Posted on 05/01/2010 7:15:01 AM PDT by GWConservative
Boeing took one of its new 787 Dreamliners to Florida for cold weather tests.
In an environment designed to mimic January conditions in Fairbanks, Boeing is seeing how all parts of the plane respond to a cold soak at 45 below.
When the engineers work inside the giant freezer at Eglin Air Force Base, pens don’t work, so they have to use pencils.
On a spring day in Florida, the parka-clad workers look as if they could be outdoors in Fairbanks on a cold winter day. There is a touch of ice fog in the air that builds up as the day goes on, just as it does in Fairbanks.
The giant freezer rents for $20,000 to $30,000 a day.
Fairbanks could offer those conditions at a fraction of the price, for those willing to accept a bit less precision.
One Boeing engineer told KING 5 TV in Seattle that the beauty of the frigid facility is that they can set the temperature at 45 below and it stays there for as long as needed. It only seems that way in Fairbanks, though some may argue.
Others would say that after the warm winter we just had, that little bit of Florida sounds chilly.
After the cold tests are finished, the heat will be turned on and the plane will be tested at 115 above inside the Florida lab.
New Boeing mantra: What happens in Florida, stays in Florida.
Hell, they could have cold tested here, in Florida, this winter, without the need for a freezer!
Guess with gorebull warming and all, Fairbanks just can’t produce..../s>
I wonder if the electric brakes will work in such a cold environment?
My Father worked at the Climatic Laboratory for many years. They had rooms large enough for a fighter, which could be taken down much colder than that. 200 below zero sticks in my mind but I could be wrong.
I think it must have been constructed in the 40’s or 50’s. yes they have a lot of insulation and some pretty big compressors.
My Dad built managed satellite programs for a living and used to show me the thermal simulators and shake tables. Gigantic rooms with thousands of lights that would heat up one side of the satellite. Really impressive stuff. My favorite was watching the shake tests where they would sweep through the frequencies that occur during launch. The folded solar panels would really flop around when they hit 10 Hz or so.
I’m sitting at the Fairbanks airport right now, waiting for the plane to go home. The pilot told me it was 26 degrees, three miles visibility, and snowing.
If they need to test anything at 45 below, just leave it in my back yard all winter. I tested my Subaru Legacy that way for many years, and the results have been impressive, in an “OMG” kind of way.
Where is Reeve Alaska Airlines, when you really need someone to deal with ugly conditions? They, and only they, would go where “nothing but the best” could make it in, as well as out, skills were required!
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