NAGOYA — Good morning from one end of the 787 supply chain. I arrived here Nagoya, Japan on Wednesday afternoon today after a quick flight from Busan. The next two days will include visits to the Japanese Heavies; Mitsubishi, Kawasaki and Fuji. As quick refresher: Mitsubishi makes the wings, Kawasaki makes Section 43 forward center fuselage and Section 45 wheel well, Fuji makes the Section 11 center wingbox and integrates the wheel well to create Section 45/11.

All sections are delivered to the US via Dreamlifter. Section 43 and Section 45/11 are flown together to Charleston for integration with Italian Sections 44 and 46, while the wings make their way to Everett for the final join to the fuselage.

That being said, there’s a lot going on the 787 universe this week, so let’s get right to it:

Rolls-Royce Presents Trent 1000 Recovery Plan
The Seattle Times and Bloomberg reported on interviews with Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Jim Albaugh on the state of the pending Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 investigation and resolution. Albaugh says that the company will begin pouring over Rolls-Royce’s resolution for the intermediate pressure turbine issue that caused the August 2 engine failure. Albaugh was optimistic that the RR solution would address the issue.

Airplane Six Just About Ready To Fly
Here in Asia, George Maffeo, vice president of 787 supplier management, told us that ZA006 is likely to fly “within the next week”. Program sources indicate that first flight of final dedicated 787 flight test aircraft – the second powered by GEnx-1B engines – is slated to fly on or around October 5. This date has been sliding backward and forward, so October looks to be the month for ZA006, just not sure exactly when.

Schedule Float Nearing An End
Parts for Airplane 28 have been
arriving this week in Everett from Wichita and Charleston, marking the
end of the 18-manufacturing day float in the 787 production schedule.
The float was intended to allow suppliers to further catch up and
deliver structural sections to a higher level of completion of assembly. Factory sources say one frequently missing item from 787 shipsets, passenger doors, have arrived installed on the center fuselage of Airplane 28.

Forward
fuselage Section 41 arrived from Wichita on Monday, followed by the
center fuselage from Charleston on Tuesday. The restart of deliveries
also marks a step increase in 787 production to just under three 787s
built per month.

Also, when the 787 line advances on Sunday to
make way for Airplane 28, Boeing will officially begin storing 787s by
the new K1 taxiway and Kilo North Ramp by Future of Flight. Five ANA (14,
15, 18), JAL (21) and RAM (19) 787s are expected to find their way
over for extended storage.

Airplane Eight Gets Its Motors
In other Trent 1000 engine news, Boeing’s eighth 787, ZA101, the second production aircraft slated for ETOPS ground testing, received its engines from Rolls-Royce earlier this week. Serial numbers 10018 and 10019 have been fitted under the wings of ZA101, which will eventually be delivered to ANA.

Max Energy RTO Tests A Wrap
All indications coming from outside and inside Boeing say the weekend’s max brake energy rejected take off tests were passed with flying colors, which is an ironic pun because ZA001 never left the ground during its two-day trials at Edwards Air Force Base in California. With the choice of two different carbon brakes from Messier-Bugatti and Goodrich, the tests were split between last Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Airplane 9 Gear Swings
In an indication of nearing completion, Airplane Nine, the lead production ETOPS aircraft, underwent gear swing tests on Monday evening.

Program sources say the aircraft has been outfitted with two zones of economy class seating. One forward zone with eight-abreast seating between doors one and two, and a second rear zone between doors three and four with 96 eight-abreast economy seats. Adding that the outboard seats are laid out with 32in of seat pitch, while the center seating is configured at 31in. Whether or not this will be one of the two the final configurations for ANA’s 787 remains unclear, however, it appears Airplane Nine will be delivered in a high density configuration for domestic operations. Though, what is going in between doors two and three remains unknown.

In other Boeing news…

747-8F Schedule Revision
All signs point to an announcement coming later this week or next week. Delay estimates range anywhere from three to nine months.

Re-Engining 737 Not Dead, Just Delayed Until 2011
In those same Seattle Times and Bloomberg articles, Albaugh has said that the 737 customer base has overwhelmingly voted in favor of a new narrowbody over a re-engined aircraft. Albaugh indicated that the decision could slip in to 2011, but the lack of enthusiasm and urgency from Boeing is a good sign of where the airframer’s head is at.

