Author: Jon Ostrower

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

Boeing 787 Dreamliner N787ZA ZA006, originally uploaded by flightblogger.

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.

Inside the Factory: Cathay Pacfic’s first 747-8F, originally uploaded by flightblogger.

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.

Travel Day: IAD-SEA, originally uploaded by flightblogger.

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