June 2010 Archives

I've got an overnight leg from Dulles to Rome for a visit this week to Alenia. Needless to say my list of questions is very long after the events of the past week. Boeing has been making all the public comments about the horizontal stabilizer workmanship issues and this will be the first chance for Alenia to address it directly.

My ride tonight is a United Airlines 777-200 (ship 2372 reg?) on flight 966 to Rome. On a semi-related note, 6,300 words on 747-8 and 787 for the Farnborough Air Show edition of the magazine that comes out July 12. Once it's released, I'll have additional coverage here on the blog ahead of the biggest air show of the year that will feature the international debut of 787.

Catch you in Italia.

Boeing conducted inspections Friday of the 787 horizontal stabilizers on ZA002 and ZA003, the only two 787s not in layup. Both returned to flying on Sunday, but with different purposes.

If there's one thing in aviation that remains constant, no matter what side of the Atlantic (or Pacific) you find yourself on, spotters love the chance to peek between cracked hangar doors. In Toulouse, the Korean Air's first A380 (MSN035) was spotted in one of the final assembly hangars. The South Korean carrier is quickly stocking up on jumbos and superjumbos as this photo was snapped just a few says after the first (and second) Korean Air Cargo 747-8F made its flight line debut in Everett. See the complete A380 photo.

A big hat tip to aeroweb-fr.net and a380production.com.

Photo Credit David Barrie

I know it's already Monday in Asia, but add this to your reading list. The Seattle Times has published a lengthy look at the crash impact and fire characteristics of the 787's composite fuselage, a piece has been in the works for several years. The article includes some interesting new information about the evolution of the structure of the aircraft and its progressive crumple design in the lower portions of the aircraft, along with the concerns raised throughout the aircraft's design.

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This is notable for no other reason than I thought it would make for a good Saturday morning post. The first 787, ZA001, has shown up on Google Maps for the first time. The photo was taken while the aircraft was in the middle of gauntlet testing. Best I can tell, the satellite photo was snapped sometime between May 16 and June 15 of last year. ZA001 moved to Stall 105 (pictured) on May 16 and ZA002 went to the flight line on June 16, with my best bet putting it sometime around May 25, based on the unpainted Air France 777-300ER, Emirates SkyCargo and un-marked Air France 777Fs parked to the south.

Seattle Times aerospace reporter Dominic Gates reported this afternoon that structural gaps in the 787's horizontal stabilizer have forced the imposition of a reduce operating flight envelope on the five 787 flight test aircraft.

Here's my complete story on the horizontal stabilizer, which explains the problem in a bit more depth and why the improper shims and over-torqued fasteners are a problem for long term fatigue.

This is not the first time Alenia, who makes the horizontal stabilzer in Foggia, Italy, has had issues with its quality control processes. Almost exactly a year ago, Boeing halted production in Gottaglie where Sections 44 and 46 are produced, following the discovery of wrinkles created during manufacturing.

Boeing maintains that despite a decision not to fly again until the inspections are complete, the 787 fleet is not formally grounded, as the operating limitations will enable test flights to continue if problems are discovered. As you can see from the photo above, 787s on the flight line have already been prepared for the inspections with the removal of the elevators.

Photo Credit Liz Matzelle

Noticed there haven't been a lot of updates here lately? I have too. 

EVERETT -- We had a zip through the factory this morning via Dreamliner painted golf cart (a first) and we spotted ZA006 (N787ZA) inside the 40-24 building. The aircraft was being prepared on the site of the future 787 surge line. First flight for this aircraft should come in July.

EVERETT -- Just arrived in the factory for an afternoon of tours and spotted the first 747-8F for Cathay Pacfic Cargo inside Building 40-22.

SEATTLE -- In a continuation of last week's Movie Monday which took us through the industrial preparations for production of the General Dynamics Convair 880 jetliner, this week's edition takes us inside the ground and flight testing of the new jet that took place between January 1959 and May 1960. What struck me about this particular promotional film from GD was how much the fundamentals of testing and developing new aircraft haven't changed that significantly over the last half century. I'd be very curious to hear your thoughts on this as well. The two parts, which cannot be embedded here, run about 13 minutes.

