Boeing Postpones 787 First Flight

[patrick@tediek.com]

EVERETT, Wash., June 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Boeing (NYSE: BA) today announced that first flight of the 787 Dreamliner will be postponed due to a need to reinforce an area within the side-of-body section of the aircraft.

The need was identified during the recent regularly scheduled tests on the full-scale static test airplane. Preliminary analysis indicated that flight test could proceed this month as planned. However, after further testing and consideration of possible modified flight test plans, the decision was made late last week that first flight should instead be postponed until productive flight testing could occur.

First flight and first delivery will be rescheduled following the final determination of the required modification and testing plan. It will be several weeks before the new schedule is available. The 787 team will continue with other aspects of testing on Airplane #1, including final gauntlet testing and low-speed taxiing. Work will also continue on the other five flight test aircraft and the subsequent aircraft in the production system.

Scott Carson, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes said a team of experts has already identified several potential solutions.

"Consideration was given to a temporary solution that would allow us to fly as scheduled, but we ultimately concluded that the right thing was to develop, design, test and incorporate a permanent modification to the localized area requiring reinforcement. Structural modifications like these are not uncommon in the development of new airplanes, and this is not an issue related to our choice of materials or the assembly and installation work of our team," Carson said

[Rockville]

Boeing Plans Dreamliner Flight by Year’s End

The Boeing Company said Thursday that its troubled 787 Dreamliner would be ready for a test fight by the end of the year and its first delivery would be in the fourth quarter of next year.

Boeing also said that it would book a pretax charge of $2.5 billion, a $2.21 a share, in the third quarter because of the delays.

The new schedule, Boeing said in statement, will give the company time to fix a structural flaw where the wings join the fuselage.

The jetliner is supposed to be lighter and more fuel-efficient than other airliners, and Boeing has 850 advance orders. But it has faced several critical delays because in production of parts, much of which was outsourced. The latest problem was reported earlier this month when Boeing said it had instructed an Italian company, Alenia Aeronautica, to stop making fuselage sections for the aircraft after small wrinkles were discovered in the carbon composite skin that covers them.

THE NEW YORK TIMES, August 28, 2009