BOEING | 787 News & Discussion

[boyerling3]

Just a few minutes left!
I'm such a geek.

[StreetView]

The first Boeing 787 is airborne!

[StreetView]

Get real-time updates from Boeing by logging onto http://787firstflight.newairplane.com/ffindex.html and click on "webcast" on the top right.

[SCWTC4]

Originally Posted by StreetView

The first Boeing 787 is airborne!

[World 2 World]

[mnj79]

Here is another video

[WESTSEATTLEGUY]

What a gorgeous plane. I'm so happy for Boeing and proud of the Seattle based engineers working at the Boeing facilities. Great jobs guys!!

[Momo1435]

The flight was cut short because of the bad weather, but the landing was perfect.

[GlasgowMan]

Beautiful aircraft and incredible bend on the wings.

Cant wait to see her operating commercial flights from my local airport.

[GlasgowMan]

Originally Posted by Momo1435

It's the RBS logo.

RBS Aviation Capital ordered 25 the planes for several customers, but they have already cancelled this order earlier this year because of their bad financial situation.

Thank you for the information.

I had no idea RBS were in the business of buying aircraft. Going by recent news and events, I wonder if we will actually get to see the 787 in the colours of FlyGlobespan and even British Airways?

[marki]

Finally it takes off, and it even landed too ! Excellent news for aviation, even for those who like the A380.

Anyone know when it will make the world tour of airports?

Heres an article in Australian media:

Boeing 787 Dreamliner touches down after test flight
By staff writers From: NewsCore December 16, 2009 7:56AM
http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/b...-1225810814465

BOEING'S new 787 Dreamliner jet has landed safely after concluding a maiden test-flight that lasted about three hours.

The 787 airplane took off from Paine Field in Everett, Washington at 10.27am local time in front of hundreds of company employees.

In Pictures: The Dreamliner's first flight

It landed at 1.35pm local time.

As Boeing's next-generation, wide-body jet, the plane is made largely out of lighter composite materials - about 50 per cent of its entire weight - to increase fuel efficiency and extend its flight range.

The first flight of the revolutionary new "green" passenger jet comes after more than two years of production problems that pushed back delivery of the first plane to Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways to late 2010.

Problems with its production process and unforeseen complications in its composite design caused Boeing to postpone its maiden flight five times, with the latest delay in June. The plane was originally scheduled to fly in September 2007.

The first flight is "a big boost for the company psychology, and will give investors a bigger sense that the technical [problems] they have been undergoing have been resolved", said analyst Phillip Finnegan at the Teal Group, an aerospace and defense consulting firm.

The tested aircraft can carry up to 250 passengers for approximately 14.484km.

Boeing’s stock has had a rocky ride for the year as the recession and drop in air-traffic demand worried investors about delivery deferrals and cancellations.

[Shezan]

Originally Posted by SCWTC4

[FM 2258]

I can't wait to fly on an American Airlines 787-9

[dl3000]

Originally Posted by FM 2258

I can't wait to fly on an American Airlines 787-9

Im guessing they will paint it gray right? I know it wont be shiny lol.

[FM 2258]

Originally Posted by dl3000

Im guessing they will paint it gray right? I know it wont be shiny lol.

Here is an image I found on Google. Looks pretty good to me.

[nomarandlee]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...,7884002.story

787 takes the 1st step to fulfilling its promise
Dreamliner 'truly changes the game,' says Boeing official

By Julie Johnsson

December 16, 2009

EVERETT, Wash. - -- For the first time, a passenger jetliner with a body and wings made of superhardened plastics took flight on Tuesday, a milestone that promises to usher in a new era in aviation, more than two years behind schedule.

A crowd of 12,000 workers and dignitaries lining Paine Field outside Boeing Co.'s sprawling manufacturing and assembly complex here watched in suspense as the 787 Dreamliner roared down the runway, lifted its nose into the air and then flew north, trailed by two chase planes.

The jet circled over Puget Sound for three hours, as 787 chief pilot Michael Carriker and co-pilot Randy Neville tested the plane's state-of-the-art wing and electronics systems in a series of turns, climbs and descents. The exercise was cut short as foul weather moved over the Seattle area, to the pilots' frustration.

"It felt like we flew into the future of the Boeing Co.," Carriker told reporters after the 787 landed at Seattle's Boeing Field.

The airplane's maiden voyage was the moment of truth for Chicago-based Boeing's executives and engineers. While the sophistication and computer simulations of modern aircraft manufacturing practically guaranteed a successful first flight, Boeing's decisions to build the plane with space-age materials using a global supply chain have stretched the company's abilities to the brink.

The result has been both a record 840 orders worth $140 billion and a series of nightmarish production problems that caused delay after delay and cost the company billions of dollars.

The attraction of the plane is its fuel efficiency and passenger comforts. But still to be determined is whether this model, the Boeing 787-8, is the game-changer, or whether that role will be fulfilled by planes still to come, like its larger cousin, the 787-9.

"We really won't know how this airplane performs in terms of the total package until if flies thousands of hours," said aviation consultant Robert Mann.

The 787 certainly looks sleek, with its scalloped engines and delicate wings that mirror a hawk's silhouette. But the first models to roll out of Boeing's Everett assembly line aren't quite the clean concept sketched out by Boeing designers in 2003.

Their composite frames have been studded with titanium, as Boeing learned by trial and error that the aircraft needed to be reinforced. That increased use of metal raises questions about whether Boeing will be able to deliver early aircraft to the weight and cost savings it promised.

"The 787-8 appears to have evolved from a once-elegant composite design to one saddled with carbuncles of heavy titanium added throughout for strengthening," wrote Heidi Wood, aerospace analyst with Morgan Stanley in an Oct. 20 research report.

She predicts that the first 787, due to be delivered to launch customer All Nippon Airways by the end of 2010, could be delayed until the following spring as Boeing works out the weight issues.

One solution to the 787's weight gain, she said, may be for Boeing to convince customers to shift orders to the larger 787-9, where it will be easier for Boeing engineers to shed weight from the plane's design. The problem is that about three-quarters of the orders placed for the 787 are for the smaller plane.

"To the casual observer, experience says despite the big challenges, [Boeing] can get it done as they have before," Wood said. "We concur that the 787 will get righted, but not likely on schedule."

Boeing executives say they will meet their deadlines and point to a supply chain that has started to work in sync, important given that about 80 percent of the plane's manufacturing is outsourced to third-party contractors.

The large use of composites employed by Boeing in the 787 and by France-based Airbus SAS in its A350-XWB, due to hit the market four years from now, promise to transform the experience of flying.

Aviation observers compare the improvements in technology with the introduction of the Boeing 747 jumbo jet, which opened up trans-continental flying to the masses in the 1970s, or the first generation of jetliners that replaced propeller-driven aircraft and shortened flights during the 1950s.

"We are confident that we have created an airplane that truly changes the game," said Scott Fancher, Boeing vice president and general manager of the 787 program.

The new planes have oversize windows that are designed to make the aircraft feel roomier. Replacing metal with stronger and more flexible composites will enable the oxygen piped through the planes to be a richer mix that's more comfortable for passengers, more humid and closer to the air at sea level.

The planes, coming as trade barriers to overseas air travel tumble, will also change how airlines operate, analysts predict.

International carriers will no longer have to concentrate long-range flying on hubs or high-traffic routes, where there's sufficient demand for flying to fill Boeing 747 jumbos seating upward of 300 people. The midsize 787 is designed to fly as far as those jets, while consuming about 20 percent less fuel, enabling carriers to economically link smaller cities.

"The first flight of the 787 is a real achievement, and it underscores the continual advancements in commercial aircraft that come about because of healthy competition," Clay McConnell, vice president of Airbus, said in a statement saluting Boeing.

At least four 787s were parked within sight of onlookers at Paine Field on Tuesday. The second 787 is due to fly later this month. Inside the giant factory, workers are assembling the 14th Dreamliner, wrote aerospace analyst Howard Rubel in a Monday research report.

At 9:50 a.m. Pacific standard time, the Dreamliner's engines started, and a few minutes later it pulled away from a parking space that placed it next to a 787 painted in the colors of All Nippon Airways.

Helicopters gathered overhead, including one loaded with IMAX camera equipment, part of a movie that will document that aircraft's birth.

The 787 rolled to the south end of the airport at a stately pace. And then as pilots Carriker and Neville ran through preflight tests one last time, two chase planes flew over the field in tight formation and then circled back.

They provided an honor guard to the 787 as it roared into action.

"The airplane flew beautifully," Neville said. "There were no surprises."

..

[eomer]

Originally Posted by Momo1435

The flight was cut short because of the bad weather

Yes, that's a pitty for pictures and video.
But this plane look great: this is a good new for aviation.

[japanese001]

[IndiansUnite]

Congrats to Boeing. Despite many problems leading to delays they finally managed to stick to their 2009 end promise.

There's some amazing aerial footage by chase planes here -> http://blog.seattlepi.com/aerospace/...sp?source=mypi

[skytrax]