Author: Jon Ostrower

Happy Groundhog day! It looks as though we’ll have six more weeks of winter. I don’t think London could/would disagree with this assessment today.

GTF Update & CSeries
Pratt & Whitney is hosting a media day on Tuesday recapping the initial results of ground and flight testing and looking ahead to 2009 for the PW1000G engine. Going hand in hand with this event could be an announcement of firm orders from Lufthansa and a lessor for the Bombardier CSeries. Holding a media day for the CSeries engine in conjunction with firm launch customer announcement would give Bombardier’s new narrowbody a big (and much needed) boost.

SPEEA and Boeing IDS
The union that represents 700 engineers in Wichita, KS at the Boeing
IDS site will be voting on a new contract this Thursday and the union
leadership has recommended a rejection of the three-year contract. It will be interesting to see how this one plays out with the significant layoffs coming for Boeing, Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft.

A380 to Auckland
Emirates launched service on the Auckland-Sydney-Dubai route yesterday with one of four  (of 58) 489-seat A380 aircraft. Auckland is the seventh city served by the A380. Also, A380 No. 10 for Singapore Airlines (MSN045) also popped up on the Toulouse flight line with its engines parked next to MSN033, the first superjumbo for Air France. MSN045 had just begun its final body join during my visit to Toulouse last May.

A Peek Inside Everett
Fleetbuzz got a tour last week of the Boeing factory in Everett and got a peek at the 787 line. He’s got some photos of ZA002 at position four, with its engines mounted and plenty of work going on inside. The photos were taken early last week.

FAA Administrator
Another day, another dollar, and still no FAA administrator. Terminal Q takes a look at what qualities the new administrator might need to tackle the biggest issues facing aviation.

777F Delivery
As February gets underway, we should see the first 777F delivery to Air France sometime this month. N5020K (unit 1) returned to Everett on January 23, where it joined three other 777Fs (2 for Air France and 1 for China Southern) on the flight line.

77th 777 for SIA
In other 777 news, Boeing delivered the 77th 777 for Singapore Airlines. 9V-SWT is a 777-300ER the 91st member of the SIA fleet and its 19th 777-300ER. Finally, V Australia took delivery of its first 777-300ER on January 26 (official handover set for February 6). VH-VOZ (Didgeree Blue) was flown to Victorville on Saturday as VAU9090, leaving VH-VPE and VH-VPD in Everett. V Australia kicks off service on February 28.

N106US gets an entourage & a new home
A fully intact A320 fuselage, formally known as US Airways 1549, made its way to a Harrison, NJ scrap yard where it will remain for the next 12-18 months as the NTSB continues its investigation. It received a presidential-sized entourage on its trip, captured by Anthony Quintano with his handy HD video camera.

U.S. Airways Flight 1549 Being towed to Harrison N.J. from Anthony Quintano.

New Look Video Page
Speaking of great video, Flightglobal.com has a new set up for our video page that really takes advantage of the brightcove platform. The new layout looks great and is really easy to navigate.

This new setup will come in handy come Paris when we’re going to have loads and loads of video. We’ve got some really exciting plans coming up to give you wall-to-wall coverage of the Paris Air Show that will top anything we’ve ever tried before.

Just like last week, I’ve got another episode of Wings for you. This week’s Movie Monday details the development of the lightning-fast XB-70 Valkyrie supersonic bomber. I’ll let the video speak for itself. Enjoy!

Part II after the jump.

Boeing just released the following photograph of ZA005, AKA Dreamliner Five, having been loaded into position one in Everett. You’ll notice that the photograph, which was taken yesterday, shows the Section 41-43 join complete and the aft fuselage waiting to be loaded for the Section 46-47 join.

Production Resumes on Boeing 787 Dreamliners With Fifth Flight-Test Airplane

EVERETT, Wash., Jan. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Production of Boeing
(NYSE: BA – News) 787 Dreamliners resumed yesterday with the join of the fifth
airplane designated for flight test.

This airplane, designated ZA005, is the first to be powered with General
Electric GEnx engines. The major assemblies were loaded in final body join
over the past several days. The fuselage and wing joins occur simultaneously.

Image Courtesy Boeing

Update 4:27 PM: Special thanks to the person who sent me the follow photo. ZA005 as seen from a 40-26 observation deck.

In the wee hours of the morning, a 4.5 magnitude earthquake shook the Pacific Northwest about 17 miles from Boeing’s Everett facility. Fortunately, there were no reports of any damage according to the Seattle Times.

The map to the right shows the location of the earthquake, which is near to the 6.8 magnitude quake that hit in 2001. Today’s brief earthquake’s epicenter was near Kingston, WA.

No word yet on if this morning’s shake qualifies as ground vibration testing for Dreamliner Two. </snark>

Dreamliner One, Boeing’s first 787, has been re-powered-on for the first time since before the 57-day IAM strike, Boeing confirms.

The aircraft’s electrical systems were reactivated on Tuesday as the aircraft continues its sprint to complete its first flight by June 30th.

The electrical system activation testing first began on June 11, 2008 and was completed nine days later.

ZA001 currently occupies a slant assembly position on the 767 line, two doors down from the 787 final assembly line where it has been since January 2nd.

This story will be updated

James Wallace of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is reporting that his Boeing sources have confirmed the identity of the customer that cancelled an order for 15 787 Dreamliners.

Boeing won’t say what customer canceled its 787 order for 15 planes.
My sources confirm it was the S7 Group in Russia. McNerney, in the
conference call, said the customer canceled because of the uncertain
global economic environment, not because of the program delays.

The Russian airline placed the 787 order in May 2007.

In other Dreamliner-related news from the earnings call, CEO Jim McNerney provided additional insight into the start of the 787 flight test schedule. Boeing now expects that all six flight test aircraft will be airborne within four months of the start of the flight test campaign. The airframer previously anticipated having its six test aircraft flying within two months of first flight based on its revised April 2008 schedule.

Program sources I’ve spoken with indicate that ZA002 first flight could come as early as May with ZA005 flying by early to mid-July. These estimates are previously based on ZA001 flying by late April, though this target remains up in the air. My apologies for the pun.

Though McNerney does not anticipate further schedule disruptions to the 787 program, he felt that the flight test program could present a “possible long pole in the tent” for meeting the certification and delivery target in the 1st quarter of 2010.

UPDATE 2:18 PM ET – More from James:

In an e-mail statement that I received last night from All Nippon
Airways of Japan, the first 787 customer, the airline said it will take
delivery of its first 787s in February of next year, and put the plane
in service in March.

Boeing is set to announce its 2008 fourth-quarter and year-end earnings today at 10:30 ET. I’ll be live blogging the conference call with CEO Jim McNerney and CFO James Bell here via twitter. The full live blogged transcript will be available at the conclusion of the call.

The company is expected to provide guidance for the year ahead and discuss progress on the 787 Dreamliner program, the first major update since the 3rd quarter earnings call last October during the IAM strike.

Boeing Posts Quarterly Loss on Strike Impact and Charges

• Fourth-quarter
  revenues declined to $12.7 billion from $17.5 billion as labor strike
  pushed airplane deliveries out of the quarter
• Fourth-quarter
  EPS declined to loss of $0.08 per share, reduced by an estimated total
  of $1.79 due to strike, 747 charge and litigation-related reserve
• Backlog grew 8 percent in 2008 to a record $352 billion
• 2009 EPS guidance of $5.05 to $5.35 underpins a solid foundation in challenging times

Full liveblog transcript continued below.

Dreamliner One is set to come alive again, as re-power-on is expected later this week, the first time since before the IAM strike.

Though, according to program sources, internal schedules have seen a shift from identifying specific milestones dates, including first flight, towards classification as TBD, away from the originally set date of April 24. Sources add that there is no indication that first flight has moved beyond Boeing’s current target of the 2nd quarter of 2009, though could signal a slip to later in the quarter.

