Boeing – Page 7 – Flightstory.net

Southwest Boeing 737 – Hole in Fuselage

On Monday evening, Southwest Airlines flight 2294, a Boeing 737-300, made an emergency landing at Charleston after a hole opened in the fuselage. The Flight was on its way from Nashville to Baltimore at 34,000 feet when it depressurized and the oxygen masks deployed.

Photo from outside – Looking at upper fuselage

Southwest Airlines Flight 2294 - Hole in Fuselage

Photo from inside – Cabin head covering being sucked out

Southwest Airlines Flight 2294 Hole in Cabin

It’s still not clear what caused the hole, about one foot square, in the upper fuselage near the vertical stabilizer. Southwest Airlines says it’s found no evidence of structural problems in the rest of its 200 Boeing 737-300 aircraft. Passengers said they heard a “loud pop” about 45 minutes into the flight. NTSB is investigating.

Video by AP

Raw Video filmed by passenger

Video – 787 Dreamliner Test on Runway

Boeing 787 test plane ZA001 (N787BA) recently conducted its first taxi tests at Paine Field. This is the first time the Boeing 787 has moved on a runway under its own power. The test pilots were checking the steering and braking system.
The Rolls Royce Trent 1000 just sounds great! Reminds me of the amazing GE90 🙂

Video by daveaboyac

This video shows further testing, but is without sound, unfortunately:

First Australian F/A-18F Super Hornet Unveiled

Boeing today announced the unveiling of the first F/A-18F Block II Super Hornet for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). The aircraft will be delivered later this month.

Back in March 2007, the Australian government placed the order of 24 F/A-18F multirole fighters, making that country the first international Super Hornet customer. The remaining 23 Super Hornets, each equipped with the Raytheon-built APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, will be delivered to the RAAF throughout 2010 and 2011.

Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) F/A-18F Block II Super Hornet

The Block II F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is a multirole aircraft, able to perform virtually every mission in the tactical spectrum, including air superiority, day/night strike with precision-guided weapons, fighter escort, close air support, suppression of enemy air defenses, maritime strike, reconnaissance, forward air control and tanker missions. Boeing has delivered more than 395 F/A-18E/Fs to the U.S. Navy.

Source: Boeing
Photo: Boeing

Photos – 747-8 Freighter – Boeing Joins Wings with Body

Boeing today announced that they have completed another milestone in the assembly of the first 747-8 Freighter by joining the wings to the fuselage. The 40-foot (12 m) fuselage section was attached to the center wing box in the final assembly bay at the factory in Everett. The wing and center section are now being prepared for final body join, when the assembly will be connected to the forward and aft fuselage sections.

Boeing 747-8 Freighter Wings and Fuselage Joining

The 747 Program has secured 78 orders from cargo operators for the new 747-8 Freighter. Cargolux, Nippon Cargo Airlines, AirBridgeCargo Airlines, Atlas Air, Cathay Pacific, Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, Emirates SkyCargo, Guggenheim and Korean Air all have placed orders for the airplane.

Source & Photos: Boeing

Safety Report – 06/29/2009

US Airways Flight AWE1241 Boeing 737-400 Collapsed Nose Wheel
Date: 06/29/2009 15:20
Location: Tampa, FL
Aircraft Type: Boeing 737-400 Registration: Unknown
Operator: US Airways Flight: AWE1241
Phase: Landing
Level of Damage: Unknown
Injuries & Fatalities: None
Description: On landing the nose wheel tire blew and nose gear collapsed, no injuries reported

Video

Source: FAA
Correctness of this posting is not guaranteed & completeness not intended. This posting is just for informational purpose.

Boeing 787 First Flight Delayed Again

Boeing today announced that the first flight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner has been delayed again for an indefinite time.

The 787 Dreamliner was originally scheduled to take its first flight early 2008. Actually, until the announcement today, its maiden flight was planned for the end of June 09. The date was now delayed for the sixth time.

Reason for the new delay is “the need of reinforcement in an area within the side-of-body section of the aircraft”.