747-8F Flutter Fix Testing
RC522 has been flying the flutter track over eastern Washington the past week evaluating a new fix for the 2.4Hz structural flutter that has contributed to the significant delay in the 747-8F program’s first delivery. The fix called OAMS – outboard aileron modal suppression – provides structural dampening and seeks to restore the full range of stability and control of the aircraft at all weights and speeds.

747-8I Wing Body Join
RC001 is in the wing body join position inside Building 40-22 undergoing systems installation ahead of the final body join which will begin in mid-October.

BUSAN — Good morning from the Korean peninsula! I’ll put a big disclaimer on this and say I honestly don’t know if this is real, but I thought it was most certainly worth sharing. This photo, which appears to be taken with a cell phone camera, was posted on Flickr on Tuesday morning and may show the first United/Continental merged livery in the flesh. This wouldn’t be the first time a merged livery shot has been prematurely outed by a cell phone camera.

It is believed that a Continental 737-900ER (N53442) is the first to receive the new merged colors and by the looks of that photo, it certainly is a -900ER. What do you think?

Hat tips to Gordon Werner and @jnjuisai and @onemileatatime

BUSAN — Good morning from the South Korean southern port city of Busan! I’ll be here for the next day and a half visiting KAL and KAI before we head to Nagoya on Wednesday. Needless to say, this busy week is only going to get busier. 

Posting might be more infrequent than I would like with limited Internet access, but I wanted to share a video I shot yesterday on my rainy departure from Haneda climbing into a beautiful late afternoon sunshine over Japan. Worth noting that is is the HD first video I’ve shot, edited and uploaded entirely on my phone. With wi-fi access, I should be able to produce and share more of these videos.

Travel Day: HND-FUK-PUS, originally uploaded by flightblogger.

TOKYO — After spending the night near Narita I made my way toward the Japanese equivalent of La Guardia Airport, the smaller mostly-domestic Haneda Airport. Unlike La Guardia and its two short runways with a vast array of narrowbody aircraft, Haneda features some of the most exotic widebody types in the world including the rare 777-300 and 747-400D. My first leg out of Tokyo will take me to Fukuoka on 747-400D, JA8963, along with 564 of my closest friends. The 747-400D was designed specifically for the Japanese domestic market as a high density transport. Boeing and the Japanese have a long history of adapting long range jetliners for short hops and high cycles. (see also -3, 787) Only ANA and JAL have ever operated the -400D. I’ll be in seat 12A for the quick trip south to Fukuoka, after trying my darndest to fly on the upper deck.

Haneda also features one of the best airport model shops I’ve seen. It was brimming with ANA paraphernalia, including models of the 787 and MRJ90. The airline has branded virtually item imaginable with the Dreamliner logo. There is no shortage of excitement (and patience) from ANA for the 787. Not to mention that Haneda will be the first airport in the world to host 787’s first commercial operations.

From Fukuoka I’ll have a quick layover and switch to a Korean Air 737-900 for the last leg to Busan and the first ‘official’ stop of the trip.

Next stop: Korea!

Travel Day and Night: IAD-NRT, originally uploaded by flightblogger.

My extended stay at home in Washington, DC was cut a bit short after a last-minute 787 supplier tour was firmed up. For the next week I’ll be on the road in Asia, starting in Tokyo then transferring through to Busan, South Korea where the 787’s winglets, flap fairings, Section 48 aft tail cone and forward fuselage nose gear wheel well structure are made by KAL-ASD. Later in the week I’ll transition back to Japan for a visit to the Japanese heavies in Nagoya where the wings, Section 45/11 center wingbox, and fuselage Section 43 are manufactured by Mitsubishi, Fuji and Kawasaki, respectively. This should prove to be a fascinating week as this the first time the Asian supply base for 787 has invited media to visit since 2006. I’ll have updates throughout the week.

In the meantime, I’ve got my real estate carved out in seat 36K on All Nippon Airways Flight 1 from Dulles to Tokyo.
This 777-300ER, JA801A, is not a new airframe for me. I flew this particular aircraft on my way back from the 2008 Singapore Air Show.

Time to fly. Next to Tokyo!

With the 787 production and flight test program back to normal operations with ZA001 flying again, the spectre of the Trent 1000 engine failure still hangs over the program. While the September 10 engine surge was not related to the August 2 engine failure in Derby, UK, it was a reminder of how the 787’s powerplant has moved to the forefront of concerns ahead of the February entry into service with ANA.

