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I didn’t even fully realize it but Part One of this series was the 300th post for FlightBlogger! Rather than let the first part get unnecessarily long, I decided to begin the 301st post with six more photos of the 2nd (3rd if you’re getting really technical) roll out.

See Part One (six photos)
See Part Three (six photos)

Photos are all courtesy of, and a very special thanks to, Charles Conklin

MANY MORE BELOW THE FOLD

This afternoon in Everett, two 787 Dreamliners made a special daylight appearance on a very special anniversary. Today, April 25, 2008, marks one year since major structural components began arriving for assembly of Dreamliner One in Everett. One year later, the static airframe, ZY997, moves out for its brief journey to its new home in Building 40-23, three (very large) doors down. The static airframe will undergo rigorous testing to determine the structural strength of the 787, this includes the infamous wing bend test.

Dreamliner One was towed out of Building 40-26 and parked briefly on the southeast corner of the ramp in front of the massive Boeing factory building. Today’s rollout marks the first daylight appearance of ZA001 since July 8, 2007.

The first 787, which is expected to take to the skies in late October, was returned to the factory at assembly position four. The fatigue airframe, ZY998, will roll to assembly position three followed by Dreamliner Two, which will move forward for the first time to assembly position two. With the primary assembly station vacant, major structural sections for Dreamliner Three, all of which have arrived as of this morning, will be loaded in the body join tooling to begin final assembly.

Photos are all courtesy of, and a very special thanks to, Charles Conklin

Part Two (six photos)
Part Three (six photos)

Update 8:55 PM ET:

MANY MORE BELOW THE FOLD

For a very brief moment tonight in Everett, the first 777F for Air France saw open air as a 767 for LAN was moved out to the flight line. Notice the nacelle cowlings are two different colors.

Image courtesy Matt Cawby

Addison Schonland and Rob Mark from jetwhine.com did a podcast today to discuss the recent news of Eclipse Aviation filing a subpoena against Google to release the IP addresses of those who commented on a blog critical of the company.

This supoena has far reaching consequences for all bloggers, including this one. The podcast raises interesting issues including the impact to the entire blogosphere if Google obliges the request or is forced to comply. This is a potentially dangerous legal precedent for all media as it transitions into the digital age. Mainstream media law, except in extreme national security cases, protects a journalist’s right to not have to disclose their sources. The legal precedent for bloggers is far more amorphous and some guidance from the judiciary will likely be necessary clarify exactly where the line is.

The aviation industry must acknowledge that the flat world not only enables the design, manufacture and broad sale of its products; it also enables line-of-sight coverage by non-traditional media. The industry cannot simultaneously embrace and fight innovation in a globalized world.

Image Credit Fortune Magazine/Gregg Segal

Fortune magazine was given a peek inside the 787 assembly line and the result is amazing. They have a 40 shot slideshow that is just jaw dropping. Best I can tell, these photos were taken early last week.There’s also a video and article to go along with the photo essay.

UPDATE 6:44 AM: A little investigative work shows that the photos from the factory floor of Dreamliner 1, 2 and the Static and Fatigue airframes were taken on March 10 and 11. The Spirit and LCF photos from the flight line were taken March 20 and April 1 respectively. The photos from Japan were taken in late February.

Boeing CEO Jim McNerney today sent a message to all Boeing employees that re-affirms support for the 787 global supply chain model, but accepts that modifications may be necessary for future airliners.

Entitled “Time to deliver on the 787,” the memorandum was obtained by FlightBlogger.

“The global-partnership model of the 787 remains a fundamentally sound strategy. It makes sense to utilize technology and technical talent from around the world. It makes sense to be involved with the industrial bases of countries that also support big customers of ours.” McNerney wrote.

“But we may have gone a little too far, too fast in a couple of areas,” he added. “I expect we’ll modify our approach somewhat on future programs—possibly drawing the lines in different places with regard to what we ask our partners to do, but also sharpening our tools for overseeing overall supply chain activities.”

McNerney’s comments echo statements by former 787 Vice President and General Manager Mike Bair made back in October 2007 regarding the need for changes in the supply chain model that would be used on future programs.

Though McNerney did not go as far as Bair in suggesting the possibility of an assembly ‘supersite’ for production of Boeing’s next all new airliner, both acknowledge the need for changing the current model to avoid the supply chain problems faced on the 787 program.

McNerney recounted his visit last week to the assembly line to check on the progress of 787 production.