As is my usual custom, I take a picture of the aircraft that will host
me during the course of the day. On this particular early morning,
this United Airlines 757-200 (N507UA) is barely visible through the
slit in the wall. I cannot, in good conscience, call this a window.
Alas, this is Terminal C at Dulles Airport.

That being said, my route today takes me back to the Pacific Northwest
for the first half of this week for pre-Farnborough Air Show briefings
with Boeing over the next few days. Also, I'm really looking forward
to being in Seattle on the longest day of the year to take advantage
of the city's significant northern latitude. Gotta love a 9pm sunset.

P.S. Fingers crossed that this visit will allow me to see my second
787 takeoff. My first - and only - came on December 15 of last year.

The 787 is the first airplane new applicant that must directly comply with all of the regulations associated, that came out of the changes to [FAR FAA Par 21] 981 and 954. We have worked out way with the FAA in very great detail, every detail in that airplane. Down to every fastener, every bracket, every system, every material, and we probably have more testing on that piece for that regulation than any other part of the airplane. And having been involved in that early on, I tend to think the rule is extra interesting. I am confident that we have done everything we can to understand, engineer and comply with that rule. Now there are some things in that rule that both the FAA and us had to work around, because it was an area, quite honestly, where the FAA got prescriptive in terms of design rather than writing requirements so we worked our way through that. 

Normally you don't want the airplane to be struck by lightning because it's a maintenance headache. But it's my wish that this airplane gets struck a lot because it will put a lot of people... to go through this at an engineering discussion is at the PHD level. I've been through it and I'm confident. I know the people in the FAA who have worked really hard and have not compromised on the safety on this airplane, specifically in this area of regulation. I don't understand the motive in that, but I'm confident that we have done, and that the people across the table from us have worked their butts off. That was the comment by then-787 chief engineer Mike Delaney on the 787's lightning strike protection system.

During a test flight in May, Mike Delaney got his wish. ZA001 was struck by a rare bolt of lightning over Puget Sound, and returned to Boeing Field unscathed. Dreamliner One's lightning strike continues the unbroken streak of Boeing development aircraft enduring lightning strikes in flight testing. Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 program walked around ZA001 following its flight that day:

"Post-flight inspections revealed absolutely no damage," said Fancher, who took over the Dreamliner testing program in December 2008. "I walked around the airplane an hour after it landed and you couldn't tell a thing had happened."

While the importance of safely flying away from a lightning strike is very validating for the 787 and its more-electric architecture and highly integrated computer systems, the strike itself deserves some additional context.

ZA005 First Flight from Liz Matzelle on Vimeo.

ZA005 - Reg: N787FT - Serial No: 40694 - Final Assembly: January 28, 2009

With ZA005's first flight now marked in the logbooks of Capts. Mike Bryan and Mike Carriker, the first of two GEnx-powered 787 test aircraft have kicked off flight test operations to certify the new airframe-engine combination, which result in first delivery to Royal Air Maroc in the first quarter of 2011.

The first 3h and 48min flight are the first of an expected 670 flight test hours expected to be accumulated by ZA005 and ZA006, both powered by the 64,000lb rated version of the GEnx-1B engine. Both aircraft are expected to take part in 600h of ground testing as well.

The -1B, like the -2B flying today on the 747-8F, features a carbon fiber fan casing and fan blades, as we well as the Twin-Annular Premixing Swirler combustor, which results in a low and more uniform flame temperatures to reduce NOx emissions. 

ZA005 is a fully instrumented aircraft with a complete data system on board, and will focus on performance testing of the GEnx-1B64 engine. Other instrumentation on Dreamliner Five includes an icing probe, dye rack and load banks testing on the electrical system.

The aircraft will also take part in additional structural flutter and aerodynamics performance tests with the new engine on the wing. The aircraft will also undergo stability and control (S&C) testing and will take part in systems functionality and reliability (F&R) trials for Extended Twin-Engine Operations (ETOPS) certification. 

The new GE engine, like its Trent 1000 stablemate, will also undergo community noise in Glasgow, Montana to establish the acoustic profile of the aircraft.

One feature designed into the 787 was an engine-change option allowing the powerplants to be swapped out by customers. Lessors requested the option to allow airlines to switch engines to match airframes with existing fleets or maintenance plans. While the pylons, which are built by Spirit AeroSystems are unique to each engine type, the wing-pylon interface is common across both GE and R-R pylons and enables the switch.

