Boeing Says Dreamliner Could Fly on Dec 15th
 

Boeing [BA 55.01 --- UNCH (0) ] said on Thursday it has opened the flight-test window for its 787 Dreamliner starting December 15, allaying concerns that the hotly anticipated aircraft -- already two years behind schedule -- will miss its latest target of taking to the skies before year end.

Boeing said that barring bad weather or other major changes, the first flight will take off at 10 a.m. local time in Seattle. The date is also dependent on "final internal reviews, taxi test, and receiving the final experimental ticket from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration," Boeing added.

A test-flight date marks a huge step in the development of the revolutionary airplane, whose promise of increased fuel efficiency and comfort has attracted a record number of orders for a plane still in development.

"Following the successful completion of static testing to validate the side-of-body modification, we have been working through a number of key preflight tests, " Boeing said in a letter late on Thursday. "With high-speed taxi testing scheduled in the coming days, we're on track for first flight soon thereafter."

In the last two years, Boeing has announced five embarrassing test-flight delays that resulted in delays to the delivery schedule as well.


The program suffered problems with suppliers, a 2008 labor strike and structural issues. In June, Boeing announced a test flight delay after it discovered a design flaw that required a side-of-body repair.

The flight from Paine Field to Boeing Field -- both in the Seattle area -- will take about three hours. The company has not disclosed who will be on hand to witness the event.

The Dreamliner concept is based on the use of composite materials, which make up 50 percent of the primary structure. The materials are much lighter than aluminum, which makes the skin of traditional commercial airplanes.

The lighter structure allows the plane to consume 20 percent less fuel than comparable aircraft. Fuel efficiency has great appeal to airlines, which have been battered in recent years by the volatile expense.

Additionally, composite materials do not fatigue and therefore require fewer maintenance checks, Boeing says. The company claims that a 787 costs 30 percent less to maintain than competing aircraft.

There are three versions of the plane with varying capacities and ranges in the Dreamliner family: the 787-8, 787-9, and the 787-3. The planes, which have been in development since the first part of the decade, have list prices between $105 million and $205.5 million.

On what, how you and your wife and going to be living next to me in MSP. We will share snow blowers, snow machines, and a bratwurst machine? :eek:

Ftb:

You know what I am talking about. There are a few opportunities for bases that we have been looking at. Trying to do one in particular now would be great, but probably not the best thing.

My point about changes to this are; Almost every time they brief the AE the day before there are last minute changes to it. It is truly a moving target to the moment they hit publish.

We can go ice fishing with Bar!! :D

by the way, what is the record for most consecutive shortcalls? I'm at 4. I can only do one more so at most I'll have 5 in a row and that will give me 6 for the month. So I have 4 in a row going for 5. I don't mind. I've requested them since I can do it from my living room.

Seems to me the moving doesn't stop til the awards are posted.

That is true. They are only posting the min number of awards on each bid posting.

I hope we will be able to go Ice Fishing with Bar. :confused:

I think what Congress is worried about is the (hopefully) small number of extremely cheap pilots who get in late the night before, sleep in the crewroom, then head off to the line.

It's the usual "a few bad eggs ruining it for everyone else" yadda, yadda . .

Your Joking right? Lets see, in the last 10 years:

DFW - closed.
PDX - closed.
MCO - closed.
CVG - decimated.
LAX - Booming - Oh wait, thats Alaska!

It sucks to reduce flying in any base, but I would say, unfortunately, that there has been plenty of "pain" already spread around the DAL system.

Scoop

Hey Moron, You'll need this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/GRUMPY-OLD-MEN-G...d=p3286.c0.m14

and this

http://www.strikemaster.com/press_release/ice_gear.html

Regards,
Putz