“I walked away encouraged by the significant strides that the team has made in completing traveled work and unexpected rework on Airplane #1 and the two structural test airplanes. Airplane #2, and the sections of Airplane #3 that recently arrived, demonstrate that the condition of the assemblies built by our structural partners is improving noticeably with each successive unit. And that is vitally important for getting us back to where we are doing only the work we originally planned to do in our own factory.

“During the visit, I could feel the energy and enthusiasm of the Boeing people working on the airplanes–and there were a lot more of them compared to my visit just a few weeks ago. That’s a key indicator that the bottlenecks that stalled our progress are beginning to be removed.”

McNerney closes his memo with a challenge to the workforce of 160,000 employees:

“And speaking of delivering, we all need to deliver–to keep executing well and consistently on our own work, and improving our collective productivity…In addressing the 787 program’s needs, we cannot let any of our other programs suffer or slip. We all have a job to do, and I’m asking you to keep doing yours to the best of your ability; keep finding ways to improve; and help keep Boeing on the right track.”

READ THE COMPLETE MEMO

UPDATE 3:22 PM: The post was altered to remove the word exclusive from the headline. The Seattle Times authored a story about McNerney’s message to Boeing employees which was developed from the memo which they had obtained as well. As to not present Mr. McNerney’s statements out of context, the entire text of the memorandum will still be available exclusively at FlightBlogger.

A German magazine reported Sunday that Boeing is set to announce a further three to six month delay to the 787 program due to issues with achieving its “type certification”. The report, which appeared in FOCUS, cited sources inside the FAA who also said that the delay would be announced in mid-May.

Boeing 787 program spokesperson Yvonne Leach responded to the report telling FlightBlogger that, “The FAA has been overseeing our effort every step of the way and we’ve been working closely together.”

Leach added, it is “not our understanding” that there are any additional issues with achieving FAA type certification for the 787.

787 Program Manager Pat Shanahan commented on FAA certification during the 787 update on December 11, 2007:

“Boeing and the FAA have reviewed and agreed to all the technical requirements needed to achieve type certification. Also, we have submitted more than 25% of the certification deliverables to show type certification.”

“This is the first time on any program where we and the FAA prior to flight test have agreed on all the requirements. Now, the next portion of this is demonstrating compliance to those requirements, but it’s a big step forward for us and really is a reflection of the last four years of the close working relationship between Boeing and the FAA. I feel confident that we’ve identified what is necessary to demonstrate during the flight test program and now we need to go produce the data and work with their technical specialist to show compliance.”

Boeing CEO Jim McNerney confirmed in February that about 35% of the 787s airworthiness certification requirements had been completed.

A source familiar with the certification process says that modifications to the center wing box are not impacting the FAA certification schedule. Airplanes 1-6 will have stiffeners installed inside the center wing box to improve structural integrity. Airplane 7, the first production aircraft, will feature a redesigned wing box.

Boeing’s 787 flight test program is slated to begin in late October, according to another company source familiar with the upcoming flight test schedule, and is set to be completed early in the third quarter of 2009 with first delivery later in the quarter to ANA. Dreamliners One, Two and Three are all expected to take to the sky within three weeks of one another.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.

On January 14, Boeing received an order for 23 787-8 Dreamliners from a single unidentified customer. A source close to the airframer tells FlightBlogger that the unidentified customer was Delta Air Lines. The source explained that the order was contingent on the announcement of a merger.

Coincidentally enough, according to Flight’s ACAS database, the oldest members of Delta’s widebody fleet happen to be 767-300s. How many 767-300s does Delta operate? You guessed it: 23.

Delta’s 767-300s (non-extended range) have the highest number of average cycles in the widebody fleet at nearly 25,000 per aircraft. These aircraft are ripe for replacement, especially with oil well over $100 a barrel. Delta has never made any secret of its desire to replace its 767s with 787 aircraft.

Ed Bastian, President and CFO of Delta, commented during Tuesday’s merger press conference that, “Our existing order books on the 777-LR and the 787, along with the new markets this combination will provide us opportunity to exercise options for up to 20 additional widebody jets between 2010 and 2013, creating a world of opportunity for our customers.”

Northwest holds rights to 50 options on its 787 order that made it the North American launch customer for the type. Delta does not currently hold any options on its firm order for 8 777-200LRs. This suggests that if the merger goes through, the additional widebody options exercised would be exclusively from Northwest’s 787s.

Image Credit Oso Blanco

FlightBlogger Feature Part III of IV. All images are copyright of FlightBlogger unless otherwise specified.

Read Part I – Ground School
Read Part II – To The Sky

A FlightBlogger Exclusive:

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