Korean Air Cargo's first 747-8F is out on the flightline in Everett fully painted. The sixth 747-8F, left the paintshop overnight and is parked at the south end of the flight line with RC503 and RC502. The aircraft, which will eventually be HL7609, was in final body join inside the factory while RC501 was making its first flight. Anyone happen to know what RC number this new jetliner is?

A huge thank you to David Parker Brown of AirlineReporter.com for the photos.

Meanwhile, the 747-8F flight test campaign pushes ahead with 450hr accumulated over 190 flights. The FAA granted expanded Type Inspection Authorization for the program on June 11, clearing the way for regulatory personnel to join flight tests. Full Story

In an effort to find a way to combine World Cup soccer/football into my professional life (as well as my obsession with aviation) I've put together an - almost complete - table of how 31 of 32 national teams traveled to South Africa. With the help of Apture, I've linked to details about each team and photos of the specific aircraft (if known). So there's no confusion, the teams are listed in order of their respective pots for the tournament.

A very special thanks to Gavin Werbeloff for his assistance in putting this list together. If anyone has additional details or updates to this chart, feel free to leave a comment and I'll make the change.


Photo Credit Globespotter

When John Leahy, Airbus chief operating officer customers, said in May that he would sell 20 or more A380s in 2010, he knew the ace up his sleeve was coming from his most enthusiastic superjumbo customer. With 58 already on the order books, 10 of which are already in service, Emirates upped its superjumbo order total to 90 with the addition of 32 more announced this week at the ILA air show in Berlin.

When Boeing first designed the 787, the company's started with a clean sheet of paper, but one thing had to be maintained: the airmanship of Boeing's last all new jetliner, the 777, had to be engineered into the new widebody jetliner.

From the handling characteristics to the checklists and emergency procedures, Boeing challenged itself to start with the 777's operating procedures and build from there. While the systems architecture of the 787 is fundamentally different from the 777, the legacy of the larger long-range twin is evident. The influence of the 777, right down to the alternate flap extension actuation timing, is felt in the 787. Boeing sought to maintain pilot's mental mindset when transitioning between the two aircraft, says Mike Carriker, 787 chief project pilot, who captained ZA001's first flight in December 2009.

"I knew we had it whipped early in the program," says Carriker, "when an engineer laid the 777 failure check list out and said we could match it."

With the 787 in flight testing, the first 777 line pilots have had an opportunity to take part in early evaluations of the 787's handling characteristics and has already completed two of the three stages toward formally validating the 787's handling and training commonality with global regulatory authorities. The first stage, T-1, is a paper-based systems comparison, followed by the significantly more rigorous T-2 phase. T-2 took six 777 line pilots, three representing the FAA, one from EASA, one from JCAB and one from Transport Canada and put them in the left seat of the 787 to prove the handling qualities are similar to that of a 777.

With a Boeing test pilot sitting in the right seat, the 777 pilots conducted various maneuvers including touch-an-go landings, single engine cutouts on takeoff, single engine approaches, as well as single engine missed approaches and single engine approach with a full stop landing.

Carriker said the pilots reported that the aircraft flew "like a 777, and while some said it was either a bit higher, low or about the same on flare forces, they all landed it on the right speeds, on the numbers and on the centerline." 

The third and final phase, T-3, will validate the training courses and takes pilots through a final FAA check ride and has already seen more than 100 Boeing staff participate to internally.

Ultimately Boeing hopes to be able transition 777 pilots in just five days to the 787, and eight days for 757/767 pilots and 11 days from the 737. The swiftness of the transition for 777 pilots is derived from Boeing's desire to see pilots use their demonstrated 777 skill set to fly the 787. The checklists, for example, have 80% commonality with the 777 and the overhead panels panels are nearly identical to preserve procedural flows.

While the 777 was designed to fly like the 767 when it was first designed, Carriker says the operating procedures and cockpit displays differ too significantly to provide any meaningful commonality to the 787.

With the 787 into certification operations with approval of the type inspection authorization in April, Boeing established a conforming article to present to regulatory authorities. Boeing made small changes to the 787 including updating the flight control software to version 5.5. and "tweaked" the 787's slats to bolster positive pitch recovery in certain aircraft conditions. The adjustment, which was first introduced with a software change, was made permanent with a mechanical modification. Carriker says jokingly that the Dreamliner's stall characteristics put a certain widely flown single engine piston aircraft "to shame" and describes the 787's stall performance as "sublime."

Despite an early sluggishness in accumulating flight test hours early on as Boeing was getting acquainted with flying its new jetliner, Carriker says the 787 was able to complete 200 stalls under different conditions in about two hours, compared to ten times that amount on the Next Generation 737 family.

Currently, ZA001 has been in layup at Boeing Field since May 27 receiving a new set of Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines after flight test crews abused the hardware during 374h and 45min of testing that included initial airworthiness, 180hr of flutter, as well as low and high speed stability and control testing and minimum ground control testing (Vmcg) and RAM air turbine testing. The aircraft will head into the summer performing artificial ice shapes testing, as well as the most abusive tests on the airframe that will see the aircraft drag its tail on the runway to find the minimum "unstick" speed at various weights.

Photo Credits Brandon Farris & Casey Vernath

With five weeks to go until the 2010 Farnborough Air Show, Boeing is getting ready to firm its plans for the international debut of the 787 and 747-8. With a final decision yet to be made, company sources say Boeing has penciled in 787 ZA003 along with 747-8F RC503 to represent the company at the largest air show of the year. ZA003 is the third of six 787 flight test aircraft and is outfitted with an partial interior and RC503 is the newly added forth 747-8F flight test aircraft and freshly painted in launch customer Cargolux's new colors.

I think any recounting of today's events has to begin this way: Thank God this ended well.

In one of my favorite photos I've ever taken, Dreamliner One's wheels are just inches off the wet pavement in Everett. The photo was taken on December 15, 2009, the date of the 787's maiden flight. Behind the rotating 787 is a red Aerospatiale A-Star helicopter with an odd fixture affixed to the front of its nose. That fixture was an IMAX camera filming the moment from a yet-to-be-seen angle.

RC503, which will serve as the fourth 747-8F flight test aircraft emerged from the Everett Paint Hangar yesterday evening wearing Cargolux's new livery. On Friday, Boeing's Twitter feed posted a teaser tweet of RC503 on its way into the paint hangar causing an immediate Pavlovian response from the world of aviation geekery, Population: Us. First flight for RC503 is expected at the end of June, followed by commencement of flight test operations in late July.

787 launch customer All Nippon Airways disclosed this morning in Tokyo that it plans to take delivery of ZA100 (JA801A), the first production standard aircraft, in November or December. The airline will begin Japanese domestic service for pilot training starting in January, with international routes to begin at the end of March. Neither the initial domestic nor the international routes were disclosed, however ANA says that Beijing, Shanghai, San Francisco, Paris, Munich or London are on the shortlist for the aircraft.

BROUGHTON -- While it's not yet possible to climb inside the wing of Airbus' newest jetliner, I want to take you inside the aerodynamic backbone of the A350 XWB. In Broughton, UK about 25 miles southwest of Manchester, Airbus is rapidly expanding its wing factory to include build-up operations for its long-range composite twin. The airframer already assembles wings for the A320 and A330/A340, as well as the A380.

The A350 is the second (largely) composite wing to be built by Airbus and the first for it commercial product line. The first is the A400M which is currently in flight testing. The wing is generally made up of three major components: The top and bottom wing skins, the front and rear wing spars, made from composite, and the inter-spar ribs which are aluminum lithium. Once mated to the center wing box and winglets attached, Airbus's new jetliner will sport a wingspan of 212ft 5.2in (64.75m).

Currently, Airbus is in the process of assembling a half-span wing box demonstrator to test manufacturing techniques, including automated drilling of the top and bottom wing skins. The "lessons learned" on the 55ft 9in (17m) test wing box will be fed back into the detailed design and manufacturing plan for the program. The demonstration box is instrumented with strain gauges to measure the changing loads on the wing during manufacturing.

Because the wing is made up of both composite and aluminum, the different materials have different coefficients of expansion, meaning that each material will expand and contract differently at a given temperature. This requires the wing design to take into account the changing shape of the varied materials. During manufacturing the jig beds that hold the wingbox are on slides that expand and contract. During the winter, Airbus heated the test facility and then let it cool to see how the wing structure would react.