Flight Test Aircraft
Sandwiched between the pressures of getting Dreamliner One to fly and maturing the supply chain outside of Everett for production, five flight test aircraft will accompany Dreamliner One on the 787's road to certification. 
The part shortages and traveled work that have plagued suppliers arrived at Boeing's doorstep in Everett. Design changes to both structure and systems that impacted Dreamliner One reverberate down the line. Dreamliners Two and Three, parked behind number one wearing the painted rudders of their final customers, All Nippon Airways and Northwest Airlines, feel the impact particularly strongly. Work on those two aircraft center primarily around completing the mid-body sections.
"I feel like there's an air bubble in two and three," said Pat Shanahan, Vice President and General Manager of the 787 program.
Before Dreamliner One is able to fly, Dreamliner Two must complete ground vibration testing. In addition, the static airframe (ZY997) is required to complete three limit load tests to validate the structural integrity of the 787 prior to first flight.
Shanahan added that the continuing work on two and three, "doesn't change flying in the fourth quarter, it doesn't change delivering in the third quarter of 09, but I'm eating [schedule] margin I don't want to eat. But the collateral impact would be on number two."
The more complete structural sections for Dreamliner Four have now been loaded into the first assembly position to begin the body join, as depicted in the exclusive image above, marking the first time four flying aircraft have been on the production line. 
One program source remarked that the structural join for Dreamliner Four is expected to be a bit different because of all the systems installed. "We don't have the room we always had," said the source who spoke to FlightBlogger on the condition of anonymity.
For the first time on an all-new aircraft design, Boeing designed ergonomic procedures directly into the assembly process. Boeing's 777 used computer aided design to demonstrate how parts would interact once installed, the 787's design took another leap forward by not only modeling static interaction of parts, but also modeled the process of assembly.
The aft fuselage section for Dreamliner Four shipped with 98% of structures and 87% of systems complete. The 38-foot aft section featured for the first time the aft horizontal stabilizer jack screw, potable and waste water tank. By comparison, Dreamliner Three arrived stuffed with only 37% of its systems.
Dreamliners Five, Six and Seven, the first production aircraft, are
spread across the supply chain. Each should arrive more complete than
the 787 before it.The wings are expected to arrive for Dreamliner Five later this month and the Alenia horizontal stabilizer and the first Spirit GEnx compatible pylons for that aircraft are already in the Everett factory.
The center fuselage for Dreamliner Five is currently undergoing assembly and systems integration at Global Aeronautica. One Charleston based production staffer estimates wiring completion to be around 30-40% with major structures "pretty much complete." Historically, the center fuselage has arrived about two to four weeks after the wings.
Currently
at Vought, aft fuselage sections (47 & 48) for Dreamliners Five,
Six and Seven are in the final systems installation phase.Looking just beyond assembly of the flight test aircraft, the wings for Dreamliner Seven were recently painted white for UV light protection in Nagoya, Japan. The painting takes place ahead of systems installation and cuts painting time in Everett by 20%. Originally, Dreamliner Nine was supposed to be the first 787 to have its wings painted in Japan, though Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was able to accomplish this two units ahead of schedule.
"When I go back into the supply chain, they're ramping up very quickly.
I'm now the bottleneck," says Shanahan. "The lessons we're learning is
more about integrating our schedules, integrating our sub-tier
suppliers...they've caught up. Quite a bit of understanding in the
coordination, early on, bringing all these pieces together was really
awkward ... we've learned how to integrate, not just schedule, all of
our planning and all of our engineering."
Across the whole of the program, the 787 is defined by tackling traveled work, incorporating weight reduction through engineering
changes and managing the short and long term schedule pressures."All these things are now converging," concludes Shanahan. "All the uncertainty that I was playing with before is now becoming certain. I feel now I've got my arms around the work statement, I have my hands on the controls. Now is the question whether I can really move those controls as fast as I'd like."
Images:
1. Dreamliner Two in Everett - May 2008
2. Dreamliner Three in Everett - May 2008
3. Dreamliner Four in Everett - August 2008
4. Dreamliner Four flight deck in Wichita - June 2008
5. Dreaminer Five forward fuselage in Wichita - June 2008
6. Dreamliner Six aft fuselage in Charleston - June 2008
7. Dreamliner Seven wing in Nagoya - July 2008
8. Dreamliner Five center fuselage in Charleston - June 2008
Great work, Jon! I feel like a junkie that just got a fix.
I am continually amazed at Pat Shanahan's use of the word "I" - it may not be a large issue but to me it seems the height of arrogance to not say "we" in reference to the thousands of people working on the 787 program. That stated, the program seems to have turned in a positive direction and the open information policy is repairing the damage done during 2007.
Great work Jon! I personally thank you for keeping us informed about the 787 in particular, but also what's relevant in aviation.
Keep up the good work! Good luck to the people making it happen with the 787.
Keep up the good wotk Boeing. I hope to see her in the skies soon
Just occurred to me- How much damage to the 787 program was done by last year's Fake Rollout of Dreamliner One - if they (Boeing) had been honest with EVERYONE and not done this PR Stunt how much better off would the 787 program be today?
I like you blog and always read the posts, but I think you have to be a little bit more critical. This feel and have felt for a long time, like Randys Journal II.