The need was identified during the recent scheduled tests on the full-scale static test airplane. Preliminary analysis indicated that flight test could proceed this month as planned. However, after further testing and consideration of possible modified flight test plans, the decision was made late last week that first flight should instead be postponed until productive flight testing could occur.

Boeing 787 Test Plane on Tarmac First flight and first delivery will be rescheduled following the final determination of the required modification and testing plan. It will be several weeks before the new schedule is available. The 787 team will continue 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.

“Consideration was given to a temporary solution that would allow us to fly as scheduled, but we ultimately concluded that the right thing was to develop, design, test and incorporate a permanent modification to the localized 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.

… Well, we’ll see if the never ending story of delays will find an end in near future …

Source: Boeing
Photo: Boeing

Photos – 787 with ANA Livery Moved to Flight Line

The second Boeing 787 Dreamliner has moved to the flight line to begin fuel testing. This is the second of six 787s being used in the flight-test program.

Each of the six flight-test airplanes will be used for a specific set of tests during the flight-test program. This airplane, designated ZA002, will focus on systems performance. Like its predecessor, ZA001, this airplane has successfully completed a rigorous series of tests while still in the factory.

ZA002 features the livery of the Dreamliner’s launch customer, ANA (All Nippon Airways) of Japan.

ANA (All Nippon Airways) Boeing 787 Dreamliner ZA002

Photos: Boeing
Source: Boeing

Photo – Ocean Airlines B747 F-GCBF Stored in Hong Kong

During my stay in Hong Kong a few weeks ago, I was able to take at shot of F-GCBF. The Boeing 747-228B(SF), formerly operated by Ocean Airlines, is sitting there on the tarmac since August 2007. It is stored at Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok (HKG / VHHH) with uncertain future. Three of its engines were already removed.

Ocean Airlines Boeing 747-228B(SF) F-GCBF stored in Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok (HKG / VHHH)

Ocean Airlines was a cargo airline based in Italy. They stopped flying in October 2007 and suspended operations in April 2008.

Maybe some enthusiast might be interested in this photo. 🙂

Photos – Boeing Announces BBJ Convertible Availability

At EBACE (European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition) Boeing today announced the availability of the BBJ Convertible (BBJ C).

The Convertible version of the BBJ (Boeing Business Jet) allows the airplane to be reconfigured from all-passenger to all-cargo configuration in less than 8 hours.

Governments, corporations and private individuals can quickly change from transporting VIPs, staff or troops to delivering disaster-relief supplies or configuring for medical evacuation. There is room for transporting tools, parts and machinery; race cars or race horses; or equipment for touring bands and musicians.

Boeing Business Jet Convertible (BBJ C) Passenger Cabin

BBJ C - Boeing Business Jet Convertible - Cargo Hold

Boeing recently finalized an agreement with Greenpoint Technologies to provide 747-8 VIP owners and their chosen completion centers with a kit that adds 75 square-meters of space to the airplane’s crown. The Overhead Space Utilization or OSU kit is installed post production above the main cabin ceilings between doors three and five. The kit includes stairs from the main deck to the space above. Greenpoint offers three artistically engineered OSU designs.

BBJ owners receiving their airplanes after mid-2011 will reduce fuel consumption by 2 percent through a combination of airframe and engine improvements that Boeing announced in late April. Airplane structural improvements will reduce drag on the airplane, reducing fuel use by about 1 percent.
Boeing’s engine partner, CFM is contributing a further 1 percent fuel savings through hardware changes to its CFM56-7B Evolution engine.

Source & Photos: Boeing

Photo – 50th 767 Delivered to Japan Airlines

Boeing last week delivered the 50th Boeing 767 jetliner, a 767-346ER (Registration: JA622J) to Japan Airlines (JAL), the fifth-largest 767 operator in the world.
The 767-300ER is the 404th Boeing airplane delivered to Tokyo-based JAL Group, a Boeing- and McDonnell Douglas-heritage customer since 1960.

Japan Airlines (JAL) 50th Boeing 767 (767-346ER - JA622J)

Source & Photo: Boeing