Sat, May 19, 2007
Now The Fun Begins... Assembly!
The puzzle pieces are all in place... now, Boeing has to
put them together. Early Thursday, the planemaker received the
final major assembly for the very first 787 Dreamliner at its
Everett, WA plant.
The integrated midbody fuselage consists of section 43, a
forward fuselage section made by Kawasaki Heavy Industries; section
11/45, the center wheel well and center wing tank, made by KHI and
Fuji Heavy Industries and joined at FHI; and sections 44 and 46,
center fuselage sections made by Alenia Aeronautica. It was joined
at Global Aeronautica in Charleston, SC.
The fuselage measures 84 feet long and 19 feet in diameter.
Like other segments Boeing has received over the past several
weeks, the fuselage segment was flown to Everett in the
Dreamlifter, a specially modified 747-400 used to transport major
787 assemblies. The Dreamlifter touched down at 1:58 am Thursday
morning.
Wrapped in black, the fuselage filled the cargo bay of the
Dreamlifter. Barely six inches of clearance surrounded the
structure.
"What an accomplishment for our entire 787 team," said Scott
Strode, 787 vice president of Airplane Definition and Production.
"This fuselage section represents the hard work of hundreds of
people around the globe. The Dreamliner is no dream anymore - it's
real, and it's here."
The fuselage was taken immediately into the 787 final assembly
factory. Final assembly of the first 787 has not yet begun, but the
delivery takes the team one step closer to that goal, and the
planned July 8 rollout of the first completed plane.
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