 (LN 12).



Jim Albaugh, speaking in Singapore has said that up to 55 787s would have to be inspected and repaired for the flaw. To put it in proper context, this would include all the airframes from LN 4 to LN 59, the latter of which is currently in position 1 in 40-26 and just starting final assembly. This number also includes the 5 airframes that have already been delivered to ANA but does not include any airplanes sections that have yet to be delivered to Everett for final assembly.

No 787 Deliveries in February

Information just received indicates that while Boeing will be preparing 787s for delivery including the first deliveries of the GEnx-1B powered 787s. However, none of these airplanes will be delivered this month. It looks like these airplanes are being delayed about three and a half weeks.

According to information just received, ZA117 (JA806A, L/N 40) will be delivered to ANA around March 14th. This aircraft just had its first flight on Feb. 7. Both JA177 (JA822J, L/N 23) and ZA179 (JA825J, L/N 33) are scheduled to be delivered to Japan Airlines around March 24 with ZA179 tentatively scheduled to make its first flight around Feb. 13th (ZA177 had its first flight last year).

Lastly, ZA105 (JA808A, L/N 42) is scheduled to make its first flight around Feb. 29th but no delivery date has been set.

Undoubtedly this schedule shift has been caused by the need to check the aft fuselage for improper shimming installation and to take corrective measures if any are needed. Flightblogger has revealed that the inspections would take about three days but any work to correct any problems would take about two weeks per aircraft. This new schedule would corroborate this time estimate.

Meanwhile, Boeing contiues F&R/ETOPs testing on ZA236. On Wednesday/Thursday this aircraft flew a long 19 hour flight essentially Etch-A-Sketching "787" and the Boeing Corporate logo in the skies over the Western and Mid-Western sections of the country. Thus far this aircraft has flown 48.5 hours. It is expected that this airplane needs to fly about 150 hours to finish the certification program for the GEnx powered 787s.

Boeing confirms the start of final testing phase for 787/GEnx certification

Boeing confirmed to me this afternoon that they have indeed started the final phase of certification testing for the GEnx-1B powered version of the 787. What is unknown is how many hours Boeing will need to fly this airplane in order to complete this final phase. Boeing is still planning to deliver the first 787s powered by this engine by the end of this month to JAL, though with the recent delamination issues that Flightblogger revealed on Saturday evening, this schedule may well be in doubt though Boeing says this will have no effect on production. Boeing doesn't expect the need to remove major structural assemblies to gain access to the affected area and make repairs to the shim which they have describe as straightforward.

Boeing starts final 787/GEnx F&R/ETOPs testing?

It looks as if Boeing may have started the final F&R/ETOPS testing for the GEnx-1B powered version of the 787 Dreamliner. ZA236 (L/N 35, VT-ANH), a production standard airplane destined for customer Air India and recently transferred to Boeing Field took off at about 11AM PST from Boeing Field and flew a 6h 40min test flight down and up the Pacific coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California before returning to Boeing Field. It is understood that ZA236 had transferred to Boeing Field was the express purpose of conducting the final F&R/ETOPs tests flights in order to gain final certification for this version of the 787.

It is unknown, at this time, how many hours still need to be flown for the final phases of this test program but when Boeing flew the F&R/ETOPs test for the Rolls Royce powered version of the 787, they ran it to 300 flight test hours with ETOPS testing being done concurrently with the F&R testing on the test flights. Boeing has already run some of hte F&R/ETOPs testing on ZA006, a test airplane which is currently undergoing re-work and refurbishment ot a production standard airplane in San Antonio. The FAA is requiring Boeing to fly some portion of hte F&R/ETOPs testing o na production standard airplane. This testing has been delayed due to technical issues with ZA236, the nature of which is currently unknown.

Assuming that Boeing will still have to fly 300 flight test hours and assuming that half of this testing done by ZA006 is considered complete by the FAA, then Boeing may have to run about 150 flight test hours on ZA236. Assuming about 8 flight test hours per flight that would mean that ZA236 would have to fly 20 days in order to complete final certification flight tests for the GEnx 787. That would leave roughly a week for Boeing to submit the final type certification paperwork to the FAA and to get their final review and approval so that Boeing can begin deliveries to JAL and Air India a the end of this month. This is very tight. Current Boeing plans show have that ZA177 (L/N 23, JA822J) and ZA129 (L/N 33, JA825J) are being prepared for delivery on Feb. 27th with ZA179 scheduled to make its first flight on Feb. 7th. Whether Boeing can hold to this schedule depends on the pace of the F&R/ETOPs testing and any issues that may be revealed as a result of this testing.

Additionally Boeing has an ANA 787, ZA117 (L/N 40, JA806A) tentatively scheduled for delivery around Feb. 19th with a first flight date of Feb. 7th. All these schedules are tentative schedules and may (probably) will change over the course of the next few weeks.

