Boeing: 787 will fly before year's end now

[Kerosene Kraut]

Boeing today announced that they expect the Dreamliner to fly before years's end. However the plans to modify the wing are not ready yet. Deliveries will begin by end 2010 they say.

source (german)
Boeing: 787 wird noch in diesem Jahr zum Erstflug starten - Auslieferung ab Ende 2010 - FLUG REVUE (http://www.flugrevue.de/de/zivilluftfahrt/fluggeraete/boeing-787-wird-noch-in-diesem-jahr-zum-erstflug-starten-auslieferung-ab-ende-2010.13473.htm)

[Bruce Wayne]

Boeing today announced that they expect the Dreamliner to fly before years's end.

Any stipulation on which year's end ?? :}

[Dysag]

So the 787-8 will enter service after the financial crisis, when traffic growth resumes in full swing. It will look very, very, small.
No widebody that size has ever been a commercial success, long-term.

[mantug01]

The BBC have a nice comparison with the B787 and A350 ....

BBC NEWS | Business | Boeing 787 to fly by year's end (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8224799.stm)

BBC seem to think the A350 entered service in 2007

[fc101]

Fairly accurate for the BBC, 2007, 2015 .. only 6 off...

But why does every report of this nature now have to include the obligatory A380 reference/comparison...A350 comparison or even 777/767/A330 I could handle but the A380 is build for a different market... :ugh:

fc101

[Halfnut]

Sooooo they are going to scrap the first three?

AIRLINE BIZ Blog | The Dallas Morning News (http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/08/boeing-says-boeing-787-will-fl.html)

Boeing says Boeing 787 will fly by end of 2009

9:21 AM Thu, Aug 27, 2009

Terry Maxon/Reporter

Boeing will have that Boeing 787 up and flying by the end of this year, the company said Thursday, and in the hands of its first customer by fourth quarter 2010.

We've lost count of the number of times the company has rescheduled that first flight and delivery, so let's just say this is the latest revision to the timetable.

Says Boeing:

"The new schedule reflects the previously announced need to reinforce an area within the side-of-body section of the aircraft, along with the addition of several weeks of schedule margin to reduce flight test and certification risk. The company projects achieving a production rate of 10 airplanes per month in late 2013."

Boeing had been looking at a Q2 2009 first flight, but on June 23 said the discovery of the weak area would delay test flights for the oft-delayed aircraft again.

There'll be a big accounting charge taken, even though the company says the 787 program is not in a "forward-loss position":

"However, separate from the updated program profitability assessment, the company has concluded that the initial flight-test airplanes have no commercial market value beyond the development effort due to the inordinate amount of rework and unique and extensive modifications made to those aircraft.

"Therefore, costs previously recorded for the first three flight-test airplanes will be reclassified from program inventory to research and development expense, resulting in an estimated non-cash charge of $2.5 billion pre-tax, or $2.21 per share, against third-quarter results. This charge will have no impact on the company's cash outlook going forward."

In other words, those first three airplanes won't be sold and delivered to customers. The company originally had planned to deliver all six test airplanes to customers. Boeing thinks it can sell Test Airplanes 4, 5 and 6, but not 1, 2 and 3.

In its announcement, Boeing said the team that is working on reinforcing the weak area "has completed initial testing and is finalizing design details of new fittings that are expected to ensure full structural integrity of the joint."

It said the company will repeat the static test procedure that uncovered the design problem and analyze the results before the first test flight.

[ohreally]

If you want a chuckle, read the "small print" below the Boeing statement on their website.

I wonder, what could prompt such an addition to the good news?

Answers on a postcard please...:ok:

[mickyman]

"However, separate from the updated program profitability assessment, the company has concluded that the initial flight-test airplanes have no commercial market value beyond the development effort due to the inordinate amount of rework and unique and extensive modifications made to those aircraft.''

.....or they fall out of the sky.........

MM

[TSR2]

Boeing thinks it can sell Test Airplanes 4, 5 and 6, but not 1, 2 and 3.


Test airplanes 4,5 and 6 are right up behind 1,2 and 3 on the production line. It's hard to believe they will not need the same amount of re-work as 1,2 and 3.

[Kerosene Kraut]

The first six are rebooked under R+D cost anyway.

[Taildragger67]

Oh just add the go-fast nose and new donks to a 777 and be done with it already!

What's the American version of the Hyundai... ? :confused:

[markch2000]

flightglobal had a great poll a few weeks back:

What will fly first?
787 33%
A400M 21%
Pigs 46%
Total Votes: 4534
Poll ended on: 06 August 2009


i think that says it all :ok:


on a serious note though, Boeing thought they had the problem sorted, then realised it was worse than they thought. Now they have announced a new schedule, although the schedule has no dates, so at best its a guess. Even in their own press release they said they have included a "schedule margin" suggesting they don't honestly know. And if they have yet to make the ammendments to the aircraft, how will they know it will work.
They may have done computer simulations, but if computer simulations were accurate the 787 project wouldn't be nearly two years behind schedule

[storm_eagle]

Few pix from June

http://myaviation.net/photos/small/9/9/6/01629699.jpghttp://myaviation.net/photos/small/8/9/6/01629698.jpghttp://myaviation.net/photos/small/0/4/5/01627540.jpg
(http://www.myaviation.net/search/photo_search.php?id=01629699)

[Raethmeon]

I wonder if this is due to the carbon fibre technology being utilised is not resilient to high power ligtning stikes??
Boeing chief responsible for delayed Dreamliner retires - Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/6123512/Boeing-chief-responsible-for-delayed-Dreamliner-retires.html)

[Will Fraser]

I have been working two phase materials since the early fifties when Da brought 'EPON' home from the Lab. I have used it in autos, (Corvette) and a/c (Many). I left the field probably 20 years ago, and my opinions are rank amateur, though somewhat informed. Early, the theory that 'two phase' would be structural was not entertained, the challenge was to 'adhere' them to metallic structural mating for frame strength. Spars, ribs and longerons not to mention shackles and pins, as composites, is a challenge to my intuition. A 'heavy' price is paid for life limit structures, so the inherent advantage of composites is immediately lost. I see the dreamliner as an experiment, not as a mass produced aircraft, call me old fashioned.