Boeing Completes First Of Three 787 Pressure Tests
Boeing today confirmed that it had successfully initiated and completed the first of three pressurisation tests on the static 787 airframe.
One of two experimental airplanes that will never fly, tests on the static 787 commenced a few months after the airplane was rolled into the test rig just a few hundred yards away from the final assembly line.
All images courtesy of Boeing
Having already seen key components being tested already, despite the continuing industrial action, the programme moves closer towards the goal of first flight.
“We had every confidence going into this test because of the extensive work we’ve done on larger and larger pieces of composite - from small coupons to fuselage sections,” said VP/General Manager of the 787 program, Pat Shanahan.
Boeing has yet to decide whether it intends to push the 787’s composite wing structure beyond the 150% limit load required for certification. The last Boeing model to undergo such a test was the 777, made most famous and popular by the serialised documentary by Karl Sabbagh in 21st Century Jet: The Making and Marketing of the Boeing 777.
While the 787 achieves another milestone, behind the scenes, the importance of bringing reconciliation between the IAM union and Boeing remains paramount.
(Prior articles on the Boeing/IAM strike can be found by clicking these links here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. )
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6 comments September 28th, 2008
