Like a slowing pendulum, the amplitude of the swings identifying 787’s first flight date are narrowing…and changing daily.
The Seattle Times reports today that ZA001 will take to the skies on December 18th, up four days from previous forecast of December 22nd. This page reported Tuesday that the 14th was the opening of the first flight window, and at the time, was what several people close to the program were telling me.
That date, say those same sources today, has shifted to December 15th.
While it remains impossible to predict the future (for now), all these different reports should serve as a good guide for Boeing’s timing. Reports have now established the clear intent by Boeing to fly sometime during the week of December 14-22. Call that a no-brainer assessment on my part, but now Boeing has mother nature to compete with. Seattle winters are anything but predictable.
Boeing, meanwhile, has continued preparations for ZA001 and ZA002 first flight this week. ZA001, which remains on the Everett flight line, underwent thrust reverser actuation checkouts and heading into the weekend will conduct software regression testing to sweep the software for any remaining bugs that may be festering. Spirit AeroSystems said in September that a software upgrade is planned for after first flight, once Boeing sees how the 787 behaves in flight. Final gauntlet testing, which will include both B1 and first flight profiles, is still planned for the early to middle of next week. Additionally, ZA002 has been moved indoors for its aqueous wash and close out for final restoration.
Picture: Cover of Flight International – 8-14 December
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.