Posted on 06/27/2007 6:33:44 AM PDT by Freeport
Flightglobal.com has obtained pictures of the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner headed for the paint shop earlier this week at Boeing's assembly plant in Everett, Washington. The aircraft is scheduled to be formally rolled out on 8 July (7/8/7 using the US date convention) and fly for the first time in August or September. Entry into service with launch customer, All Nippon Airways, is slated for next May.
(Excerpt) Read more at flightglobal.com ...
True... it could be said if the people dont defend the country. In Europe there wont be any people to defend the place.
The first 787 Dreamliner inside the assembly bay in Everett after the doors were opened around midnight Tuesday, before being rolled outside and moved to a paint facility. Aviation enthusiast and pilot Charles Conklin of Kirkland had picked up hints about the unofficial rollout on an aviation Web site and had waited outside the perimeter of the Boeing property since shortly after 10 p.m. Monday. This was his payoff. (Photo by Charles Conklin) (June 26, 2007)
and
Viewed from the rear, the first 787 Dreamliner is rolled to the painting facility. This photo provides a glimpse of the 787's curved wing tips. "You'll see that a lot, very exaggerated, in the artist's renderings, but there's your first view of how they actually do that," said photographer Charles Conklin.
(Photo by Charles Conklin) (June 26, 2007)
Pinging you!
I just noticed the (relatively) large inlets in the wing fairing/cuff ... just below the leadin edge root. I can’t recall anything like them on current passenger airplanes.
How did they get ti fit throught those doors?
There are lots of things we aren't capable of building anymore (16 inch naval guns for one) but aircraft aren't one of them.
Economics sometimes plays a role, other times it would be cheaper to do it at home - but politics and marketing are the big drivers.
The just awarded joint military transport is built all over Europe today and that will continue - that was part of the proposals & reflects European risk sharing / risk mitigation [read: 'fear'] as well as how things are shaping up under the EU.
Dreamliner subcomponents will probably show a geographic spread based largely on where we want to sell the product - nothing like self interest to lure a buyer. China has been high on everyone's list for about a decade - largest anticipated growth in commercial air travel looms just on the horizon. Recent history is replete with warnings about sharing technology with the PRC but, somehow, they'll find a way to make it happen - for better or for worse.
Boeing's task is to maintain quality control regardless of where parts are manufactured. Airburst can't manage that one between neighboring countries but Boeing will make it a priority. That said, I don't count on ANSI/ISO fever dreams making the job any easier.
Awesome. I just read about the wing load test, you remember, the one that the A380 failed. They went to 150%, and they did it so easily they’re wondering whether to push it until the wing breaks. They think they might actually get the tips to meet above the fuselage!
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/06/the-new-boeing-.html
Have you looked at one of those ball bearings in the last few years? They now use Pachinko balls.
-Just a semi-interesting Sino-factoid. (Pachinko is generally associated w/ Japan) -but I suspect these are Chinese. (what isn't?)
I wonder if it is because the new engines don't have air bleeds?
This is just my wild guess. The 787 doesn't use bleed air from the engines to pressurize the cabin, so these could be the air inlets for the cabin air system. BTW, with that system we're supposed to get 6,000 feet equivalent pressure in a 787 instead of the normal 8,000 feet equivalent.
>There are lots of things we aren’t capable of building anymore<
This is what happens when our leaders decide that globalism, commonly termed as compassion is a better course than nationalism.
Support the United Nations.
Welcome to the New World Order.
Papers please.
If you want on or off my aerospace ping list, please contact me by Freep mail.
The 737 entered service with Lufthansa.
I don’t see the APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) inlet/exhaust anywhere else, so this is a good guess.
We did it to ourselves but 'globalism' is only a recent contributor.
Boeing has completed static testing of a three-quarter wingbox, but engineers are still considering whether to limit testing of the full wing to a 150% load limit held for 3 sec. of to continue bending it to see when it breaks. "There's a raging debate within the engineering team to see if we should break it or not," says [787 General Manager Mike] Bair.Breaking it isn't necessary for certification, but Bair says the wing is so strong and flexible that there's been talk that maybe it could be bend far enough for the wingtips to touch above the fuselage—or come quite close.
Now that I'd like to see.
No matter how big they make them, they will still jamb the seats so tight you have to hold your breath to keep from banging your knees and elbows. Wanna bet?
DATE:21/06/07
Improved versions of the Boeing 787 family offering significant efficiency and range increases could be available within six years thanks to refinements in the production technique used to build the twinjet's carbonfibre structure.
Mike Bair, vice-president and general manager of the twinjet programme, says that by the time the planned 787-10 double-stretch enters service in around 2013, Boeing expects to have "better optimised" the composite structure, which will mitigate the range loss resulting from the increased length, and these improvements will be drilled back into the existing -8 and -9 models.
The 787-10 will have around 50 more seats than the -9, but will retain its wing size and operating weights meaning that "the range will fall out, but we will have the technology to get the weight out of the aircraft to make it more efficient to get some of that range back", says Bair. He adds that after 70 years of building aircraft fuselages from aluminium, "we're right at the beginning of learning how to do that with composites".
In the "three and half years" since the decision was taken to use carbonfibre for the bulk of the 787, Boeing has already identified ways to better optimise the structure during construction, says Bair: "We have a laundry list of things we can do. We're talking about a generation and a half improvement."
Bair says that the structural improvements will result in a 5% efficiency gain and Boeing is looking at how to introduce the changes into the 787-8/9. "We could do a block change," he says, where a new build standard is introduced from a certain line number. "We're going to move the performance goal posts [that Airbus is aiming at with the A350 specification]," says Bair.
The 300-seat 787-10 is currently being offered but will not be launched until a customer is secured and then board approval received. Bair says that the 2013 in-service target is "a year later than planned as we've sold all the -10 flight test aircraft production slots" as -8s and -9s. Production of the twinjet is effectively sold out until "the mid-point of the next decade", he adds.
Meanwhile final assembly of the first 787-8 is proceeding on schedule towards the 8 July roll-out ceremony, although Bair concedes that there are "pockets that are behind". He says that at roll-out the aircraft will be structurally complete, but will then need to undergo the installation of systems and ground testing. "The next milestone after roll-out will be the power-on," he says.
The first flight of the -8 is due in the late August/September timeframe and Bair says that if this target is missed there are certain parts of the flight-test programme that can be deferred to ensure Boeing still meets its May 2008 delivery date to launch operator All Nippon Airways.
You’ve summed it up nicely.
Beautiful.
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