B787

[Saint-Ex]

Anyone have news on the B787 programme?

[kenparry]

Try

Boeing: Commercial Airplanes - 787 Home (http://www.boeing.com/commercial/787family/)

for a start

[Saint-Ex]

Exactly! What`s new there?

[11Fan]

Here ya go, I think this works outside the mother ship.

787 Dreamliner Flight Test | Home (http://787flighttest.com/)

[Saint-Ex]

Thank you, that`s more like it.

[sky9]

Boeing Finds New Dreamliner Flaw - WSJ.com (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704911704575327480901961078.html?mod=WSJEURO PE_hpp_LEFTTopWhatNews)

[Pugilistic Animus]

This was interesting too ---

Breaking: Structural flaw halts production of Alenia 787 sections - FlightBlogger - Aviation News, Commentary and Analysis (http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/flightblogger/2009/08/breaking-structural-flaw-halts.html)

[IGh]

eeFrom Boeing starts 787 horizontal stabiliser inspections (http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/06/25/343733/boeing-starts-787-horizontal-stabiliser-inspections.html)"... rework focuses on two shims, or engineered gap fillers, in the aft part of the horizontal stabiliser and requires the re-torquing of 12 fasteners on either side of the structure ... the shims used to fill gaps in the horizontal stabiliser became compressed after fasteners were over-torqued as a means of pulling the surfaces together, introducing a "pre-load" condition reducing the long-term fatigue life of the structure...."
When I read this story, the first thing that came to mind wasn't "fatigue" -- instead was the recall of that mysterious HorizStab on B707-331B N8705T :"NTSB-AAR-74-8" TWA742 / 28Aug73 B707-331B (N8705T) during descent into Los Angeles, night, experienced pitch oscillations. One passenger killed. HNL - LAX, routine until descending through FL220 at 350 KIAS, at 2150 PDT (night) aircraft began to porpoise, over 50 oscillations within about 2 minutes, peak forces of +2.4g to -0.3g, pitch from 5-7 degrees nose up to 5-7 degrees nose down. Pitch oscillations abated as speed decreased ...
The NTSB AAR, Finding #5:"A waviness of the upper skin on the left stabilizer disrupted the boundry layer on the surface ... pressure distribution on the elevator affected ... control loads."
The FAA's response (Butterfield 2Nov73) to the later NTSB Recommendation added:"a severe wrinkling of the skin on the horizontal stabilizer due to torque loading.... due to loads imposed on the stabilizer by the elevator.... we have no criteria to determine those airplanes in service that may have the same difficulties."

Wm Tench (AIB) also commented on the top skin of the HorizStab, DanAir B707-300 / 14May77, focusing on stiff skin and fastener loading.