Industry officials are becoming increasingly concerned about the potential result of the on-going investigation into the failure. Concerns about the engine’s certification, which was granted on August 7, 2007 (07/08/07 on the European calendar), prompted me to ask Boeing if the investigation included an assesment of the basis for certification of the Trent 1000 engine. Here is Boeing’s complete response to my question:

The investigation includes a review of safety and continued airworthiness as prescribed by EASA and FAA requirements. The regulatory agencies have methods in place to ensure airworthiness. When the investigation is complete and we have more information about causes and solutions, we will work with the regulatory agencies to comply with the applicable processes. [emphasis mine]

There are a few versions as to what transpired on August 2, with indications all pointing to an oil fire in the high pressure compressor drum leading to a failure of the intermediate pressure (IP) shaft. One industry source says once the IP shaft failed, the mounted IP turbine disk moved rearward, causing its blades to impact the low pressure (LP) turbine inlet guide vanes. The result was the separation of the IP turbine disk, which subsequently spun out of the casing and into the test stand.

The same source adds that the “non-adherence to test procedures” was the root cause of the failure, saying that the “stand crew ran more cold starts in close succession than allowed without purging of fuel and oil that accumulate within the engine in places these fluids are not supposed to be.”

That result provides more clarity to the “inappropriate operating regime” statement from Rolls-Royce. Though even with a root-cause potentially identified, the fact that the casing did not contain the failure is of concern. While the test procedures may be at the root of the failure, reconciling all the differing statements is nothing short of confusing, as Rolls-Royce has said it is has been testing an upgrade to the Trent 1000 to “mitigate a component problem.”

While a timeline for the investigation’s completion is not known, the result will hopefully bring much sought after clarity.

I’ve perhaps lost count at the number of emails I receive weekly asking me a question I do not have an answer for. The question doesn’t bother me in the slightest, the lack of an answer does.

Why has ZA006, the second GEnx-powered 787, not flown yet?

With its first flight now internally slated for early October, the aircraft has slipped again from its original target of June.

I’ll admit to having spent a lot of time searching for the answer, chasing leads, digging deeper, only to find explanations and facts that don’t line up or cannot be independently confirmed. Some working theories are just that, theories. Collections of facts that lead to certain, uncertain conclusions. The most frequently occurring theory points to arduous paperwork and meeting production level conformity of structure and software for FAA certification.

Boeing simply offers that ZA006 is experiencing non-descript “challenges”, but adds the aircraft is not a priority for the Rolls-Royce certification program that is supporting first 787 delivery to ANA in mid-February. The “not a priority” position is an admittedly surprising one after such extended delays in preparing the aircraft for service. The “not a priority” statement has replaced “software” as the official explanation from Boeing.

Boeing’s 787 Flight Test website says Airplane Six, which is is not a fully instrumented aircraft, is tasked with electromagnetic effect (EME), high intensity radiated field (HIRF) and extended twin engine operations (ETOPS) testing. All those tests are duplications carried out by another test aircraft, specifically ZA003.

So to answer the original question to explain the delay, I simply don’t know how, but I do know that some of those who will read this post do.

The strangest thing happened this morning when I saw a Swedish tweet about low cost carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle considering a 787 purchase for its long range routes.

When Norwegian CEO Bjorn Kjos ordered additional 737s at the Farnborough Air Show this summer, he suggested a nearing decision on the carrier’s future long haul fleet. Kjos further elaborated on his plans earlier this week at the Routes convention in Vancouver, but did not make a commitment to a single aircraft type.

Curious as to what the tweet said, I ran the text through Google Translate and came up with a VERY surprising result. Google had taken “Norwegian” and translated it to its low cost competitor easyJet! (click the image below for an expanded version)

As you can see, it translates Norwegian not only once, but twice, in the same sentence. I simply have no earthly (non-sketchy) explanation for why Google Translate would do this, though there must be something about the translation algorithm that prefers Airbus to Boeing. I smell a scandal.

When I sat down to think about the remaining thirteen and a half weeks of 2010, it became immediately apparent how pivotal this time will be for the future of commercial and business aviation. Decisions from Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, Bombardier and Gulfstream will shape the industry in 2011 and 2012 in the near term, but these same decisions could guide commercial and business aerospace for the next decade to come.