A New Problem For The Dreamliner

Alas, there's a new snag to report involving Boeing's struggle to bring its 787 Dreamliner to production.

During his update Tuesday on the troubled program's progress at the Farnborough International Airshow, 787 program chief Pat Shanahan admitted there's an "air bubble" in the software that controls the airliner's braking system.

Boeing says the problem lies in the control software used in the plane's brake monitoring system. GE Aviation Systems subcontracted the work to Hydro-Aire, part of Crane Aerospace and Electrics. Crane must go back and rewrite parts of the brake control code to comply with certification standards.

"We need to push harder on the brake system" in order to achieve Boeing's certification targets, Shanahan told Reuters. "It's not that the brakes don't work, it's the traceability of the software.

"I'm confident it will be done. It's General Electric," he added. Crane couldn't be reached for comment by Reuters.

As ANN reported Wednesday, Boeing says the first 787 remains on track for its first flight later this year... and Boeing still maintains the first customer aircraft will be delivered, certified, in the third quarter of 2009.

"Airplane One is in really good shape," said Shanahan.

But the software issue -- and other continuing glitches, including problems with the center fuselage assembly process, and a damaged body section for Dreamliner #4 -- could pose problems for the certification schedule down the line.

Shanahan admits those fixes are eating into the safety buffer Boeing added into its revised schedule, announced in April. "I'm eating margin I don't want to eat," he said.

FMI: www.boeing.com, www.craneae.com