Category: FlightBlogger

These shots were generously provided by Bombardier and illustrate the on-going assembly of the 100 seat CRJ1000. First delivery is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2009.

The announcement of the 50% acquisition of Global Aeronautica in Charleston is a powerful step forward in regaining oversight and management of key sections of the 787 supply chain.

By taking the reins at Global Aeronautica along side Alenia, Boeing is now significantly better positioned to finish assembly of the remaining test aircraft center fuselages and look ahead to a robust production ramp up. Assumption of control of the Global Aeronautica facility solves several key problems that had plagued the Charleston facility.

First, ensuring that communication is maintained with respect to the status of airframe assembly will enable production schedules to be optimized to best utilize resources across the global supply chain.

Second, the sharing of control at Global Aeronautica allows for direct line-of-sight management of the supply chain. Part shortages can be best managed and solved by ensuring that parts are ordered to the appropriate level of need and shared across the whole of the supply chain.

Third, as Boeing establishes a permanent presence in Charleston, the proximity to Vought, who will still fabricate and assembly aft Sections 47 and 48 next door to Global Aeronautica, permits for additional oversight, guidance and consultation as the supply chain matures.

Lastly, Boeing Commercial Airplanes Chairman, Scott Carson was asked by Seattle Times reporter Dominic Gates back in October what he, “might have done differently” in Charleston. Carson replied, “I think, if there’s a lesson learned, it might be you’d start earlier and you’d do a little more training, perhaps, with our people there, helping them learn the production process.”

By assuming a 50% stake in Global Aeronautica, the issues of aerospace manufacturing expertise and training amongst the staff can be directly addressed.

Friday’s announcement enables Boeing to engage more fully on a host of issues that have challenged the 787 program in Charleston.

The importance of Global Aeronautica in the 787 supply chain can not be understated. It was the only location in the global network of suppliers that was responsible for the integration of such significant structural portions of the aircraft. As an integrator of major structural components from Italy and Japan, the role of the facility mirrored, on a smaller scale, the exact work that takes place in Everett for 787 final assembly.

In closing, the announcement has potentially far reaching consequences that go well beyond the 787 Dreamliner program.

This is the first expansion of Boeing’s manufacturing infrastructure in over a decade. Scaling back infrastructure has long been a hallmark of the Aerospace giant. Halting of commercial assembly in Long Beach and the sale of Wichita to form Spirit Aerosystems has demonstrated a propensity for consolidation rather than expansion. Rightly, Boeing has sought to do more with less. The 50% acquisition announcement marks a first expansion of Boeing’s manufacturing capability since the merger with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. In addition, with the pending future expansion of the Northrop Grumman/EADS facility in Mobile, AL to build KC-45A and A330-200F, Boeing has turned lemons into lemonade by providing a foot hold in the growing southern aerospace base.

Unequivocally, this is a net positive for the 787 program both in the short and long term. Boeing identified a tactical problem and found a strategic solution to address it. Boeing is now able to directly tackle issues of supply chain management and integration challenges, rather than the insufficient over-the-shoulder oversight that, according to sources in Charleston, was a hallmark of the previous year.

Boeing and the 787 Dreamliner program are well served by this decision.

Image Credit Brad Nettles/The Charleston Post and Courier

December 11, 2007
Will Boeing Buy Out Vought on the 787?

Ever-louder rumblings inside Boeing from Everett and Charleston point to this potential course of action.

Following the October 10th announcement of the six month delay in first delivery of the 787, significant speculation began as to the exact source of the problems.

Though many have been looking for a smoking gun, there are many factors that added up to create the current situation. One piece of the puzzle that has been perpetually identified as a source of the program’s problems is Texas-based first-tier supplier, Vought Aircraft Industries.

Vought has never been identified by name as the source of the problems, yet it appears that the change in language amongst the top brass at Boeing and Vought points to a cooling relationship which could be setting the stage for a clean extrication in the near future.

The answer is yes, mostly.

March 28, 2008
Boeing Announces Agreement to Acquire Vought Share of Global Aeronautica

SEATTLE, March 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) announced today it has agreed to acquire Vought Aircraft Industries’ interest in Global Aeronautica, LLC, a South Carolina fuselage sub-assembly facility for Boeing’s newest airplane, the 787 Dreamliner. After the transaction is complete, Global Aeronautica will become a 50-50 joint venture between The Boeing Company and Alenia North America, a subsidiary of Italy’s Alenia Aeronautica — a Finmeccanica company. Vought will continue to produce the aft fuselage for the 787 at its facility adjacent
to Global Aeronautica in North Charleston.

