Second Round Of Taxi Tests Completed Last Week

Boeing Vice President for Marketing Randy Tinseth said in his blog that a new timeline for the B787 Dreamliner may come late this quarter, which would be the end of September. "(O)ur focus is on developing and implementing a detailed plan for design, analysis, component tests, full-scale static testing and production modification. This takes time, resources and many organizations working together. We plan to announce the new program schedule later this quarter," he wrote on Monday.

Tinseth also reported that the second dreamliner (ZA002) completed low speed taxi tests at Paine field last week. The aircraft was painted in ANA livery, one of the airlines waiting for production to get underway. The tests included taxi speeds up to 100 knots, as well as a 'brakes only' stopping tests for the airplane.

ZA001 Taxi Test July Photo Courtesy Boeing

Tinseth said the "side of body" modifications of the test airplanes still need to be resolved before they are ready to fly. Meanwhile "(t)he team tells me the airplane is performing well, and completing this testing now will be very helpful as we get closer to first flight on Airplane #1," he wrote in the blog.

Boeing engineers will now analyze the data collected from this second round of taxi tests.

FMI: http://boeingblogs.com/randy/