Jon Ostrower : July 2007 Archives

This is overdue:


L/N 9:
Q: 011401
A: ANA

L/N 10:
Q: 19th star in the Constellation
A: Shanghai

L/N 11:
Q: Take away the first word in this airline's name, and you will be left with the name of another airline that rose, and fell, and rose, and fell again.
A: China Eastern

L/N 12:
Q: This is what you would say when greeting the Chairman of the Board's daughter, using the shortened form of her first name.
A: Hainan Airlines

L/N 13:
Q: Add this one's line number to that of its older sister, reverse it, and you have the only uniform number ever retired by Major League Baseball.
A: China Eastern

And now the next round...
Some of these are a bit harder.

L/N 14:
You could remove a word from this airline's name, and be left with the the name of another airline. I don't think their respective crews would get along, though.

L/N 15:
Multiply this one's line number with that of its older sister, and you get the numerical part of the model designation of the airplane whose nose some say resembles the 787's.

L/N 16:
Jinju and Narrabri might not be at the top of your list of future destinations. But combine their codes, rearrange the letters, and you have it!

L/N 17:
Duck.

L/N 18:
There was a band that was known for wearing giant stove pipe hats on stage at their shows, in the style of Abe Lincoln, after whom they named one of their albums. On that album, they sang a song about a lady with a Vietnamese last name.

I've been wanting to write about this particular topic for some time now. Ironically enough, I now have the perfect opportunity to get my thoughts on paper. I find myself, as I type, sitting at Gate 33 at Logan Airport waiting for my 6:40pm flight to depart to JFK. My jetBlue E190 is here, fueled, loaded, and the crew is ready and raring to go. So why, you ask am I sitting here at 8:37pm twiddling my thumbs? Thunderstorms have forced a ground stop at JFK, and the entire New York City area leaving the beautiful skies over Logan devoid of flights heading to the Big Apple.

Salon.com writer and commercial pilot Patrick Smith, a friend of this blog, hit the nail on the head:

The situation at JFK has reached a breaking point, and it is symptomatic of a nationwide crisis.

I agree with Smith's assessment that regional jets and larger aircraft compete for a finite amount of space both on the taxiways and the sky, however, regional jets have succeeded in opening new markets and enabling better point-to-point connectivity that avoids intermediate connecting airports. The problem is in part schedules, but largely, as I see it an obscenely broken air traffic control system is slowing this country down. If you can remember all the way back to the Summer of 2001 flight delays were snarling America, CNN even did a big special on it. Six years later, it appears nothing has improved. 2006 was the worst year for flight delays in American history, and 2007 is expected to top that.

Advances in avionics technology are ready to fix this problem, the technology to modernize the system on the ground exists too. The air traffic control system as it currently stands is running on 1950s technology. A system that is great if you're flying a 707. Lousy if you're in something a little bit newer. The system as it operates now, relies upon VORs, NDBs and jetways in an entirely ground based system. Popular Mechanics diagnosed the problem perfectly.

With today's radar, it can take up to 36 seconds to get an accurate read on a plane's position — a long time for an aircraft flying 500 mph. So safety buffers err on the conservative side: The minimum distance between planes is 5 miles horizontally and about 3 miles on landing and approach. The result is inefficient use of airports and airspace.

New aircraft are more than capable of transitioning to a GPS based system. Space based navigation will enable more direct routing reducing flight delays, not to mention improving the bottom line and significant fuel savings. Alaska Airlines has been testing this new system, called NextGen, on its 737 and MD-80 fleet with extraordinary success, saving more than 1000 flights from cancellation last year.

The system is set to be implemented by 2025. However here's the problem:

"The current system cannot handle the projected traffic demands expected by 2015," Robert Sturgell, the FAA's deputy administrator, told the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation in March 2007. "Absent modernization, the consequences will be a total system collapse."

Boeing 767-300 VH-OGD wearing the new QANTAS colors. This is the first update to the QANTAS livery since the year after I was born! What do you think?






Republished with permission, all photos are courtesy of Naddsy.