Another ANA 787 delivered, another being prepared

Lat night a Boeing crew flew out another ANA 787 for ANA destined for Haneda International Airport. This is ZA102, (JA804A, L/N 9) and one of the very early build aircraft that needed extensive re-work and modifications. It will probably be placed in domestic service. This is ANA's 5th 787 and there are two more waiting in the wings.

ZA117 (JA806A, L/N 40) made an appearance on the Everett flightline after passing the last few months insidethe EMC. Thanks to Johanny who gave us a link to a flickr page maintained by "Simpilot459" which shows this aircraft with lights on at the Compass Rose at Everett. This is scheduled to be the next 787 delivered.

See ZA117

However weather in the Pacific Northwest may become an issue over the next few days that may disrupt the delivery schedule. ZA236 (VT-ANH, L/N 35) was scheduled to fly yesterday but was postponed due to a winter storm that is hitting the Pacific Northwest. This storm is expected to dump snow in the region over the next few days. It's unlikely that this plane will fly its B-1 flight until the storm passes or is reduced in intensity. I'm estimating that it probably won't fly until the end of this week. Likewise, ZA117 is supposed to have it's B-1 flight around the 20th but this is looking increasingly unlikely as it was just pulled out of the EMC and will need to have its first engine start and other pre-flight activities done prior to the flight. I can't se this plane flying before the end of next week.

The end result is that deliveries will be delayed due to the storm as it moves the schedule to the right.

Dec. 31st - no sign of further 787 deliveries

Today is December 31st, 2011 and there has been no further evidence of any other 787 deliveries beyond the ones made in September and October.

This doesn't indicate that ANA and Boeing has concluded the formal signing over of the aircraft and transferring of money and signing of documents. That may well have happened already but no aircraft has left Everett bound for Japan as of yet and there has been no announcement from Boeing or ANA of the formal delivery of any of these airplanes. ZA116 (JA805A) is still in Everett and has flown both Boeing and customer flights but I don't know if there are more test flights that have yet to be done or if there is any more work that needs to be concluded on the airplane itself. This Dreamliner is probably the one that is closest to being delivered.

The other two airplanes ZA104 (JA807A) and ZA102 (JA804A) have done some customer flights out of Everett but probably need to do a few more flights before ANA formally accepts them. I do think that Boeing can deliver all three airplanes within the next week in order for ANA to meet its newly revised international 787 service schedule. It is to start Tokyo - Beijing service in the middle of January and Tokyo - Frankfurt service in February.

As far as other airplanes, ZA236 has yet to make a flight to start finish F&R/ETOPs testing on the GEnx powered 787. There is no word on when that will happen though it has run its engines for the first time just before Christmas though there was a small fuel fire 30 minutes into the engine run. I don't know what effect that has on the schedule as of now.

More on Boeing 787 delivery schedule

In the wake of the news coming out of Japan of the delay to the 3rd Dreamliner delivery more news has since come out courtesy of Dominic Gates at the Seattle Times and Susanna Ray at Bloomberg News.

Dominic Gates reported yesterday evening that the reason of the delay for the third 787 to ANA is wiring issues that the FAA found during a standard inspection as well as non functioning APUs in three 787s. Because the APU didn't start, tests that were to be done with the APU running had to be put off until the units were replaced. Boeing is calling these issues minor yet they were severe enough to force ANA to revise its international plans that were supposed to start this month.

It is unknown if this is a problem that is endemic through the 787s that are sitting in Everett or it is just a one off problem. Still the upshot is that the L/N will not be delivered until middle of next week and the other three airplanes that are set to be delivered have yet to fly on their pre-delivery tests with Boeing and ANA pilots. The delay which this site reported back in mid November forced ANA to postpone the start of international 787 service to next month.

Due to the pressure to deliver these four airplanes (L/N 9, L/N 31, L/N 41, L/N 42) Boeing is having some of it workers work through the holiday season which is traditionally a week off for Boeing employees. Undoubtedly they will probably be well compensated for their time. There are only three of these airplanes on the Boeing flightline though the fourth, L/N 42, is outside in front of EMC so it might be pulled out to the flightline very soon. Interestingly according to the Bloomberg article, the APU and wire issues aren't pacing the schedule. The question then is, what is pacing the delivery schedule, at least in the near term. Both articles say that Boeing feels that the issues are minor.

As of yet L/N 41 and L/N 42 have not flown and L/N 9 while it has flown still has not begun the process of Boeing and customer check flights. L/N 31 has had quite a few flights but has not flown since Wednesday, Dec. 14th. I'll be watching to see if there is any further movement on these airplanes but certainly, if the other three airplanes have not flown by middle of next week then Boeing's hopes of delivering at least four 787 this month will be dashed.

Lastly, in a related note, L/N 35 which to perform the ETOPs/F&R testing for the GEnx-1B on a 787 production frame still has not made its first flight. IF Boeing hopes to deliver the GEnx powered 787 next month they need to start flight tests on this airplane very soon or the certification and start of deliveries can slide to the right again.