Plane Nation

As Boeing pushes through flight test on its flagship development programme, the company says it plans to have more than 30 Boeing 787s at various stages of completion by year’s end.

The FAA is now saying that “passenger networking may result in security vulnerabilities” exposing flight systems to hackers.

Boeing broke ground in North Charleston, South Carolina for the second 787 final assembly line today, marking the first all-new commercial jetliner assembly plant in the US since then-Lockheed built its L-1011 final assembly line in Palmdale, California in 1968.
The groundbreaking at the North Charleston site comes just weeks after Boeing announced on 28 October [...]

Randy Tinseth, BCA’s VP of Marketing, reported in his blog that Boeing Charleston’s Final Assembly Facility should be ready by July 2011 and the first 787 to be delivered from that facility should be handed over by the 1st quarter of 2012.

The second line for the Dreamliner in Charleston SC. …

Boeing, fed up with over twenty years of labor strife has decided to locate the second line for the 787 in North Charleton, SC right next to its existing facility that produces the rear fuselage for the 787 and the Global Aeronautica facility that integrates fuselage sections from Japan and Italy to form the main fuselage of the 787.

Boeing evaluated criteria that were designed to find the final assembly location within the company that would best support the 787 business plan as the program increases production rates. In addition to serving as a location for final assembly of 787 Dreamliners, the facility also will have the capability to support the testing and delivery of the airplanes.

The company’s first 787 to fly, ZA001, along with the static test airframe, ZY997, are currently undergoing modification to return full static strength to the upper stringers of the structure that joins the wing to the side of body of the aircraft. Boeing says the entire process of preparation, installation and restoration will take about three months, with programme sources indicating that the installation itself will take roughly 30 days to complete.

The Boeing Company today announced that the first flight of the 787 Dreamliner is expected by the end of 2009 and first delivery is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2010. The new schedule reflects the previously announced need to reinforce an area within the side-of-body section of the aircraft, along with the addition of several weeks of schedule margin to reduce flight test and certification risk.

The structural flaw that delayed the first flight of the 787 Dreamliner is more complex than originally described by the company, and the plane’s inaugural takeoff is likely at least four to six months away, say two engineers with knowledge of Boeing’s problem. “It’s got to take at least three to four months just to [...]

Qantas Airways has cancelled orders for 15 Boeing 787-9s and deferred the delivery of 15 787-8s to reduce capital expenditure amid a challenging operating environment. … The “prudent” decision will reduce capital expenditure by $3 billion and still allow Qantas and its low-cost subsidiary Jetstar to “take advantage of growth opportunities and market demands, both domestically and internationally”, he adds.

Boeing Postpones 787 First Flight

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. [...]