More on this as the story unfolds.

Start-Ups
SouthWestJetBluezil just doesn’t sound right, so David Neeleman is going to have to come up a more creative brand to fly his newly ordered 36 Embraer E-195s. The yet unnamed Brazilian start-up will go head to head with GOL, TAM and Varig in a rapidly growing market. The Sao Paolo-Rio De Janeiro Route is one of the busiest air corridors in the world, which fits Neeleman’s MO to a tee. JetBlue started out flying between New York destinations and Fort Lauderdale, one of the busiest US air corridors. Interestingly enough, this order makes Neeleman’s start-up the Brazilian launch customer for the homegrown E-Jet.

Launch Customers
This blog reported just days ago that ANA would be an order to become the launch customer of the Mitsubishi Regional Jet. At the time, I speculated that the order would be announced prior to the Farnborough Air Show this July. Well, the information was sound, it just happened even sooner than first thought. ANA ordered 15 MRJs, plus an additional 10 options today. Not only us ANA a launch customer for the MRJ, which is expected to enter service in Japan in late 2013, they will also be launching the fuel efficient Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbo Fan engine which will power the 70-90 seat regional jet.

A350 production delay fears

Mar 26 2008 by Alistair Houghton, Liverpool Daily Post

FEARS have surfaced that production of Airbus’ newest passenger jet – the extra wide-bodied A350 XWB – may be delayed.

The redesigned A350 is struggling to catch up with rival aircraft manufacturer Boeing’s hugely successful 787 Dreamliner which was launched four years ago and has captured more than 800 orders to date.

Wings for the A350 are to be made from carbon composite materials at Airbus’s aerospace complex at Broughton, near Chester. The work is seen as crucial in helping secure the future of the site and its 7,000 jobs in the development of a new generation of lighter, more fuel-efficient airliners.

Some thoughts:

Amazingly enough, this is the entire article that was posted to the Liverpool Daily Post early this morning. There’s no attribution whatsoever and it reads like it’s missing about six paragraphs explaining what ‘FEARS’ actually means. I’m not usually one to call a reporter out, but unless you have something factual to back up such claims or your editor decided to remove the purpose for your story, then just don’t even bother.

With first flight four years away, this article has a Malaysia Sun feel to it; ample heat, but no light.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any insight as to what this may actually be about.

UPDATE 9:10 AM 3/27: It appears this report yesterday is based upon the sale of factory sites to MT Aerospace. The talks have collapsed, raising questions about production sites for the A350.

The situation, if not resolved shortly could significantly impact the A350. A report on March 20 from Dow Jones in Frankfurt reported the following:

FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)–The chief executive of Airbus sees the timeframe for the long-haul aircraft A350XWB in danger if a decision isn’t made soon on the sale of the Airbus sites the company aims to dispose of, Financial Times Deutschland reports Thursday.

The paper quoted unnamed sources as saying Thomas Enders has demanded clarity within the next two to three weeks on what the next steps towards a sale will be. Sources say negotitations with OHB/MT Aerospace, which has been talking with Airbus about the German sites, have been halted, as a solution acceptable to Airbus wasn’t attainable.

An Airbus spokesman told FTD the company doesn’t comment on rumors. Negotiations are ongoing, he said.

Yeah, it rhymes.

On 787
This week could see a date set for a formal announcement of the revamped delivery schedule for the Dreamliner. The assessment which has been on-going since January is expected at the end of March or early April. Analysts are expecting the new production number to be anywhere from 10 to 30 787s delivered in 2009.

On MRJ
The Mitsubishi Regional Jet got another boost this morning, when it was revealed that Vietnam Airlines is looking at 20 70-96 seat MRJs, “and in return MHI is offering to shift some MRJ parts production to north Vietnam,” says Flight’s Leithen Francis. The geared turbo fan powered MRJ is yet to officially have a launch customer, though a source familiar with the MRJ program tells FlightBlogger that a launch orders with Japanese carriers JAL and ANA are expected to be completed prior to the Farnborough Air Show.

