SINGAPORE — Boeing has brought a model of the 787-9 to the Singapore air show, the first time it has had the stretched Dreamliner on display at its stand. The size of the model caught my eye instantly, though the most notable part of the scale model is on the forward fuselage and an inexplicably missing window.
The 206ft 1in long 787-9 gets its additional length from elongations of Sections 43 and 46 in the center fuselage. The stretch of Section 43 adds five windows in front of door two. Just as on the 787-8, the 787-9 has a missing window at the point of the join between Section 41 and Section 43. However, the model on display here in Singapore has a second missing window on the 41 Section as you can see above.
I checked the most recent rendering of the 787-9 which appears on the Etihad order announcement from July 2008 and it too is missing that second window on Section 41. The latest airplane characteristics document put out by Boeing in December shows only one window missing from the forward fuselage.
The latest airplane characteristics document put out by Boeing last December shows the window very much on the aircraft (right), which appears to have disappeared on the model here at the show. The plot thickens.
It seems somewhat inefficient to go from a sectional stretch to a plug between Sections 41 and 43, turning one fuselage join into two. I thought it best to open this question up to everyone. Where has that second window gone? Which is it: window or no window?
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.