Boeing 787 First Flight Delayed Again
Fifth Slippage In 787 Dreamliner Program
Service Entry To Be Updated
Financial Guidance Due Next Month On Impact
Boeing today confirmed that side body reinforcement of the 787 means that first flight will not now take place before the end of this quarter.
“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,” said BCA President & CEO Scott Carson.
Carson stressed that such structural modifications are not uncommon and that it is not “related to our choice of materials.”
Boeing 787-8 Wing/Engine
Image courtesy of Boeing
Key points raised by the conference call this morning are as follows:
Scott Carson
• Results discovered from testing on static airplane
• Reinforcement of side-of-body join
• Disappointed with setback but described as “manageable”
• Fundamental technology is sound
• Integrated systems maturing as normal
• No schedule yet announced – “there will be some impact”
• Customers respect decision to delay and ensure the airplane is right
• No suspension of production
• Parts can be retrofitted
Patrick Shanahan
• Discovery made during wing bending tests
• Identified stresses in excess of modelled expectations
• Concluded that productive flight test program required fix to side-of-body area
• Focussed on reinforcement solution, materials are not an issue
• Limited area of stresses
• Area consists of wing from MHI, side-of-body built/designed by Boeing & FHI
Scott Fancher
• Developing right solution
• Several planned modifications, yet to select which is best method
• Could be titanium or aluminium solution
• Components to be fabricated and undergo full scale tests
• Will not compromise for overall schedule
• New schedule due in several weeks time
• Final gauntlet tests still due in the days ahead
• ZA001 in flight ready condition
• 36 locations of required localised strengthening identified
• Require on handful of parts
• Don’t see any increase in weight, negligible impact on performance
• 1 or 2 square inches of each affected area at upper wing root section
• No external body fairing/aerodynamic adjustments/changes
• Problem does not extend elsewhere
• Gauges didn’t meet modelled expectations
• Nothing prevents final gauntlet test from starting
• ZA001 will proceed with taxi tests
• One fix to be incorporated into production stream
• Fixes can be done in situ, no factory work required
• Likely nothing would have happened if ZA001 flew
• Nothing compromises certification
• Production airplanes have lower weight, incorporated weight reduction already
Boeing has yet to update on a new revised schedule for service entry, however, given the learning curve of the way the new materials incorporated into the 787 behave, it is not totally surprising to see that another setback has occurred.
Given the relatively positive comments by Fancher with a view to providing a permanent solution to this problem, coupled with his saying that the final gauntlet and taxi tests can continue, any slide to the schedule may be limited to a perhaps two-to-three months; pushing back service entry into the late second quarter of 2010.
With the 747-8F also due to join the flight test program by the end of the year, there may be some reshuffling of how flight and ground tests are conducted, but given the legacy program in the 747 and experience the company already has, there should be minimal-to-zero impact on overlapping testing - particularly now that the 777F has entered service.
Earnings are due next month, FleetBuzz Editorial.com foresees a situation where we’ll see marginal adjustments to deliveries, but in the grand scheme of things, this setback could have been worse - particularly as this is what had been feared. Critically, the fact that Boeing has got to grips with such breakthrough technology and has been surprised by a relatively small issue, the longer term impact is minimal - especially when you see that this is an airplane the marketplace yearns to see in service.
118 comments June 23rd, 2009
