Boeing Set to Fly New 787

[BTinSF]

BUSINESS
DECEMBER 11, 2009
Boeing Set to Fly New 787
By PETER SANDERS

After more than two years of delays, Boeing Co. said Thursday that it plans to fly its new 787 Dreamliner for the first time as early as next Tuesday.

The exact timing of the first flight depends on external factors, such as the weather at the airport near Seattle, the company said in a statement.

The Dreamliner's first flight—which has been pushed back multiple times—will be a major milestone for Boeing's marquee commercial airplane program. Boeing plans to fly the plane on a four-to-five-hour test flight departing from Boeing's factory at Paine Field in suburban Everett, Wash., north of Seattle.

If all goes according to plan, the Dreamliner will eventually land 30 miles south at Boeing Field in south Seattle, where the 787 test planes will be based . . . .

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB2000...s_us_section_b

[alexjon]

I have a clear view of the flight path it would take. I'm so excited!

[Grego43]

Good luck to Boeing, this program has been vexing.

[202_Cyclist]

After 2+ years of delay, countless changes in management, and a huge financial cost to Boeing, it is good to finally see progress on this aircraft.

The WSJ had an excellent article the other day about the role of the Export-Import Bank in financing the sale of Boeing aircraft abroad. The article notes that sales by Boeing are nearly 40 percent of the ExIm Bank's annual transactions.

As Boeing Hits Turbulence, Uncle Sam Flies to Its Aid
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1260...s_Most_Popular

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

After 2+ years of delay, countless changes in management, and a huge financial cost to Boeing, it is good to finally see progress on this aircraft.

I've got to believe that Boeing is learning a lot on 2 fronts: (1) How to properly and appropriately outsource (which I think, by consensus, they didn't really do on this plane) and (2) how to work with advanced composite materials in a way never before attempted.

Composites are probably the material of the future and they will be better off for having had so many problems with them if they can learn from those problems--learn where and how to use composites, how designs have to be adjusted to use them and so on. These are things Boeing's competition, which haven't yet attempted what Boeing is doing, will have to learn eventually as well.

[LosAngelesBeauty]

The Air France flight that crashed mysteriously in the Atlantic from Rio to France was suspected of having failure in stress points that were connected by composite based materials.

I am honestly a bit wary of an entire plane made out of composite materials...

[202_Cyclist]

The Air France flight that crashed mysteriously in the Atlantic from Rio to France was suspected of having failure in stress points that were connected by composite based materials.

I haven't been following this as closely as I should have but I thought the cause of the tragic Air France crash last summer was caused (or at least a contributory factor) by the failure of the airspeed sensors on the Airbus. I remember the FAA issued warning to air carriers about the sensors after the crash.

[LosAngelesBeauty]

Yes it was due to the air sensors from what I read too. But the tail fin completely snapped off apparently as the plane was hitting extreme turbulence. The tail fin was connected to the fuselage by composite bolts and the FAA suspected that the tolerance level on them was supposed to be a lot higher, like they are on most Boeing planes that don't have composites on these critical joint connections.

[202_Cyclist]

Here's a video of the various taxi tests of the B787 from this weekend.

http://vimeo.com/8142299

[brian_b]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesBeauty

Yes it was due to the air sensors from what I read too. But the tail fin completely snapped off apparently as the plane was hitting extreme turbulence. The tail fin was connected to the fuselage by composite bolts and the FAA suspected that the tolerance level on them was supposed to be a lot higher, like they are on most Boeing planes that don't have composites on these critical joint connections.

There were a lot of things that went wrong on the flight. They were flying at an altitude and in conditions that required a very high aircraft speed to avoid a stall, yet they needed to slow the airplane down to avoid damage due to turbulence. The failure of airspeed sensors could very well have caused the aircraft to subject itself to forces far beyond survival.

There is no proof that if the bolts were made of any other material they would have survived.


It should be pointed out that composites have been used extensively in military aircraft for more than 3 decades and these aircraft are subjected to much higher forces than passenger aircraft ever will.

Additionally, if you go look into composite construction techniques you will find that Boeing holds many patents on techniques to improve the strength of composites. These patents are probably derived from their military aircraft experience and are not available to their competitors unless Boeing has been licensing them (I have no idea).

[alexjon]

It should be taking off from Paine Field, Everett, WA in 15 minutes and landing at Seattle's Boeing Field 5 hours later.

I watched a steady stream of corporate jets land at Boeing Field and dozens of limos and large SUVs streaming up I-5 from my apartment this morning. They're gonna do it!

[BTinSF]

Dec. 15, 2009, 12:51 p.m. EST
Boeing warms its 787 engines, watches cloud cover
Long-awaited Dreamliner poised for its maiden flight
By Christopher Hinton, MarketWatch

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- After more than two years of setbacks, Boeing Co.'s high-tech 787 Dreamliner looked ready for its maiden flight Tuesday, providing a much-needed lift to investor confidence and to the company's reputation.

The 787 is scheduled to take off from Paine Field in Everett, Wash., at about 1 p.m. Eastern, weather permitting. Current conditions were mostly cloudy and about 10 miles of visibility, according to the National Weather Service.

"Visibility is fantastic," said Boeing (NYSE:BA) spokesman Jim Proulx, at the airfield, but the cloud ceiling could cause problems as it needs to be at 5,000 feet or higher. "Right now the ceiling is low, but broken, which is good" . . . .

Source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/boe...?siteid=YAHOOB

So as of now, it should be in the air.

[John F]

Just watched it on TV. Don't know how long the flight will be but I had my interest piqued seeing that the Dreamliner never pulled up it's landing hear after take off.

[WonderlandPark]

They won't pull up the landing gear for a while, they will check things out first. The flight is pretty long, like 4 hours or something.

Congrats Boeing

[John F]

Yes, Congrats are in order. This flight is a LONG time coming.

[John F]

Soemone posted this link on Twitter:

http://787firstflight.newairplane.com/ffindex.html

I believe it's video fo the event but I have not been able to load it.

[alexjon]

An amazing thing to watch live-- and I'm tracking it since I have a clear view of the final 15 miles of landing approach for KBFI.

[BTinSF]

That link is rather cool. It includes real-time flight data and a live webcast (which, however, appears to be overwhelmed).

[twoNeurons]

Standard procedure not to lift the landing gear. Same thing happened to the A380.

[Kngkyle]

• Video Link