Simulated Dreamliner Test Flights from Liz Matzelle.
Dreamliner One’s seven-day treadmill run known as the intermediate gauntlet has entered its late phases and appears set to wrap up by the late hours of Thursday night.
Boeing has stuck closely to it round-the-clock 24-hour testing schedule for ZA001, which began on Friday evening.
Video captured on Monday afternoon (June 1st) of smoke coming from Dreamliner One’s engines was reported by the Seattle Times to be a “gauntlet relight test.” The test, which appears to have been a part of Block Six testing, has flight test teams interrupting and “aborting the engine start-up just shy of fuel ignition,” citing a Boeing source familiar with the situation. The smoke, the paper added, was un-ignited evaporating fuel.
According to Boeing, “this was the expected result for the test condition.”
Aviation Week detailed the eighteen testing blocks (1-7, 8-12 & 13-18) that ZA001 has/will run through over the last week.
- Block Six – More test “flights” for the propulsion and electrical systems. Pre-dawn June 1
- Block Seven & Eight – Electrical, ECS and hydraulics. 2nd half of June 1
- Block Nine – Hydraulics and Flight Control Systems. Early June 2
Liz Matzelle captured Block 10 and 11 tests (ABOVE) that focused on the functionality of the flight control and hydraulic systems. The tests were run in the overnight hours last night (June 3) operated the aircraft’s movable flight control surfaces in conjunction with engine runs. The tests illustrate the drooping spoiler and aileron features built into the high-lift system.
- Block Ten & Eleven – Flight controls & Environmental Control Systems tests Late June 2
- Block Twelve – Re-run of Common Core System testing. Overnight June 2
- Block Thirteen – Electrical systems testing. Pre-dawn June 3
- Block Fourteen – Environmental Control Systems testing. Morning June 3
- Block Fifteen – Common Core System tests. June 3
- Block Sixteen – Electrical systems tests. Early June 4
- Block Seventeen – Pilot ‘conditioning’ and preparations for flight. June 4
- Block Eighteen – Final CCS evaluations. Late June 4 into early June 5
Back in the factory, ZA002 is nearing the start of its own factory gauntlet before it makes the trip to the fuel dock for fuel calibration testing as it follows in the footsteps of ZA001.
Meanwhile, the center fuselage for ZA100, the first production 787, continues to be worked on at Global Aeronautica. Originally planned for delivery late last month, Boeing opted to hold the center fuselage in Charleston, SC to eliminate any traveled work and limit additional out of sequence assembly in Everett to match the readiness of other structural sections. The center fuselage is the final major structural assembly awaiting delivery to Everett, after the vertical tail was shipped from Frederickson, WA last week.
According to several sources, the forward fuselage for ZA100, which was delivered on May 26 from Spirit Aerosystems in Wichita, arrived at 100% completion of assembly.
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.