First GEnx 787 starts gauntlet testing; 787 Test Fleet Exceeds 900 Flight Hours Flown

UPDATE (9:10 Eastern Time): Guy Norris posted a 787 update on the Things With Wings Blog at Aviation Week. He writes about testing composites as well as using resin infused composites for the 787-9. Lastly, he reviews the flight test program to date. It great article and certainly worth the read.

Guy Norris : 787 - composites under the hammer and more tests

This weekend was very eventful for the 787 program. First ZA002 flew an eleven and a half hour test flight on June 5th (Saturday) out of the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville. Both ZA002 and ZA003 flew this weekend with ZA001 and ZA004 undergoing installation of additional instrumentation and in the case of ZA001 a change out of it's Trent-1000 engines.

Today, June 6th, the first 787 with the GEnx-1B engines started gauntlet testing as I had reported earlier in the week. These tests are taking place in the run up to ZA005's first flight which is expected to take place around June 16th. Matt Cawby posted a great video on his blog of ZA005 engines running at high RPMs:

Matt Cawby's June 6th 787 Update

Two 787s in Victorville

The second 787, ZA002 is flying to Victorville, Ca. to join it's sistership in flight testing from Southern California. It's due to arrive at the Southern California Logistics Airport at around 10:20 PT (1:20 ET). No word yet on the what testing will be done at Victorville yet or if ZA004 will be moving back to Boeing Field. It's the second trip for this airplane to the airport outside of LA.

Flightaware track for ZA002

Flightblogger: ZA002 going to So. Cal.

Flightblogger is reporting that ZA002 will fly to Victorville, Ca. this week as part of the 787 flight test program. The Southern California Logistics Airport (SCLA) is in the high desert of southern California and has a a long 15,000 ft runway and dry weather which would be ideal for Boeing to conduct flight testing.

It is not known when or how long ZA002 will beat Victorville or if other 787s will be joining it but the certification test program has the 787 test fleet making trips away from Boeing Field at times.

Flightblogger : Roadtrip! 787 heading for Victorville this week.

Through today's test flights, the 787 fleet has racked up slightly over 250 test flight hours across the three plane test fleet. ZA00 s expected to return to the air very soon (possibly by the end of this coming week) and ZA003 is expected to take to the air for the first time around March 14th. ZA005 should follow soon after that.

Continuing the roadtrip theme, Guy Norris at Aviation Week is reporting on his blog that Boeing is seriously considering sending the 787 AND the 747-8 to the Farnborough Air Show this summer. It would the first time since 1982 that two new Being Commercial Air products would be featured at the air show. Of course, all this hinges on how well the test program goes for both these airplanes.

Guy Norris: Show Time!

Guy also reports on the upcoming trip for ZA002 to California as well as updates on the rest of the 787 flight test fleet. Of note is that ZA003 will have it's two day gauntlet test this week. This would corroborate a flight test date of March 14 for this airplane.

Guy Norris : 787 Heads South