On Gulfstream
I’ll be rolling out part one of the Gulfstream/Honeywell Synthetic Vision flight feature later this week. If you like up-close shots of next-generation glass cockpit avionics in action, then you’re going to like this quite a bit.

One teaser shot for you:

On A380
Finally, I’m working on an A380 production update for later this week, so stay tuned for that.

Finally, take a look at this video from NBC Nightly News, it gives you a breakdown of where every dollar of your ticket price goes.

One year ago today, I embarked on a case study to explore what happens when a person has too much free time on their hands.

About a year later on flight back from Tokyo a month ago, our route on the seven month-old 777-300ER took us directly over Everett as we headed for Dulles.

I had a quiet moment to reflect on the fact that the aircraft that was carrying me home was born not far beneath my feet.

An airplane is so much more than the sum of its parts.

It is the combined effort and tireless work of a cast of thousands that sacrifices by giving up time with your family, working crazy hours and sometimes being far from home. Each person that contributes to the development of a new airplane gives a part of themselves help it into the sky. I have had the privilege of getting to know many of you who make this possible.

No one is more aware than I that I have ruffled some feathers in the last year. I’d like to believe I’ve been fair and accurate. And if in any instance either has not been true, you’ve rightly corrected me.

For all the challenges the Dreamliner has faced, I’m left thinking that the context by which to understand this aircraft is found in the fact that finding and tackling problems now is the best thing you can hope for. I was saving this quote for when flight testing began, but I think it’s appropriate to share it after this week:

“I’m sure for the press it’s hard to understand that failures of any kind are acceptable, yet to us at this stage of the game that success.

When people take that information and blow it out of proportion or misinterpret it, or try to make a creative dramatic story out of it, I get frustrated, because it’s not, I view it as somewhat of an attack on the pilot community, but also it’s sort of a break in the trust that should exist in both directions.

At the same time I understand that it’s a different world to most people, they relate to what these things would mean in the airline world with them flying as a passenger, and its a totally different environment, we’re looking for totally different things, and the goal is to solve the problem before we even get to the airline world.”

— John Cashman
777 Chief Test Pilot

I only hope in some way I’ve been able to contribute to the public understanding of what it takes to bring a new commercial aircraft from an idea to a flying machine.

The past year has brought more than three-quarters of a million visitors to the pages of FlightBlogger and more than 1.2 million page loads to date. I am grateful to each and everyone one of you who has taken the time to visit. It is no understatement to say that you have all changed my life in a very significant way.

The blog really began with one simple question: Does this site have something you can’t find anywhere else?

I do hope you can answer is yes.

I still occasionally go back and look at that original FlightBlogger post. I never could’ve imagined what kind of journey lay ahead. The last line always makes me smile:

“To all those who aren’t paying attention to this blog yet, I say welcome. Stay tuned.”

With deepest thanks.

Onward,

Jon Ostrower

March 21, 2008

EVERETT, Wash., March 20, 2008 — It is a normal part of the development of a new airplane to discover need for improvements, and that is what we are experiencing on the 787. The robust test process in place on the 787 program has confirmed the majority of our designs but we have found the need for some improvements.

The center wing box issue has been addressed. The fix is being installed on Airplanes 1-6 in the Everett factory. Installations have begun on the four airplanes currently in Final Assembly. All airplanes after Airplane 7 will have the solution incorporated from the beginning.

The fundamental technologies being used on the 787 are proving to be reliable and effective. The material choices and manufacturing techniques for the airplane are sound.

Boeing is working its normal processes for developing a new airplane. The test process is working when issues are discovered and we are reacting appropriately by implementing normal design validation and fixes when we find issues.

Link

A center wing box design flaw has forced Boeing to redesign a critical section of the 787, program sources tell FlightBlogger, due to the potential for premature buckling in the structural spars.

Stiffeners will be affixed to restore structural integrity to the spars on the existing center wing boxes, which are manufactured by Fuji Heavy Industries in Japan.

When approached for comment, Boeing reiterated the statement it released yesterday regarding design changes:

“It is normal during the development of a new airplane to discover the need for design enhancements. We are working with our partners to address the need for design changes in some areas. While these changes are not good for final assembly because they are dealing with traveled work at this time, the design changes are not the sole pacing item.”

During the initial development phase of the center wing box, the structural spars were designed to the appropriate width to support the required structural loads.

The original design for the center wing box was changed when the weight of the Dreamliner began to increase. The structural spars, which are made of composite, were reduced in width as a weight saving measure.

