787 flies in a few weeks

[larral1123]

Sweet sweet sweet
heres some pics And vids
http://www.boeing.com/787milestones/

[Chairman]

http://blog.seattlepi.com/aerospace/archives/171985.asp
Boeing postpones first flight of 787 again

Boeing's newest plane won't fly as soon as the company promised.

Boeing announced Tuesday that it will delay the first flight of the 787 Dreamliner because it needs to reinforce areas within the side-of-body section of the aircraft. It will be weeks before Boeing sets a new schedule for the first flight.

Scott Carson, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in a conference call Tuesday morning that the fixes needed for the jet will also likely delay delivery of the 787 to customers.

Carson said Boeing began alerting customers about the delay in the 787s first flight late Monday night.

Carson and two other Boeing executives said Boeing detected unexpected stress to areas of the plane where the wings meet the body in late May. That occurred during tests in which the wings are bent.

Initial tests showed that the 787 could undergo a flight test. But late last week, Boeing decided that it needed to reinforce the plane before the flight test.

"...after further testing and consideration of possible modified flight test plans, the decision was made late last week that first flight should instead be postponed until productive flight testing could occur," a company statement said.

Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 program, told analysts and reporters Tuesday morning that the areas that need to be reinforced are each about 1 to 2 square inches. They are on the upper part of where the wing meets the body.

He estimated that there are 18 such areas on each side of the plane.

The fix, he said, is "a relatively simple modification" that will involve "a handful of parts" most likely made of titanium or aluminum.

But before the planes are reinforced, Boeing will do more analysis to make sure that what it plans to do is the right course.

The reinforcement can be made to plans already assembled as well as to those undergoing assembly, Boeing executives said.

"Consideration was given to a temporary solution that would allow us to fly as scheduled, but we ultimately concluded that the right thing was to develop, design, test and incorporate a permanent modification to the localized area requiring reinforcement. Structural modifications like these are not uncommon in the development of new airplanes, and this is not an issue related to our choice of materials or the assembly and installation work of our team," Carson said in a company statement

Posted June 23, 2009 6:29 a.m.