With next week’s Paris Air Show quickly arriving, Flight assembled its yearly “fattie” issue devoted to taking a long, hard look at the aircraft that shape this industry. In no uncertain terms, the future of commercial aerospace is riding on the wings of the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787. The commercial transition to composite technology is believed to be as significant at the transition from cloth to aluminum structure once was.
My colleague Max Kinglsey-Jones tackled the accelerated pace of development before next year’s start of parts manufacturing in A350 XWB ready to rock. This month’s 163-page issue also features a great micro cutaway of the new long-range twin.
I had the opportunity to take a look back at the year since Flight last examined the state of the 787 program. Realising the 787 dream also details the path forward to understanding the ambitious flight test methodology, future weight reduction and performance enhancements, as well as prospects for the production ramp up all leading to first delivery next year to ANA.
If you’re just seeing this blog for the first time and are just learning about the 787 Dreamliner (welcome!), consider my May 2008 article and this month’s Paris feature great ways to get caught up in a hurry ahead of first flight later this month.
As for the week ahead for this blogger, I’ll be heading to Europe on Wednesday evening (UA 777) for a short stay in London at Flight HQ and then down to Paris via train (yes train) for the air show.
Flightglobal.com will have all its bases covered for this show. We’ll have our Media Hub set up where the editorial team will be hard at work, but please feel free to stop by and say hello.
Make sure you’re following my Twitter feed for the latest show developments, as well as the feeds for all my colleagues.
Onward.
This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.
This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.