Boeing and Fuji Heavy Industries manufactured composite test pieces to demonstrate the structural capabilities of the spars. Findings indicated that the composite spars were buckling prematurely compared to metal spars of the same width.

A source familiar with the situation tells FlightBlogger that Boeing became aware of the issue around the time of the July 8, 2007 roll out of Dreamliner One.

“Similar design changes happened in 777, but the difference is that 787 was so far away from weight target that many weight reduction ideas were adopted even though there was high risk due to lack to supporting test data or manufacturing experience,” says a source familiar with the situation.

As a result, Boeing is incorporating an interim solution to the existing six center wing boxes under final assembly.

The stiffeners intended for the center wing box have already been delivered to the Boeing Factory in Everett and are being prepared for installation on the four airframes under assembly. Two additional center fuselage sections, which include the center wing box, are being prepared for final assembly at Global Aeronautica in Charleston, SC.

The center wing box is made from both traditional metals and composite. The new stiffeners will be composite and aluminum and matched to complementary areas of the structure.

FlightBlogger has been told that a redesigned center wing box will likely be ready for the first production aircraft, Airplane Seven, which is expected to be delivered to Japan’s All Nippon Airways in 2009.

The center wing box is the structural core of the aircraft representing an intersecting node between the wings, Section 43 on the forward end, Section 46 and main landing gear well at the rear, and Section 44 which caps the center wing box and completes the center fuselage section.

The first public indications of a wing box problem came from Boeing’s largest 787 customer, International Lease Finance Corporation chairman Steven Udvar-Hazy reportedly told a JPMorgan analyst earlier in the week that he does not expect the first delivery to occur until the third quarter of 2009 as a result of structural design changes that are needed to the center wing box, implying an additional six-month program delay.

First activation of the Boeing 787s electrical system is likely to slip again, forcing first flight and entry into service further back into 2009.

Power-on could occur as early as mid-April according to senior Boeing representatives, yet, internal assessments of the pace of work on Dreamliner One suggest that the milestone could slip to June with slightly more than half of the 600 jobs, or tasks, remaining before power-on.

At least one 787 customer, who spoke with FlightBlogger on the condition of anonymity, has been told by the manufacturer that power-on will likely slip to June.

Boeing was unreachable for comment on the entirety of this report, however, sources familiar with the situation say that the airframer has not formally notified any customers to changes in the power-on schedule.

Paperwork and Design Changes Slowing Assembly

According to program sources, the slow pace of work in recent months can largely be attributed to what are known as rejection tags. Those tags occur when a discrepancy exists between the design and the product. For example, during the normal manufacturing process, holes are drilled to install fasteners. Occasionally, those holes have to be drilled a second time if there is an issue with the first hole. As a result, the hole is considered to be “non-conforming” requiring a larger diameter fastener and must be checked through a quality certification process.

One foundational tenet of the 787 program, according to program sources working with the aircraft, was the idea of a “super-mechanic” who held all the necessary certifications to self check work to appropriate airworthiness standards.

According to sources across the program, over the past year of assembly the self-certification process has become an impediment to progress rather than an enabler of efficiency.

As a result, the 787 program has begun to shift from a system of self-certifying manufacturing staff to a more traditional system of quality assurance similar to Boeing’s legacy programs. The revised system is first being implemented for out-of-sequence traveled work and is expected to be expanded to the entire final assembly process.

The revised system is a “positive step,” says one person working with the aircraft.

By using its traditional quality assurance system, Boeing is able to better control and group the number of rejection tags to reduce paperwork and solution time. For example, under the original system, four non-conforming holes in the same area of the aircraft were filed as four individual issues rather than just one. The new system would streamline the process by grouping these rejection tags together, cutting paperwork, in this example, by 75%.
At another level, minor, yet time consuming, design changes are occupying significant resources.

Often, “Parts are not delivered and substituted with different parts or mechanics make mistakes. Sometimes design error makes it impossible to build as designed,” said one source familiar with the situation.

Each redesign has to go through an extensive process that slows the path to power-on.

Boeing released a statement on the subject as this analysis was going through final revisions:

“It is normal during the development of a new airplane to discover the need for design enhancements. We are working with our partners to address the need for design changes in some areas. While these changes are not good for final assembly because they are dealing with traveled work at this time, the design changes are not the sole pacing item.”