Production begins on 787 IMAX film

Earlier this month, director Stephen Low and an IMAX crew began filming the Boeing 787 Dreamliner for an upcoming IMAX 3-D movie titled "Legends of the Sky." Set in the context of aviation history, the film will highlight legendary 20th century airplanes in addition to the
manufacturing, testing and first flight of the 787. Initial filming focused on the 787 Premiere, as well as 787 partner facilities in Frederickson, Wash. Additional filming of the 787 will continue this fall. The film is scheduled for release in early- to mid-2008.

Approximately 25 IMAX crew members filmed the arrival of a Dreamlifter ferrying a 787 integrated midbody fuselage in Everett, Wash., earlier this month. The crew used the IMAX 3-D Solido camera mounted on the crane, to capture the airplane's arrival. Weighing approximately 225 pounds (102 kilograms), the camera is one of the largest in the world and captures spectacular 3-D imagery. IMAX movies feature surround sound and images up to eight stories high.

Back in June, this page prominently featured the first eight 787s and their recipient airlines. Flightblogger is taking this idea quite a few steps further. Early this month, this blogger learned the identities of the Boeing 787 Dreamliners 9 all the way through to 27 in an extremely unusual way.

The identities of L/N 9-27 arrived in the form of riddles.



I have since solved them all correctly and I felt it was only appropriate to share the riddles with the aviation community. Please note that these riddles were not created by me. I found that the riddles find their from origins in aviation history, pop culture, sports, mathematics and many other places.

In addition, please keep in mind that with these early build airplanes, the line number probably has little correlation to the delivery order. Boeing will be building and stockpiling aircraft when final 787 certification occurs. Airlines that have a number of airplanes in the first forty or so may well pick them up all at the same time.

Over the next several weeks, I will be releasing them, 5 at a time. The answers will be revealed in the posts that follows. Good luck and feel free to collaborate with each other here in the comments section or in the forums at airliners.net.

L/N 9:
011401

L/N 10:
19th in the Constellation

L/N 11:
Take away the first word in this airline's name, and you will be left with the name of another airline that rose, and fell, and rose, and fell again.

L/N 12:
This is what you would say when greeting the Chairman of the Board's daughter, using the shortened form of her first name.

L/N 13:
Add this one's line number to that of its older sister, reverse it, and you have the only uniform number ever retired by Major League Baseball.

BREAKING NEWS

The first large cargo freighter, N747BC will return on July 18, 2007 as BOE876 leaving Taiwan at 3:15 GMT and coming back to Everett by way of a fuel stop in Anchorage. LCF1 had been undergoing final modifications and received a full Dreamlifter paint job in Taiwan following the extensive metamorphosis over the previous year. N747BC will join its hard-working sister ship N780BA on normal rotations very soon as a transporter of 787 parts as the program moves toward first flight, flight testing and production ramp up.

UPDATE:
LCF1 snuck into the continental United States this afternoon as EIA574, arriving in Portland where it will undergo bridge work for the next several days before returning to Everett.

"Uh, everyone, please strap yourselves in, as we are experiencing a little Godzilla-related turbulence. It doesn't look too bad, though. He usually lets go at about 30,000 feet, and, after that, we'll just have to worry about Moth-Ra, Ged-Ra, and Rodan."

Flightblogger has learned that the modified 747 LCF2 has changed its call sign from Boeing 632 to Evergreen 5146 and Evergreen 5104. 5146 represents the leg from Wichita to Charleston and 5104 represents Everett to Wichita. Flightblogger is working to confirm the permanent change in LCF flight numbers. Either way, it looks like Section 41 for ZA002 should be coming to Everett very soon.

UPDATE: LCF2 will return to Everett tonight as Evergreen 5169 with an estimated arrival at 6:12PM PDT.

I've updated the 787 tails to include five new airlines: Qatar Airways, Uzbekistan Airways, Lan Chile, Aeroflot and TUI. The basis of the 787 tails was realized last week as they adorned the fuselage of Dreamliner One.



Airlines to be added:
Flyglobespan

At 5:05 pm and 5 seconds, Flightblogger received its 250,000th visitor!

The visitor came from Naperville, Illinois.

Again a huge thank you to the first time visitors, the veteran visitors, and the occasional visitors to this site. Without you, I'd be talking to myself.

Thank you all!

Onward.

