Category: Boeing

Boeing today announced a six-month delay in its planned initial deliveries of the 787 Dreamliner due to continued challenges completing assembly of the first airplanes.
Deliveries of the Dreamliner are now slated to begin in late November or December 2008, versus an original target of May 2008. First flight is now anticipated around the end of first quarter 2008.
The company said the financial impact of the delay would not be material to earnings and that its earnings guidance for 2007 and 2008 remained unchanged.
“We are disappointed over the schedule changes that we are announcing today,” said Boeing Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Jim McNerney. “Notwithstanding the challenges that we are experiencing in bringing forward this game-changing product, we remain confident in the design of the 787, and in the fundamental innovation and technologies that underpin it.”
Early last month, Boeing announced a delay in the planned first flight of the 787 citing ongoing challenges with out-of-sequence production work, including parts shortages, and remaining software and systems integration activities. The company also acknowledged increasing risk to the delivery schedule, indicating that the margin to accommodate unexpected issues had been eliminated. The newly revised schedule for first flight and first delivery addresses the production challenges and restores margin for the program to deal with issues that may be uncovered in final ground or flight testing. Boeing also said today that flight control software and systems integration activities are not pacing items in the revised schedule for first flight.
“While we have made some progress over the past several weeks completing work on our early production airplanes and improving parts availability across the production system, the pace of that progress has not been sufficient to support our previous plans for first delivery or first flight,” said Scott Carson, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “We deeply regret the impact these delays will have on our customers, and we are committed to working with them to minimize any disruption to their plans.
“The most important commitment we’ve made to our customers is to deliver an airplane that performs to their expectations over the long life of the program. These changes to our schedule will help ensure we do just that,” Carson said.

Almost 9 months after the Adam Air Boeing 737-4Q8 (PK-KKW) crashed into the sea near Sulawesi (Indonesia), the flight data recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR) have been recovered. Both recorders have been retrieved by US company Phoenix International. The FDR was recovered on Monday Aug. 27 at noon and the CVR was recovered on Tuesday Aug. 28 at 10am, found not far from each other at a depth of around 1,800m.

The recorders will now be sent to the National Transportation Safety Board in the United States to determine the cause of the accident. Efforts to recover the so-called “black boxes” have been delayed for months due to disagreements over who should pay. Tatang Kurniadi, chairman of Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety declined to comment when asked who was paying the estimated $3m bill for recovering the recorders.
Indonesia is trying to improve its safety image after three aircraft accidents this year prompted the European Union to blacklist all of country’s airlines.
The US Federal Aviation Administration has also downgraded Indonesia’s safety rating to its lowest category.
The Adam Air Boeing 737 Flight 574 plunged into the ocean off the island of Sulawesi on January 1, killing all 102 people on board. The 17-year-old plane was heading from Surabaya in East Java to Manado in northern Sulawesi when it vanished in bad weather. The plane made no distress call, although the pilot had reported concerns over crosswinds.

Boeing today announced that an order from Brazil’s TAM Airlines for 4 additional 777-300ERs brings to 1003 the number of 777s ordered since the first order of the popular widebody in 1990. Today’s announcement also means that, to date in 2007, Boeing has received orders for 100 of the popular 777s.
TAM is Brazil’s largest airline, flying both domestic and international routes. TAM became the first Latin American airline to incorporate the 777-300ER into its long-range fleet plan when it booked its initial order for four 777-300ERs earlier this year. TAM’s first 777-300ER is scheduled to be delivered in June 2008. Prior to ordering these eight 777s, TAM was an exclusive Airbus operator.
“TAM’s recent orders confirm airline preference for the 777 family which commands more than a 65 percent market share in its category because of its lower operating costs, passenger pleasing cabin and unmatched reliability, ” said Larry Loftis, vice president, Boeing 777 Program. “We have continually enhanced and improved the performance of the 777 family of airplanes. Today, we have grown that family to include two, new, longer range 777s and a freighter version that will enter service in the fourth quarter of 2008.”
Marco Antonio Bologna, TAM’s CEO said the 777-300ER acquisitions are an important step for TAM’s growth in the long-haul international market. “The Boeing 777 provides TAM with unmatched revenue-generating capability, beginning with fuel savings and environmental benefits,” Bologna said. “Further, this is a plane long-haul passengers recognize for its spaciousness, comfort and award-winning interiors.”
The fuel-efficient 777-300ER is the world’s largest long-range twin-engine jetliner capable of carrying 365 passengers up to 7,880 nautical miles (14,594 kilometers). The efficient twin-engine design provides the lowest fuel consumption and overall operating costs in its class.

Boeing today delivered its 3000th widebody airplane from its Everett, Washington, site. The airplane was a 777-200ER (Extended Range) model that was delivered to Korean Air.
The 3,000 airplanes built and delivered from the Boeing Everett factory include 747, 767 and 777 models. The site is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.
“We are honored to receive the 3,000th airplane assembled at the Everett plant,” said J.H. Lee, president and COO, Korean Air. “Boeing Everett employees have made high-quality, reliable airplanes that have played a critical role in the success of our airline.”
The 3,000th airplane is joining the Korean Air fleet of 123 airplanes, which includes 13 777-200ERs, four 777-300s, 24 747-400s and 21 747-400 Freighters. Korean Air plans to use the new 777 for long-haul business routes to the Americas, Europe and the Middle East.

Korean Air also has 35 additional airplanes on order from the Everett programs including 777-300ERs, 777 Freighters, 747-8 Freighters and 787 Dreamliners. In addition, the airline has four 737s on order from the Boeing factory in Renton, Wash.
“This Korean Air 777 exemplifies the amazing accomplishments that have taken place at this factory over the past 40 years,” said Ross R. Bogue, vice president and general manager, 747/767/777 Programs and Everett site. “This milestone is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of our Boeing employees, suppliers and the community. Our focus on the customer enables us to produce airplanes that provide the highest levels of safety, quality, reliability and value.”
Over the years, the 3,000 widebody airplanes assembled at the Everett site have established a strong track record. Combined, the 747, 767 and 777 have completed more than 34.5 million flights through June 2007. They have logged approximately 148 million flight hours or nearly 17,000 years of flight time. The airplanes have flown approximately 71 billion nautical miles (131 billion kilometers), which is the equivalent of flying around the world 3.3 million times.
“We can all take great pride in the achievements these airplanes have made and continue to make,” Bogue said. “The Boeing 747, 767 and 777 are amazing airplanes with an unparalleled record of reliability, which is illustrated by the number of Boeing widebody airplanes in service today.”
Currently, more than 80 percent of the airplanes built at the Everett site — approximately 2,610 airplanes — are in service around the world.
The 3,000th-delivery milestone comes just nine years after the Everett site celebrated its 2,000th delivery — a 747-400 taken by British Airways May 15, 1998. The plant’s 1,000th widebody delivery was a 767-300ER delivered to Scandinavian Airlines on Aug. 14, 1989.
Boeing added the DC-10 and MD-11 airplanes to its widebody family in the 1997 merger with McDonnell Douglas. Deliveries of these widebody commercial airplanes totaled 586 when production ceased in 2000. However, these airplanes are not included in this milestone since none of those airplanes were assembled at the Everett site.

The innovative Boeing Blended Wing Body (BWB) research aircraft – designated the X-48B – flew for the first time last week at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
The 21-foot wingspan, 500-pound unmanned test vehicle took off for the first time at 8:42 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time on July 20 and climbed to an altitude of 7,500 feet before landing 31 minutes later.
“We’ve successfully passed another milestone in our work to explore and validate the structural, aerodynamic and operational efficiencies of the BWB concept,” said Bob Liebeck, BWB program manager for Boeing Phantom Works, the company’s advanced R&D unit. “We already have begun to compare actual flight-test data with the data generated earlier by our computer models and in the wind tunnel.”

The X-48B flight test vehicle was developed by Boeing Phantom Works in cooperation with NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to gather detailed information about the stability and flight-control characteristics of the BWB design, especially during takeoffs and landings. Up to 25 flights are planned to gather data in these low-speed flight regimes. Following completion of low-speed flight testing, the X-48B likely will be used to test the BWB’s low-noise characteristics, as well as BWB handling characteristics at transonic speeds.
Two X-48B research vehicles have been built. The vehicle that flew on July 20 is Ship 2, which also was used for ground and taxi testing. Ship 1, a duplicate of Ship 2, completed extensive wind tunnel testing in 2006 at the Old Dominion University NASA Langley Full-Scale Tunnel in Virginia. Ship 1 will be available for use as a backup during the flight test program.
Three turbojet engines enable the composite-skinned research vehicle to fly up to 10,000 feet and 120 knots in its low-speed configuration. Modifications would need to be made to the vehicle to enable it to fly at higher speeds. The unmanned aircraft is remotely piloted from a ground control station in which the pilot uses conventional aircraft controls and instrumentation while looking at a monitor fed by a forward-looking camera on the aircraft.

The Boeing BWB design resembles a flying wing, but differs in that the wing blends smoothly into a wide, flat, tailless fuselage. This fuselage blending helps to get additional lift with less drag compared to a circular fuselage. This translates to reduced fuel use at cruise conditions. And because the engines mount high on the back of the aircraft, there is less noise inside and on the ground when it is in flight.
“While Boeing constantly explores and applies innovative technologies to enhance its current and next-generation products, the X-48B is a good example of how Boeing also looks much farther into the future at revolutionary concepts that promise even greater breakthroughs in flight,” said Bob Krieger, Boeing chief technology officer and president of Phantom Works.
While a commercial passenger application for the BWB concept is not in Boeing’s current 20-year market outlook, the Advanced Systems organization of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems’ (IDS) is closely monitoring the research based on the BWB’s potential as a flexible, long-range, high-capacity military aircraft.
“The BWB concept holds tremendous promise for the future of military aviation as a multi-purpose military platform in 15 to 20 years,” said Darryl Davis, Boeing IDS Advanced Systems vice president and general manager of Advanced Precision Engagement and Mobility Systems. “Its unique design attributes will result in less fuel burn and a greatly reduced noise footprint, which are important capabilities to offer our Air Force and mobility customers.”
NASA’s participation in the project is focused on fundamental, edge-of-the-envelope flight dynamics and structural concepts of the BWB. Along with hosting the X-48B flight test and research activities, NASA Dryden provided engineering and technical support – expertise garnered from years of operating cutting-edge unmanned air vehicles.
The two X-48B research vehicles were built by Cranfield Aerospace Ltd., in the United Kingdom, in accordance with Boeing requirements.