Live from Everett, it's Dreamliner One

Can someone explain what is going on in these pictures?

will this thing ever be ready?

In the top picture we see the workers that have been giving their sweat and tears since last April, and in the bottom picture we can see that Boeing now wants their blood :)

Apologies if this has been asked before, but whats the hatch on top of the cockpit for?

The hatch is probably the e-hatch but i am not certain about that.

The hatch on top the cockpit is for pilots to escape through in case of emergency. On legacy Boeing airplane one of cockpit windshield would slide open for emergency escape, but 787's windshields do not open.

yasobara

"Can someone explain what is going on in these pictures?"

They're building a 787 :P

Its frustratingly dark, but damned if I can see the elevators, and maybe the engines are not fitted.
Anybody know how to enhance the pic?
Cheers

"On legacy Boeing airplane one of cockpit windshield would slide open for emergency escape"

My first reaction: E-hatch? I'd rather try to smash the cockpit window! (On second thoughts, that won't work of course)

Funny how things look so small in photos!

looks like they are far far away to get this bird ready.

I lightened up the pics and saw a few things:

1. No flightdeck
2. No forward bulkhead
3. Many temp fasteners near radome mount
4. No radar mount, or radar, or radar wiring.
5. Missing front windows
6. Horizontal Stab removed
7. Suprising lack of workers!

One question here would be: How long ago was this picture taken??

The picture was taken yesterday morning at 9AM PST.

Oh my, it does not look like this bird is anywhere ready for flying anytime soon. I wonder is Boeing is putting toguether a second plane that somehow will be easier to finish and fly than the one pictured here, unless, of course there is a plane (I doubt it) that is further along in completion!
Thanks for these updates John!!

What about the missing ILS localiser and glideslope antennas under the radome, not to mention the wiring? Hard to believe they were going to try power-up this coming week with no evidence of any electronics under the radome. Seems they are still replacing fasteners!

Jon, as a crack reporter, can't you uncover the true state of LN1? Clearly the Execs, including the new guy, are simply lieing about the status of LN1. We need solid trenchcoat level reporting here!

LN1 (along with the test frames) is available for everyone to see whenever they want. It costs $14 for the bus ride from the Future of Flight to the Boeing factory.

LN 2 is arriving and is in much better shape than LN1. In fact LN2 has way more of the work completed than LN1. My bet is that LN 2 will make to the air before LN1 (Smoke & Mirrors Liner).
It looks like they moved it closer to the door in an effort to allow for the assembly of LN2

Installation of the Radar Antenna is a pretty easy straight forward bolt on installation. The glideslope antenna is mounted inside the bottom of the radome.

I see an other Boeing 787 airplane in the background. That could be Dreamliner two... im not sure.

LN2 parts do have more done on it but it will be close to 9 months before it is ready to fly. No wings yet either. Still a lot of fastener problems, and there is massive rework to do based on design changes as a result of the LN1 build. LN1 progress has been very slow because hand building everything. Wiring is a big problem.

Hmm, finally someone has made the case against the 787 mandrel molded barrels over at airliners.net Link

That post pretty much sums up what I've been saying about the 787 for the last couple of years. The poster has made an excellent graphical presentation on why the mandrel molded barrels require a significant number of fasteners. In contrast; take a close look at picture 3: Panel approach max (Stringers, frames, doorframes, window-frames, reinforcements all co cured with the panel)

Also, the poster forecasts are pretty much spot on.

Quote:

Forecast 1: CFRP Barrel fuselages will turn out to be inferior regarding crash worthiness
Forecast 2: CFRP Barrel fuselages will turn out to be more expensive in production
Forecast 3: CFRP Barrel fuselages will turn out to be heavier
Forecast 4: The B787 will be the last airliner using CFRP barrel fuselages
Forecast 5: The NG Narrowbodies from Boeing and Airbus will use CFRP panels
Forecast 6: The first 787 write off will be after an incident smaller than BA038 because of unrepairable fuselage damage (something like this: Photo © Jarett Sirko, such a hole can not be patched)
Forecast 7: After the first comparing incident with an A350 the plane will not be written off
Forecast 8: CFRP Panel fuselages will allow replacement of single panels for repair of heavy damage (how?: Put the plane in a corset to fix the shape while part of the skin is missing, remove the fasteners for the panel, skin with stringers and frames is replaced as one piece).

What's arrived for Dreamliner Two:

Tail and Rudder
Wing tips
Control Surfaces
Tail Cone
Horizontal Stabilizer

What you see behind LN1 is ZY997 the Static Test airframe.

Also, could the commenter 'Joe' please drop me an email at flightblogger (at) gmail (dot) com when you are able.

Thanks,

Jon

Jon, perhaps you could help me compare the progress of work done since the latest delay announcement.

The above pictures appear to show:

- rework ongoing on the S44/S46 body join (where they guy with the white cap stands on the scaffolding.
- no interior installations in the areas visible
- some overhead bins visible on the floor in the lower center of the image
- no windows or upper instrument panel in flight deck (how much of the flight deck is in?)
- tail is missing the inboard leading edge
- can't see engines (are they removed?)
- may be jacked up (is it?)
- tailfin looks complete with leading edge in place
- No forward bulkhead
- No radar mount, or radar, or radar wiring (is this correct?)

Is it just naive to think that power up is possible by jan 31st?

If the advancements made towards power up have slipped this much in a month, what are the chances of it actually flying inside the revised schedule?

Kind Regards

Ed, you might have missed the latest 787 schedule slip. Power-on is now expected in early 2Q08, probably April. Plenty of time to build it... one hopes.

Jon,

You might explain again the order of airframes off the line and where the #2 flying plane fits in.

BTW: Nice "get" on the photo.

We need more "boffins" to chime it too that know about planes and are free to speak.

By the way, that is the emergency flight deck exit. This plane does not have opening windows on the cockpit like the 747 which also has an overhead emergency exit.

Pardon my grammar in my last post.

"Panel approach max (Stringers, frames, doorframes, window-frames, reinforcements all co cured with the panel)"

Wrong on all accounts, Joe.

A350 panel approach means:
stringers co-cured (same for 787)
frames fastened in (same for 787)
doorframes - mostly metal - fastened in (same for 787)
window frames fastened in (same for 787)
re-inforcements - there are no reinforcements, just more plies where needed (same for 787)

The 787 section with the many fasteners depicted over on Anet is a nose section. Needs plenty of fastened-in metal substructures for landing gear bay and landing gear loads introduction, windshields, pressure bulkhead, and to protect against birdstrikes (same for A350, except that the A350 is planned to have aluminum-lithium skin around the flight deck)

The major difference between the panel approach of the A350 and the barrel apporach of the 787 are 20.000-30.000 more fasteners and ~250kg more weight for the panel approach.

The jury is out on manufacturing cost. The barrel approach relies on very tight tolerances, which are not easy to achieve. Requires an up-front investment of 2bn+ in tools and processes plus a few years of time and experience from other projects...
If you don't start with these prerequisites on hand, the panel approach might actually be more economic/affordable.

Maintenance and repair is completely identical between panels and barrels. Bonded patches for small-scale/temporary repairs, bolt-on patches for large-scale/permanent repairs. See 777 and A310/330/340/380 maintenance manuals.

Line #2 will be the forth one in line after static test plane and fatigue plane.