There's been a dearth of information coming out of this page over the last several days, and want to assure you that I am transitioning the page to the "third phase" of 787 preparations for the first flight. Not to mention I'm still recovering from the weekend. There are a lot of new items in the works here and I believe you'll find them useful. In the mean time, more Dreamliner One:

Part 1:
Roll out begins at 6:30 mark.


Part 2:


Part 3:


Part 4:


Part 5:

I'll save extended descriptions for a later post. I just wanted to introduce you to the Dreamliner. I'll leave reactions and comments to you.

For those of you who thought I went all the way to Seattle with just a cell phone camera, you'll be happily mistaken. I just got off a red-eye from SEA. This is my first chance to actually take a second (breathe) and put up a few preliminary photos. There are A LOT of them, and they will be coming out over the next week or so. Please enjoy, and know there's more where these came from. All shots are currently unedited and will be fixed later in the week.

Thank you to all of those who made this moment possible.
V, CC, A&S, TH, GW, SO, LU

Qatar pictured by boeing as 787 customer in tail images. I would call this a confirmation.

Charles Conklin, one of two general public members to have seen the dreamliner twice, says she looks amazing.

PAE Closed the airspace for 10 minutes. Not sure why.

Tail is full dreamliner paint. I stand corrected.

N787BA confirmed.

LN1 has left the paint shop and is being towed toward the final assembly bay.

The event has begun. Stunning video presentation. The excitement is building.

"Good news of a long-awaited event will arrive soon."

No joke, that was my fortune cookie last weekend.

The good news has arrived.

Keep an eye out here. Airliners.net may not be the one to have the first picture.

Live from Everett, it's 07/08/07.

Somehow, I managed to defy the laws of gravity, physics and the universe and be in two places at once. I had an excellent vantage point of the departures at PAE yesterday afternoon. Watching the seven series aircraft lined up for departure one after another was truly an amazing sight. After the 757 departed PAE, I, along with famed night-time photographer Charles Conklin, raced down to BFI in time to see the 777-300ER do a fly over. The 777 had already begun its taxi when we left. I have the honor of saying, I raced a 777, and won.

I took a little video from my cell phone camera and put it on youtube.



Here are some of my favorite shots from yesterday. Please note these are 100% unedited images and have not been modified at all except for the copyright mark.

Seattle Post #2

I write this from the grassy knoll overlooking Paine Field. Wireless internet was kindly donated by Paris' father. The weather is a kin to Southern California right now and I believe I've found myself in Seattle on the nicest weather day of the year. Right now I'm looking at the threshold of runway 16R. I must admit, I'm in awe. I've spent the last three plus months staring at this very spot from 3000 miles away, and here I find myself. To see it in person makes this whole process real. Everything I've been writing about felt somewhat detached. This IS real.

The picture below was taken moments ago. It shows the line up of the seven series aircraft preparing for tonight.

Downtown Seattle. Mount Ranier, Safeco field. Boeing field in the distance.

Space Needle

Post time is EDT. -3 hours for PDT.

Editors Note 1: This is the first post from Seattle.
Editors Note 2: This information was not purchased and was provided at the courtesy of a source.

Last night as I was taxiing to the gate at SEA after my cross country flight, my phone rings and on the other line comes the complete schedule for tonight's events at PAE and BFI.

The rumors are true, the parade of Seven series aircraft will take place tonight, July 7, 2007 (7/7/07). Boeing will leave PAE tonight with eight aircraft (707 through 777) beginning at 1835 PDT.

Saturday, July 7, 2007
All times in PDT
1000 LCF2 Returns to PAE (Wings for Static Frame believed to be aboard)
1300 LCF2 Leaves PAE for BFI
1320 LCF2 Arrives at BFI
1400 FedEx 727-200 (tail N464FE) positions at PAE
1400 Delta 767-300 (tail TBD) arrives at PAE
1415 Alaska 737 (tail TBD) arrives at PAE
1500 AirTran 717 (tail TBD) arrives at PAE
1530 Continental 757 (tail TBD) arrives at PAE
1600 Crew meeting for all involved pilots
1700 Group photo for all aircraft
1820 Crews are in place with all aircraft
1830 Museum of Flight Reception begins at BFI
1835 707 taxis, 717 through 777 taxi behind and depart PAE
1900 NOTAM for BFI released - South Field Shut Down
1902 Welcome Remarks at BFI Reception

