Another Dreamliner Setback -- First Flight Delayed | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-04.14.25

Airborne-NextGen-04.15.25

AirborneUnlimited-04.16.25

Airborne-AffordableFliers-04.17.25

SunnFun-DayFour-04.03.25

Tue, Jun 23, 2009

Another Dreamliner Setback -- First Flight Delayed

First Flight Of B787 Postponed, No New Date Set

Boeing announced Tuesday that first flight of the 787 Dreamliner will be postponed due to a need to reinforce an area within the side of the fuselage of the aircraft.

The need was identified during the recent regularly scheduled tests on the full-scale static test airplane. Preliminary analysis indicated that flight test could proceed this month as planned. However, after further testing and consideration of possible modified flight test plans, the decision was made late last week that first flight should instead be postponed until productive flight testing could occur.

First flight and first delivery will be rescheduled following the final determination of the required modification and testing plan. It will be several weeks before the new schedule is available. The 787 team will continue with other aspects of testing on Airplane #1, including final gauntlet testing and low-speed taxiing. Work will also continue on the other five flight test aircraft and the subsequent aircraft in the production system.

Scott Carson, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes said a team of experts has already identified several potential solutions.

"Consideration was given to a temporary solution that would allow us to fly as scheduled, but we ultimately concluded that the right thing was to develop, design, test and incorporate a permanent modification to the localized area requiring reinforcement. Structural modifications like these are not uncommon in the development of new airplanes, and this is not an issue related to our choice of materials or the assembly and installation work of our team," Carson said.

FMI: www.boeing.com

Advertisement

More News

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (04.18.25)

“The New York region is home to three of the world’s preeminent airports, serving upwards of 150 million passengers annually. But the drive from Manhattan to any of the>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (04.18.25): DETRESFA (Distress Phrase) [ICAO]

DETRESFA (Distress Phrase) [ICAO] The code word used to designate an emergency phase wherein there is reasonable certainty that an aircraft and its occupants are threatened by grav>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (04.18.25)

Aero Linx: The Cradle of Aviation Museum The Cradle of Aviation Museum is an aviation and spaceflight museum located in East Garden City, New York on Long Island to commemorate Lon>[...]

Airborne 04.14.25: H2-Powered R44, Oshkosh Organized Chaos, UAL School Sued

Also: Spirit CEO Resigns, ‘Mental Health in Aviation’, U-2 Dragon Lady, Elixir Delivers Unither Bioelectronics announced that its modified Robinson R44 helicopter made >[...]

Airborne Affordable Flyers 04.17.25: HKS Support Upgrade, Van's Tanks, eBristell

Also: 160-hp Carbon Cub UL, Flybox Avionics, Blackshape Aircraft, Scalebirds Update Light sport engine manufacturer HKS recently announced that it will be relocating its parts supp>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC