Boeing: July 2008 Archives

I've also posted a few shots of what the Dreamlifter looks like inside. The pictures aren't from Oshkosh, but from my visit to Charleston in June. Follow the link below.

Two more photos after the jump.

I'll be the first to admit that there has been a distinct theme running through my posts this week. The newly flying 767-300ER with winglets just begs to be photographed. Here's the aircraft on its first flight in some very special air-to-air shots that really show off the new winglets. A very special thanks to Aviation Partners for the photos. (6 total, 3 after the jump)

The American Airlines 767-300ER, N389AA, outfitted with 11-foot tall Aviation Partners Boeing blended winglets, made its arrival at San Bernardino airport in sweltering Southern California, adorned with an experimental sticker below the one world logo. The aircraft will remain at San Bernardino for its two month FAA certification process.

Boeing today announced achieving power-on of the hydraulic systems for the first 787, taking one step closer to the scheduled first flight event in the fourth quarter.

Boeing CEO Jim McNerney disclosed the hydraulic systems milestone, which arrives nearly a month after electrical systems power-on, during a conference call with analysts.

The activation event last week enabled the first movement of the aircraft's hydraulically-powered control surfaces.

These include the ailerons, rudder, flaperons and some spoilers. The aircraft's elevators are not yet installed and some spoilers run on electric rather than hydraulic power. The flaps and slats are controlled through a mechanical drive system.

Following the successful hydraulic power-on, the aircraft will continue to undergo functional systems testing. The aircraft will be raised up off its landing gear to test the retraction and stowage of the landing gear.

Suppliers Parker Hannifin and Hamilton Sundstrand are responsible for the 787's hydraulic subsystems.

Just broke:

Blended Winglets Make First Flight on Boeing 767-300ER

SEATTLE, July 21, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- An American Airlines 767-300ER equipped with Aviation Partners Boeing Blended Winglets took to the skies for the first time at 1:50 p.m. central time Sunday July 20th. The newly modified aircraft flew a ferry flight from Kansas City, Missouri to San Bernardino, California where it will undergo two months of certification and winglet performance flight testing. The Blended Winglet installation, along with necessary wing and aircraft systems modifications, was performed by American Airlines employees at their Kansas City Maintenance Base.

Click for higher resolution expanded image

FARNBOROUGH -- Boeing and Air India gave us a look inside the brand new 777-300ER and here's the video we put together. VT-ALN, which is just 17 days old, made the trip from Everett last weekend to Farnborough. There are six parts to the video, three of which take you through the lavish cabin and narrated by Jitender Bhargava, Executive Director of Corporate Communications for Air India.

The other two are narrated by yours truly. One is a brief introduction welcoming you to the 777-300ER.The second is a peek at the crew rest area and demonstrates my inability to convert to Celsius on the fly. The final one is a very tired, over-caffeinated blogger giving a 7 minute guided tour of the 777 flight deck. I know for a fact that there are those of you who visit the blog who either fly the 777, have some part in designing, or build them, so please, cut me some slack, because I'm sure I missed a lot.

MORE HI-RES CABIN & FLIGHTDECK PHOTOS AFTER THE JUMP

FARNBOROUGH -- Boeing is actively considering opening a second 787 production line to minimize the impact of its program delays to customers, industry sources tell FlightBlogger.

The plan, which has not been finalized, would allow Boeing to boost output across two lines rather than push more aircraft at a higher rate through a single line. As the production system matured further, production levels could potentially exceed Boeing's target of 10 aircraft per month by 2012 on a single line.

Sources familiar with the plan say that Boeing hopes to head off serious delays and uncertainties that 787 customers are facing as they try to adjust their fleet capacity planning in the wake of the delivery rescheduling. Some customers have been quoted as expecting deliveries up to 30 months late.

Boeing reiterated that its "787 production/delivery schedule follows a more gradual ramp up to full-rate production than was previously planned, and reaches a rate of 10 airplanes per month in 2012, rather than in 2010."

Adding, "the planning assumption we've given customers is to expect the start of their delivery streams to be adjusted, on average, by around 20 months. The specifics of these estimated delivery streams vary by customer and assume no improvement over our current plan."

The company slowed its ambitious production ramp up plan in April to permit its supply chain to reduce travelled work being sent to final assembly and better manage part shortages.

Though Boeing has not recorded a new 787 order since April, demand for the product has far from slowed, one 787 customer tells FlightBlogger.

The customer, who discussed the situation on the condition of anonymity, says Boeing is focused on a successful ramp up rather than expanding it's already overflowing orderbook for 896 aircraft.

The customer adds that the 787 is sold out until 2017; a date which does not take into account an average 20-month delivery delay.

"They aren't quoting [delivery positions] before 2019," said the customer.

Delivery slots prior to 2019 would only be available to strategic customers such as US airlines or those considering both the 787 and A350 or current A330 operators.

The customer emphasized that if they could purchase additional 787s right now, they absolutely would.

Boeing 787 Program Vice President and General Manager Pat Shanahan will provide a comprehensive update to the media this morning at 9:00 AM GMT (4 AM ET) at the Farnborough Air Show. Complete liveblog transcript after the jump.

777F IS NOW AIRBORNE!

Photos from the first flight.

And the telemetry problem that forced a return to PAE instead of BFI.

FARNBOROUGH -- FlyDubai has announced an order for 50 next generation Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

They will be fitted with 189 seats for the low cost carrier's operations which are scheduled to begin in mid-2009.

FlyDubai expects to take delivery of its first 737-800 in May 2009 and be completed in 2015.

The value of the order is $3.74 Billion.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and Chief Executive Officer Scott Carson will discuss current market conditions and the demand for newer more efficient and environmentally progressive products. Please join us at 9:30 GMT (4:30 ET) for this wide ranging briefing from Boeing.

Liveblog transcript after the jump

FARNBOROUGH -- 777F Boeing 001 rolled for the first time Sunday with the commencement of low speed taxi tests. The new freighter aircraft, piloted by Chief 777 Test Pilot Suzanna Darcy-Henneman, is expected to take to the sky for the first time later today at 10:30 AM PT. (More photos)

More on this as the day develops.

Image courtesy Matt Cawby

LONDON -- A pair of Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines made their return to Everett yesterday as Dreamliner One continues to make progress toward its first flight later this year.

The British-made engines returned to Everett several weeks ahead of schedule. The engines were initially set to return in August.

Both were removed following last Summer's roll-out ceremony, arrived in the Everett factory for installation under the wing of Boeing's first 787 Friday afternoon.

According to a program source, the first of the two engines rated at 64,000 lbs of thrust was re-joined to the aircraft late yesterday. The second engine is expected to be re-joined later this weekend.



Images Courtesy of Matt Cawby

LONDON -- Good Morning America, Good Afternoon Europe! Before things really kick off in the next fews days I wanted to outline what may (or may not) happen at the show. As I peer into my magic eight-ball, here's what I've come up with.
 

*Fly Dubai not included

Airbus
The A350 XWB and A320 are likely to have a very good week. Asiana is very likely to settle their mid-size wide body order, which will probably be split between 787s and A350s. The A380/747 battle should be wrapped up by year's end, so likely nothing above 350 seats for Asiana on this go-round. The A350 XWB should see a new leasing customer as well.

Once again, we're looking at a heavily Gulf weighted orderbook for both Airbus and Boeing. Emirates is likely to book an order with Airbus. I doubt it's more A380, so filling the gap until the A350-900 arrives would point to A330s as an interim aircraft to go along with it's large fleet of 777-300ERs which were topped up at Dubai last November. Qatar and Airbus press conference planned and unless they're adding more A380s, this order could be on the other end of the capacity spectrum with A320s. Though, if the order is for narrow body aircraft, this could be a sizable blow for Bombardier which is hoping that Qatar will be a launch customer for CSeries. Other signs point to Etihad making a big narrow and wide body order which could be split between Airbus and Boeing. Gulfair will likely be a widebody order and they could probably get Airbus to give them an A340-600.

Boeing
777F will be part of Monday's events though not until late in the day with first flight coming late Monday in the UK. As far as 777 orders go at the show, British Airways might be the only major European airline to book an order if those 777-300ERs pan out.

With four orders to go until the 787 officially breaks the 900 mark, what are the chances of seeing 1000 this week? Boeing hasn't announced a 787 customer since April and they've always said they don't hold orders for big air shows unlike Airbus, but 1000 is a far sexier number than 900. Orders from Asiana, Etihad and ILFC could push it above 1000, though an order for 23 and 35 787s for unidentified customers could be one or two of those three airlines. At the very least, I'd put my money on being well into 900 by the end of next week.

Keep an eye out here on Monday and Tuesday morning for coverage of Scott Carson and Pat Shanahan's briefings respectively.

On the narrow-body side Boeing's order book has 296 unidentified orders for 737s with 10 orders greater than 10 with half of those above 30. If it hasn't already been booked, the new UAE low cost carrier Fly Dubai is likely kicking off with a massive narrow body order for 737s or A320s.

Permit me for a moment to stretch the imagination a bit here, but what if the BoCo surprises everyone with a new narrow body concept? Airlines have been screaming for a new aircraft in the 120-200 seat category, but Boeing has been pushing incremental improvements like lighter weight interiors on the 737 and keeping their cards close to their vest. Airbus, by contrast, has been quite out front with upgrades to the A320 family with the potential of a GTF engine and winglets.

Is this Boeing's chance to blast ahead in this market with a major surprise? The new 2008 Current Market Forecast calls for a transition to larger, more fuel efficient aircraft. With this in mind, wouldn't a 737-700 to 757-200 range/capacity market be ripe for the picking. It would snuff CSeries in its debut, though there are plenty of reasons why this isn't happening, but I'm musing.

If we assume for a moment that launching a product in the downside of a cycle is the way to be first out of the gate when the industry takes off again then Farnborough could be quite interesting.

Bombardier
The last big air show, Singapore, Bombardier used the last big show (Singapore) to receive authorization to offer the CSeries, the company could use Farnborough to launch the aircraft officially. Bombardier is clearly pushing ahead with design work and development of the new high and hot 130XT indicates that at least one customer is pushing for these requirements.

So who is the likely launch customer? Signs point to China Southern and Shanghai, who are rumored to be meeting the CAAC (Civil Aviation Administration of China) on July 14 to receive authorization to purchase the the type, however, of the four initially identified customers, only Qatar is in a financial position to make a big investment right now.

Also, Bombardier will select a final assembly location for CSeries by July 15 (Tuesday). Mirabel, outside of Montreal, is competing with Kansas City, Missouri for the CSeries final assembly facility.

As one last note on the CSeries (and MRJ) front, the GTF should be making its first flight on the 747SP test bed next week too.

Also, I would not be surprised in the slightest if we see the CRJ1000 fly this week as well.

Embraer
We should be seeing more about the Legacy 450 & 500. Which would fit in their overall strategy for biz jets. Of the entire B.A.B.E., Embraer may be in the most solid position with record backlog, orders and deliveries coming out of Sao Jose dos Campos. Though, questions of complacency could be fair game if CSeries goes live and Boeing and Airbus begin to add definition to replacement studies.

The Associated Press is reporting that the Office of the Secretary of Defense, not the Air Force, will oversee a rebid of the long and storied Air Force tanker competition, citing Congressional sources.

The plan, which hands control to the Pentagon's top acquisition chief and sets up a dedicated source-selection committee, indicates that senior civilians at the Defense Department have lost confidence in the Air Force's ability to manage the contract.

The $35 billion KC-45A refueling contract will again pit the Northrop Grumman/EADS against Boeing. Reports have yet to indicate if Boeing is again offering the KC-767, though an expedited acquisition process would indicate Boeing is likely to offer the 767 as the platform for the KC-45A instead of the larger 777 or even 787.

MULTIMEDIA EXTRA: Listen to Chief 777 Test Pilot Suzanna Darcy-Henneman provide an audio briefing on the 777F flight test program from May 21, 2008 - 20 minutes.

With 777F first flight just days away, Chief 777 test pilot Suzanna Darcy-Henneman and right seat test pilot Van Chaney are getting ready for a busy summer.

Once the Freighter takes to the sky for the first time, "The airplane will take off out of Paine Field, go up and down the Olympics several times around Mt. Rainier for some great beauty shots and into Boeing field."

Darcy-Henneman, who was also at the controls for the 777-200LR first flight, as well as its record breaking flight, is looking forward to the moment during first flight when she and her first officer are able to catch their breath and take stock of what they have achieved. Before that, Darcy-Henneman adds, it's all business.
 
The 777F test aircraft will be based at Boeing Field in Seattle for the remainder of the flight test campaign.

"All the rest of the takeoffs and landings will be in and out of Boeing Field." Darcy-Henneman added.

The flight test program will consist of two aircraft, both destined for launch customer Air France Cargo. Both will be flown for total 300-350 hours and about double that number for ground testing.

Initially the first 777F, which will wear Boeing colors for the flight test program will fly six days a week, with the seventh for maintenance, with ten and a half flight crews responsible for the program. The second aircraft will fly five days a week and the sixth will be used for maintenance. Ground testing will require a minimum of two crews. Boeing expects the combined 900-1,050 test hours to last around two and a half months.

Eighty percent of the flight test program will test smoke detection and smoke penetration, which is typical of a freighter flight test program.

For testing the performance of the aircraft, maneuver load alleviation (MLA) has been built into the flight control software to reduce the need for structure that would otherwise be required to accommodate higher operating weights.

The flight control system moves the center of lift inboard to reduce the bending moment at the root of the wing. The system is activated at 44 degrees of bank and works by extending the outboard spoilers and ailerons to move to center of lift inboard. The surfaces would be slightly extended at 44 degrees and 1/3 extended in a 66 degree banked turn.

The aircraft is expected to travel to Phoenix, Arizona for high and hot testing later this summer.

As for other exotic locales Darcy-Henneman said, "The airplane would love to go to Farnborough, we would too, but we will be busy at home testing."

Special thanks to Addison Schonland for hosting the 777F briefing.

In full:

A contractor performing work on behalf of Alenia Composite (an Alenia Aeronautica Company) at the Global Aeronautica facility in South Carolina failed to follow proper procedure.  The contractor was an experienced aviation mechanic not local to Charleston S.C.  The individual was immediately terminated. 

This error resulted in a production issue that has since been repaired. Global Aeronautica was able to continue to perform some scheduled work in parallel.  As a result of the necessary repair time, the delivery of the fuselage section to Everett has been delayed by The Boeing Company.  Global Aeronautica is currently awaiting a revised delivery date from The Boeing Company.