In the near term, Dreamliner One will undergo the “medium blow” test in early February, which will see the differential cabin pressure raised to 9.43 PSIg, less than the 14.9 PSIg registered on the successful “high blow” test on the static airframe in August.

In mid-February, the static airframe will complete structural rework clearing the way for additional structural testing ahead of first flight. Similar rework is also continuing on the fatigue airframe on the Boeing flight line to replace improperly installed fasteners and some strain gauges.

The first flying 787 has found a spot in its new home on the 767 line surrounded by a “phalanx of manufacturing engineers and other support people” according to one Boeing engineer. “There is no shortage of resources being thrown at [Dreamliner One] right now,” the engineer added.

According to a report by analyst Scott Hamilton of Leeham.net, Boeing plans to leave some temporary fasteners in place during flight test.

“The small number of fasteners that won’t be replaced are 1: not easy to reach AND (not OR) 2: don’t represent a safety of flight issue,” says Boeing. “They have the ability to withstand the loads and number of cycles expected during the flight test program. They must be repaired before long-term operations begin so they will be replaced during the refurbishment program after flight test.”

One 787 machinist tells FlightBlogger that Boeing was able to save considerable time toward restarting the systems integration process by dropping “hundreds” of jobs on parts that meet short term specification. The remaining fasteners stem largely from non-deburred aluminum holes on the aircraft structure.

In addition, Dreamliner One has received its engine nacelle cowling and the last of its control surfaces.

ZA005 & ZA006

Late Sunday evening in Everett, the final structural section arrived for Dreamliner Five kicking off preparations for the start of final assembly of the first General Electric GEnx powered 787.

The aircraft will eventually be delivered to Royal Air Maroc.

The center fuselage, which is made up of four integrated structural components from Italy and Japan, touched down at Paine Field at 9:07 PM. The eighty-four foot, 110,213 lb. barrel joined the forward, aft and wing structures already in the factory.

When the center fuselage was brought into the 40-36 building in the rear of the 787 Final Assembly Line, the 100% completed forward fuselage had already been preloaded into the first assembly position awaiting its arrival.

The center fuselage remains in the soak area to complete traveled work from Global Aeronautica.

When final body join gets underway, the aft fuselage, which arrived 95% complete with major systems and wiring install and free of fastener issues will be mated to the center fuselage, horizontal and vertical stabilizers.

In addition, the GENx tailored pylons for Dreamliner Five have arrived in Everett and have been mated to the wings to push forward on completing integration in preparation for final body join expected later this week.

Building 40-26 is beginning to get crowded with all four assembly positions filled and two sets of wings in the pre-integration position, the first time this has happened. The wings for the final flight test aircraft, number six, arrived on January 16th the first set to arrive fully painted and with virtually completed structure.

ZA002

Back in Building 40-26, work on Dreamliner Two, which is the closest aircraft to the football field sized doors, primarily centers around completion of fastener replacement and preparations for power on. The aircraft received its Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines two weeks ago and has all its flap assemblies installed.

Ground vibration testing, a milestone that must be accomplished prior to Dreamliner One’s first flight, is now targeted for the second half of March.

ZA003 & ZA004

Sitting behind Dreamliner Two, the 787 test aircraft run sequentially. Dreamliner Three has had its pylons reinstalled and is now sitting on its own landing gear, newly used in the last few weeks during the January 2nd line move. Dreamliner Four is undergoing preparation for landing gear installation and remains the lowest priority amongst the five flight test aircraft currently being prepared for flight.

Image courtesy Liz Matzelle

This week’s Movie Monday explores vertical flight in some of its strangest, and most influential designs in aviation. When watching, keep in mind the culmination of many of these technologies has found their way into the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter and its STOVL capability. Enjoy!

Part II is after the jump

These extraordinary photos found their way to my inbox yesterday evening and I feel they are important to share, if only to highlight the extraordinary effort in landing and later lifting a fully submerged, intact, Airbus A320 from the Hudson River in New York City. Special thanks to the person who sent these to me.

MANY more images below the fold.