Boeing 787 Update

First GEnx-powered 787 Flies

June was an eventful month for Boeing’s 787 programme. On 16 June, the first 787 fitted with General Electric (GE) GEnx engines (ZA005, the fifth test aircraft) flew for the first time, making a 3-hour 45-minute flight.

The pilots for the flight, Captains Mike Bryan and Mike Carriker, said the aircraft handled exactly as they had expected. According to Bryan, “It was just like every other 787 flight that I’ve flown in the last several months.”

ZA005 will be used to test the General Electric engine package and demonstrate that the changes made with the new engine do not change the aeroplane’s handling characteristics.

The next day, on June 17, the 787 fleet reached the 1,000 flight-hour milestone in the flight test programme. Boeing says it is “about 40% through the test conditions required to certify the first version” of the 787.

The sixth and final 787 to join the flight test programme is expected to fly before the end of this month.

Lightning Strike

Only two days after the first GE-powered 787 flew, ZA001—the first Boeing 787 to fly—was struck by lightning during a thunderstorm while on a routine test flight. The head of the 787 programme, Scott Francher, said that the fuselage, wings and systems all appeared to be undamaged.

The aeroplane’s largely composite construction made lightning protection a particular challenge for Boeing’s engineers, as composite material does not conduct electricity. In order to deal with the lightning issue, a copper mesh is embedded under the outer layer of skin in order to disperse electrical current from lightning. The mesh is placed strategically in the nose, wings and tail, which are the areas most commonly struck by lightning during flight.

The lack of damage to the aircraft’s systems was an important (if inadvertent) validation of their integrity, as there is much greater reliance on electrical systems in the 787 than in previous aircraft.

It was always intended that lightning tests would be part of the testing programme for the 787, but the planned tests were intended to be simulated on the ground and Boeing said it doesn’t intentionally look for lightning in the sky. Nevertheless, Mike Delaney, the chief project engineer, said that lightning strikes during test flights are reassuring to the public and are expected. “My personal wish is that these test airplanes get struck a lot,” he said last year.

Boeing Identifies “Workmanship Issues” on the 787’s Horizontal Stabilisers

At the end of last month, Boeing identified what it described as a “workmanship issue” with the assembly of the aircraft’s horizontal stabilisers. It is reported that some aircraft apparently have issues with improperly installed shims and the torque of associated fasteners. According to Boeing, the improperly installed shims could have led to a “lower than expected longevity” for the joints in the horizontal stabiliser. As a result, Boeing says it will inspect all of the aircraft and rework them if discrepancies are found.

The company says it has already implemented an inspection and rework plan for aeroplanes in production. For those aeroplanes that require rework, Boeing says it will take up to eight days for each aeroplane.

The company says it is not unusual for such issues to arise in the course of production programs—they are identified, dispositioned and dealt with through normal processes. Boeing also pointed out that reports that the 787 fleet was “grounded” were incorrect. The company made the decision to inspect the horizontal stabilisers on all flight test aeroplanes—a process only expected to take one or two days—before their next flights to ensure any rework was completed as quickly as possible. Boeing said that it was a “prudent decision” to carry out the inspections before flying again.

Boeing says it expects that the issue will be addressed within the existing programme schedule and will not affect the delivery timetable for the first 787, which is scheduled to be delivered to ANA by the end of this year.