Farnborough Show News - July 14, 2008 - (Page 104)

FA R N B O R O U G H 2 0 0 8 Boeing Points to Progress on 787 engines and beginning aircraft hydraulics tests. Boeing began the 787’s “power on” sequence early last month and announced success on June 20. “The milestone was significant not just from the standpoint of a technical accomplishment,” Shanahan said, but as “a programmatic accomplishment.” “Now we have an airplane,” Shanahan told reporters in a pre-Farnborough briefing last week. He said that “mid-body engineering changes” and the “incomplete work from Global Aeronautical” (a supplier in which Boeing is taking a 50% stake) have “probably had the most impact on our program.” “Over the past year we have missed a number of scheduled milestones and this really puts the step back into the team,” Shanahan said of the power-up exercise. “When we brought power onto the airplane, it worked almost perfectly. I attribute that to the hundreds of hours of laboratory testing that we did. Doing that work offline reduced a lot of risk. “The milestone reflects millions of decisions over a Boeing last month completed ‘Power On’ for the first 787 Dreamliner. The number of years that came test sequence lasted for just over a week and proved the functionality and together with literally the installation of the airplane’s electric systems, Boeing says. Running tests push of a button.” in the flight deck are (from left) James Townsend, aviation manufacturing Boeing is also talking up technician inspector; Allen Smith, test technician; Jon Stephenson, production test manufacturing engineer; and Riger Vazquez Jr., production 787 structural progress, notably the successful comtest team leader. It was supposed to be in service by now, and instead Boeing will be no more specific than “the fourth quarter” (late October is targeted) for first flight of its 21st-century wunderfluger, the allcomposite 787 Dreamliner. First delivery, to All Nippon Airways, is now expected in third quarter 2009—somewhat later than the originally promised May 31, 2008. But Boeing has powered up the first 787-8 after rolling it out (and rolling it back in) just one year ago, is disciplining suppliers (it has bought into at least one), and according to Boeing vp Pat Shanahan, who was named general manager of the 787 program this past October, is mounting ‘Now we have an airplane,’ says Pat Shanahan. Soothing the Customer “Have we talked to the customers about the schedules? Yes,” says Boeing 787 program chief Pat Shanahan, whose aircraft is more than a year late. “Have we negotiated everything? No.” ‘The Right Airplane,’ Says Boeing, and ‘a New Value Statement’ As “programmatics” dominate all mention of the 787, the airplane’s advantages tend to be forgotten, says Pat Shanahan, who was named vp and general manager for the new jet in October 2007. “From the get-go, this was a new value statement for the airlines,” Shanahan says. “Fundamentally the ’87 uses 20% less fuel than a similarly sized 767, and with fuel prices rising you can see that over half the operating costs for the airline are associated with fuel today. The ’87 also requires less maintenance, and obviously less maintenance means lower costs as well. We have promised the airlines that we would achieve a 30% reduction in maintenance costs and we are on track to meet that target.” With the 787, “You get a midsize airplane with the range of a jumbo jet,” Shanahan says. Cabin altitude will be 2,000 feet lower than the cabin pressure of today’s commercial airplanes “and that is going to make people feel better on arrival.” “The air is cleaner,” Shanahan said. “The team has done an excellent job of incorporating Hepa filtration and gaseous purification. People will find flying on this airplane refreshing. The humidity is higher, the flight control laws allow for a smoother more stable ride. There is more natural lighting. The windows are larger. There is more stowage space.” “We have sold more airplanes faster than any other model in history,” he said. “To date we have sold nearly 900 787s to 58 customers and the distribution geographically is very broad… much, much more diverse than any model we have sold. The type of operator that we have sold into is much more diverse—leasing companies, the major airlines, the banks—so it is very attractive financially, it is very attractive geographically and the demand even in this last year where we have faced numerous programmatic issues has been strong. “We have had over 200 new orders in the past year, 63 of which were from eight existing customers,” Shanahan said. “So I think when you look at the product itself and the demand, you know we have got the right airplane.” 104 July 14, 2008 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Farnborough Show News - July 14, 2008

Farnborough Show News - July 14, 2008 Contents Thirty More Years CFM Reveals New Engine Boeing Reduces Forecast UAVs’ Quiet Revolution Finmeccanica: U.S. Success A Plethora of AESAs BAE North America Plus L-3 Becomes a Prime Better Late Than Never A Peek Behind the Curtain China’s J-10 Revealed Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner Breaking LM’s Hegemony

Farnborough Show News - July 14, 2008

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