1907 Omega Air 707 (tail N707MQ) Operating as Omega 1 - Touchdown at BFI
1917 Air Tran 717 Operating at B717B - Touchdown at BFI
1927 FedEx 727 - Touchdown at BFI
1937 Alaska 737 - Touchdown at BFI
1947 Rolls Royce 747-200 (tail N787RR) Operating as N787RR - Touchdown at BFI
1957 Continental 757 - Touchdown at BFI
2007 Delta 767 Operating as DAL9900 - Touchdown at BFI
2017 Air France 777-300ER (tail F-GSQY) Operating as BOE536 - Touchdown at BFI

2038 Rolls Royce 747 taxis at BFI on three engines
2045 707 + 717 towed to Museum of Flight
- 707 and LCF2 will spend the night at BFI
2200 Rolls Royce 747 heads to BFI

All eyes on the sky. Mine certainly will.

Front office.

N641JB

I wanted to call your attention to a comment that was left in the previous thread at 1:49am. I want to second this anonymous comment.

Keep your eyes on the sky above boeing field Saturday 7/7/07 around 1907 Local Time. Bring your cameras.

From what I understand, 7:07pm Pacific Daylight time is going to be a real treat. This blogger will be there with his camera.

UPDATED: July 5 - 1:10pm EDT (updates are in blue)
All major Dreamliner structures have arrived in Everett, Washington. Deliveries were completed on May 16, 2007 with the arrival of the center fuselage from Charleston, SC. The major structures have traveled thousands of miles from across the globe and now reside at the largest building in the world (by volume) at Paine Field. The final assembly bay will officially be launched on May 21, 2007. Over the 39 days between assembly bay launch and rollout on July 8, 2007, the Dreamliner will be assembled piece by piece. Just as this site followed the journey of the parts to Everett, this post will be periodically updated to bring you the latest information on the status of the final assembly of the 787 Dreamliner.

40-23 Building - Full-scale static testing
40-36 Building - Pre-integration of wing parts
40-26 Building - Final assembly

Final Assembly Begins on First Boeing 787 Dreamliner
May 21, 2007












Photos Courtesy The Boeing Company

Vertical Stabilizer
- Installation of the vertical fin was completed as of June 21.
- As of June 20 the Vertical Fin was in position but not yet bolted down.
- Vertical fin installation was underway on June 18 to the body of the aircraft. It is expected to be completed by June 21.
- Rudder has been joined to the vertical stabilizer and moved to the final assembly area on June 13.
- Rudder has been painted in ANA livery. Not yet joined to tail fin. (photo late May)

Fuselage
- All windows have been installed.
- The aircraft is being sanded down in preparation for painting and as a result the airplane is losing the glossiness that it had. (June 22)
- Most of the wing to body fairing are attached as of June 22.
- Aft fuselage circumferential mating will be completed June 17.
- On June 12 it was revealed by the Seattle Times that at the time Section 41 and 43 were initially joined there was a .3 inch gap as a result of distortion caused by pressure from the installation of interior fittings. The problem was quickly resolved, though may pose a problem for fully stuffed sections coming out of Wichita and Charleston in the future. Flightblogger is working on acquiring additional details.

- Aft fuselage has completed being drilled for attachment. There are ample fasteners for mating available.
- Passenger doors have been installed in the forward fuselage.

- Aft fuselage (Section 47/48) initially positioned in the rear of 40-36 building. (photo) Now moved into position for attachment to the center fuselage on the morning of June 1.
- Wiring and hydraulics are being installed in earnest.
- Nose and Center Fuselages were loaded into the final assembly rig on May 16, 2007. Now joined as one piece. (photo)
- Many critical systems have not yet been installed. In the future, systems will be installed at sub-assemblies rather than in Everett.

Horizontal Stabilizer
- Elevators have been installed on the horizontal stabilizer. (June 22)
- The joining of the horizontal stabilizer/tail cone to the aft fuselage was confirmed completed on June 18, two days ahead of scheduled completion.
- Elevators are now on the factory floor.
- Horizontal stabilizer and tail cone are now joined and were moved into the final assembly area on June 13.
- Left and right horizontal stabilizers are now mated together and will be joined with Section 48 (aft fuselage).
- Tail cone was moved into position for attachment behind the horizontal stabilizer.
- Arrived "covered with pieces of blue tape, each piece indicating some kind of defect or area that needed attention." This is seen as a quality assurance issue that will be resolved in the future, but will require additional work.
- Both port and starboard horizontal stabilizers have been loaded next to one another and prepared for final connection. (photo)

Wings
- Ailerons, outboard flaps and slats have been installed on the wings. (June 22)
- Left and right engine pylon installation are confirmed completed on June 18.
- Wing-Body join was confirmed as completed on June 15.


- Movable trailing edges have arrived in Everett and are expected to be installed on the wings between June 21-25.
- Wing-Body join began on June 6. It is expected to take two weeks.
- Left wing moved to final assembly position on the afternoon of June 1, right wing on June 3.
- The wings are being aligned using laser guidance. Boeing is measuring the gaps and making shims to fill the gaps accordingly.
- Wings have completed pre-integration and have moved into final assembly position 1 for attachment to the wing box and fuselage.
- Winglet has been attached to the port wing. (photo)
- Unconfirmed: Wing box needed to be re-sealed. Details currently unknown.

Main Landing Gear
- Main gear are in position and installation is underway as of June 22. Installation will be complete by the morning of June 24.
- ZA001 jacked up on the floor in preparation for installation as of June 21.
- MLG installation began June 20. It should be completed by June 21. ZA001 will be on its own three legs by June 22.
- Main landing gear arrived on the factory floor the week of June 18.
- Wheels down date, meaning the 787 will be on its own landing gear, between June 21-25.


Engines
- Both engines have been installed. (June 25)
- Left engine has been installed. Right engine in position for installation. (June 22)
- Engines are being installed on June 22nd. ZA001 jacked up on the floor in preparation for installation.
- Two Trent 1000 engines are currently on the final assembly floor as of June 18.
- Rolls-Royce shipped the first two Trent 1000s to Everett on June 7 and will be the final items attached.

All photos are courtesy of the Boeing Company unless otherwise stated.

While we all know Boeing's plans for the Dreamliner One roll out, Flightblogger is taking it, as always, one step farther.

This blogger has been granted a media credential by Boeing for the roll out ceremony at Qwest Field on Sunday, July 8.

Throughout the afternoon of July 8, Flightblogger will provide live blogging of the roll-out. (depending on wireless availability) If your watching the roll out on your computer, this blogger recommends you have three windows open. Your streaming media player, Airliners.net roll-out forum thread, and of course Flightblogger. This page will be providing photographs of the live event to illustrate and provide commentary on the roll out of Dreamliner One.

Live blogging the roll out is not enough for this writer. Flightblogger is also excited to announce something you will not see anywhere else. Boeing expects nearly 22,000 attendees at Qwest Field in Seattle and of course hundreds of 787 program employees right on the factory floor.

I plan to be one of them.

Now I know for a fact that Boeing Employees frequent this page, and I kindly ask for your participation in providing a unique view for the world to see all of your incredible hard work. With your camera phones, please send pictures of the roll out from your point of view to flightblogger@gmail.com. Flightblogger will be posting your photos, from your perspective, right here.

As I've been hinting about for a while, I have just completed a second video installment following the assembly of Dreamliner One. As you may remember, the first installment documented the journey all the 787 parts underwent to arrive in Everett for final assembly. Over the last seven weeks, managers, engineers and machinists alike at the Boeing Company have worked tirelessly at all hours, day and night, to assemble the world's first composite commercial aircraft.

The video provides a unique glimpse into the assembly; highlighting the major milestones that will culminate in the roll out this coming Sunday in Everett. From its beginnings as Project Yellowstone, the 787 has come together with this blogger, and the world, watching attentively. Never has so much information been available to the general public about the assembly of a new aircraft.

Please enjoy the video below; leave your comments and know that none of this could be possible without the near superhuman efforts of the good people of Boeing Commercial Airplanes and the 787 program.

My hat is off to you all.