Mohammad Yahyavi Removed As Program Leader

Boeing said late last week that it has removed Mohammad "Mo" Yahyavi as the top executive of its delayed 747-8 program. The announcement came just one day following Boeing's announcement that the first delivery of the 787 would be pushed into at least February of 2011.

Management has taken much of the blame for the delays in both programs.

The Seattle Times reports that Boeing shifte Yahyavi to a 'special assignment', with no indication what his new duties would be. Program vice president Pat Shanahan announced the move to those in the program in an e-mail Friday afternoon. Shanahan will assume greater control over the overall program, the e-mail said.

747-8 Freighter

The 747-8 program delays may cause delivery of the first of the new freighters to slip into next year, much like the Dreamliner. Shanahan said last July that there had been come design issues that required "enhancement to the flight controls," which led to additional testing. No specific problem was ever identified to the media.

Flight testing on the stretch 747, which as a passenger aircraft will carry 476 people, did not start until February of 2010, though Yahyavi had told Boeing's board there would be three test aircraft flying by the end of 2009.

The 747-8 frieghter recently successfully completed a flight that tipped the scales at more than a million pounds at takeoff.

FMI: www.boeing.com