Boeing 787 Dreamliner's woes pile up

[rsmith6621]

By Dominic Gates

Seattle Times aerospace reporter

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Work remains to be done on the tail of a 787 Dreamliner at Paine Field in Everett. With mechanics working against a backlog of 20 partly completed Dreamliners, Boeing has temporarily halted final assembly of more.
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MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Work remains to be done on the tail of a 787 Dreamliner at Paine Field in Everett. With mechanics working against a backlog of 20 partly completed Dreamliners, Boeing has temporarily halted final assembly of more.

Unfinished Dreamliners are seen last week parked on the flight line at Paine Field in Everett. Beyond the 787's production problems, engine and electrical issues have raised reliability questions that could complicate the plane's certification for intercontinental flights.
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MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Unfinished Dreamliners are seen last week parked on the flight line at Paine Field in Everett. Beyond the 787's production problems, engine and electrical issues have raised reliability questions that could complicate the plane's certification for intercontinental flights.

Scott Fancher says his 787 supply chain is improving.
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MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Scott Fancher says his 787 supply chain is improving.

Firefighters responded when an onboard fire forced an emergency landing at the Laredo, Texas, airport during 787 test flight Nov. 9.
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RICARDO SANTOS / AP

Firefighters responded when an onboard fire forced an emergency landing at the Laredo, Texas, airport during 787 test flight Nov. 9.

Related

* Timeline | Dreamliner's history of delays (PDF)
* Qatar Airways sticks by Boeing 787 despite delays
* Fire-damaged Dreamliner returns to Boeing Field
* Albaugh hopeful on engine fixes for delayed 787
* Boeing says it is redesigning 787 Dreamliner electrical panel
* Boeing investigating to see if foreign object caused electrical fire
* Analyst says Boeing could delay 787 to 2012
* How will 787's new materials fare in a crash landing?

Interactive Timeline

How Boeing's commercial aircraft have evolved

What's wrong with the 787 Dreamliner?

A Rolls-Royce engine blew up on a test stand last summer. A proposed software and hardware fix has yet to be vetted by regulators.

An electrical fire on a test flight last month caused a cascading series of system failures. A redesign of the power-distribution system will have to be approved by regulators.

After those failures, the FAA has told Boeing that it won't get early certification needed to fly the 787 on transocean and transpolar routes without proof of engine and system reliability.

Alenia of Italy built the horizontal tails badly, and each one is different. Mechanics are slowly working through the 20 Dreamliners already built.

The morass of rework and unfinished installation of systems on the planes already rolled out — more than 100,000 tasks outstanding — will take many months to complete.

The supply chain is halted for the fourth time this year. The test planes are grounded. Boeing will announce, likely before Christmas, another delay in the first delivery.
As Boeing prepares to announce yet another delay for the 787 Dreamliner — at least three months, possibly six or more — the crucial jet program is in even worse shape than it appears.

The problems go well beyond the latest setback, an in-flight electrical fire last month that has grounded the test planes.

A year after the airplane's first flight, the cascade of systems failures caused by that fire, as well as two major problems since summer with the 787's Rolls-Royce engine, have raised red flags with aviation regulators.

A top Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) official 10 days ago warned Boeing that without further proof of the plane's reliability, it won't be certified to fly the long intercontinental routes that airlines expect it to serve.


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2013713745_dreamliner19.html

[OmahaBlueDog]

1. Here's an idea

Next time, build the whole thing in America using union machinists and electricians. Or am I missing something?

[Haole Girl]

4. Including the parts. (nt)

[somone]

7. Amen to that!

[Haole Girl]

2. Not good news for the airlines

But it's much better to have a delay than something go wrong later.

[Hawkeye-X]

3. Boeing would be wise to remove RR engines completely from the Dreamliner

The Trent 900/970 series that was meant to be built for the A380's had major problems. Qantas comes to mind.

PW and GE engines are still available, if Boeing chooses to go to that path.

But Rolls Royce? Forget it. They've had reliability problems for YEARS (Just take a look at AVHerald.com and you'll see many RR-related engine problems)

Of course, GE and P&W does act up but they are a bit more consistent...

Hawkeye-X

[HopeHoops]

5. It is more of a "nightmare liner". Fucking piece of shit right off the drawing board.

Too many damn cooks in the kitchen. They probably had to hold it together with duct tape because none of the bolt holes lined up.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

6. And people will still insist on giving these bufoons the tanker contract,

The 767 Tanker program has been a disaster in its own right with Boeing failing to deliver a combined total of EIGHT operational aircraft to the Italians and Japanese on schedule. The Italian tankers remain grounded and five years behind schedule. And when Airbus rightfully wins the competition for a second time - Boeing's decade long track record for unmitigated incompetence will be forgotten in a teabagger inspired display of stupid rage.