Precautionary Landing Made At Moses Lake

Boeing's new Dreamliner suffered a slight bump in the road when one of the test aircraft experienced an "uncommanded loss of thrust in one of the engines." The test pilots on the flight made a precautionary landing at Moses Lake airport (KMWH) in central Washington State.

Dreamliner ZA001

Wired magazine reports that Boeing's Randy Tinseth posted news of the glitch on his blog. He said the problem was traced to a pressure sensor and was easily repaired. The airplane, ZA001, was flown back to Seattle after being fixed.

Boeing's flight test team has been reportedly pushing the envelope during the last few flights. They began flutter testing on Valentine's Day, assuring that any natural vibration in the flying surfaces naturally dampen out rather than amplify and cause structural failure.

Flight testing also continues on the 747-8, which was scheduled to fly to Moses Lake where much of Boeing's flight testing is done. That team will later go to Palmdale, CA, where the certification will be completed near the end of the year.

FMI: www.boeing.com