Slight Landing Gear Problem Dealt With In Flight

The second Boeing 787 Dreamliner, ZA002, completed its first flight Tuesday. The all-new airplane, which features the livery of the Dreamliner's launch customer, ANA (All Nippon Airways) of Japan, took off from Paine Field in Everett, completed a two-hour flight and landed at Boeing Field in Seattle.

"We are delighted that the second Dreamliner is in the livery of our launch customer, ANA," said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 program. "We are honored by the airline's support and look forward to delivering ANA the first production airplane next year."

Captain Randy Neville was at the controls for the flight, with Chief Pilot Mike Carriker operating as co-pilot. Neville and Carriker took the airplane to an altitude of 13,000 feet (3,962 m) and an airspeed of 200 knots, or about 230 miles (370 km) per hour. The airplane took off at 9:09 a.m. PST and landed at 11:10 a.m. PST.

The Seattle Times reports that a ham radio operator monitoring the frequency used for the flight overheard that the T-33 chase planes noticed the nose gear "was tilted to the aft by 15 degrees." Neville broke off the first approach, and the problem was dealt with before landing. An ANN reader sent us a note that the aircraft had landed with the gear door hanging down, which could be an indication that the landing gear was manually extended.

Boeing spokeswoman Yvonne Leach said the problem was analyzed by ground-based flight test engineers and it was resolved while the plane was in the air. "We fixed it and it landed safely," said Leach. "At no time during this flight was the aircraft or the pilots in danger."

This is the second of six 787s being used in the airplane's flight-test program. Each of the airplanes will be used for a specific set of tests, with this airplane focusing on systems performance. Like its predecessor, ZA001, the airplane is powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines.

"We would like to convey our sincere congratulations to the Boeing team for its achievement of this milestone, and we look forward to the delivery into our fleet next year," said Shinichiro Ito, president and CEO of ANA.

FMI: www.boeing.com