Boeing Postpones 787 First Flight

On June 23, Boeing announced that the first flight of the 787 Dreamliner would be postponed due to a need to reinforce an area within the side-of-body section of the aircraft.

According to Boeing, the need was identified during recent regularly scheduled tests on the full-scale static test aeroplane. Preliminary analysis indicated that flight test could proceed in June as planned. However, after further testing and consideration of possible modified flight test plans, the decision was made to postpone the first flight “until productive flight testing could occur”.

Boeing now says that the first flight and first delivery will be rescheduled “following the final determination of the required modification and testing plan”, and that it will be several weeks before the new schedule is available. The 787 team is continuing 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.

He said the company had considered a temporary solution that would allow it to fly the 787 as scheduled, but that Boeing ultimately concluded that the right thing was to develop, design, test and incorporate a permanent modification to the localised 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.

Boeing’s financial guidance will be updated to reflect any impact of these changes when the company issues its second quarter 2009 earnings report in July.