EVERETT — During this weekend’s 787 gear swing testing, Boeing identified an issue with ZA001’s electrical system that will be further analyzed in the preparation for the aircraft’s first flight, the company confirms.
The issue was first discovered during a gear swing test conducted under ground power. During the cycling of the gear, the aircraft was switched from ground to internal power, and subsequently suffered an unexpected shutdown of the aircraft’s systems, according to a source familiar with the test.
Power was quickly restored to the aircraft and the landing gear were fully lowered to allow the aircraft to complete additional swing tests on Sunday evening.
The completion of these tests cleared the way for ZA001 to depart Building 40-24 around 4 AM local time for the paintshop to complete final painting its aqueous wash of the aircraft’s fuel tanks and various inspections.
Boeing underscores that it is “not concerned about the overall performance of the electrical power system.
It has been robust in its operations heading into these recent tests.”
The American airframer intends to continue to collect additional data to “more thoroughly understand the problem.” Adding, that this issue is considered to be a normal “blip on the screen” and has no impact whatsoever on first flight.
Boeing, however, did not conduct the additional diagnostic testing during the weekend as completing the swing tests for ZA001 took priority.
The company explained the fault as possibly originating from, “An airplane protective feature…sometimes keeping the power from being applied.”
Boeing did not elaborate on the specifics of the ‘protective feature’ and its role in the testing of the electrical systems.
Aviation Week reports that the gear swing tests successfully completed two of three main configurations, though did not specify what the configurations entailed. The final configuration, presumably one that requires the aircraft to switch power sources during gear retraction and extension, will be conducted while the aircraft is on the flight line.
Photo Credit Boeing
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This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.