A little more than four months after its first flight, Boeing's 787 Dreamliner has surpassed 500 hours of total flight time. And more importantly, Boeing received the expanded type inspection authorization (TIA) for the 787 this week from the Federal Aviation Administration. The initial TIA was given back in February and supported the flutter testing program. The expanded TIA essentially means the airplane is ready to go through certification process with the FAA.
It's good news for the 787, albeit a few months later than Boeing had hoped. The company says it is still on track to deliver the first customer 787 by the end of the year. But it is almost half way through it's scheduled 8.5 month flight test program, and there are still many more hours of testing ahead. The final two flight test airframes are expected to be flying soon, and with all six aircraft flying, it will still be a very busy schedule to complete the more than 3,000 estimated flight test hours needed before certification.
With the TIA in hand, Boeing also announced this week it has finalized the aerodynamic configuration of the 787 according to the program's manager, Scott Fancher. This is good news for the company as there have been relatively few changes made to the airframe since flight testing began.
"We have completed sufficient testing to decide that no additional changes to the external lines or shape of the airplane are required," said Fancher.
On Sunday, airframe ZA003 flew from Seattle to Eglin Air Force Base in Florida where it will go through climate testing. ZA003 will be housed in the McKinley Climatic Chamber which can simulate a wide variety of weather conditions from extreme cold to extreme heat. The cold soak test usually gets the most attention as the airplane is put through a variety of tests at temperatures below -35C. ZA003 can be seen parked outside the climatic chamber in the photo above.
Boeing released two videos this week highlighting recent parts of the flight test program. In the first video, chief test pilot Mike Carriker discusses flutter testing, something we witnessed from the ground back in February. With a much better view from chase aircraft, there are several air to air shots including one where wings of the 787 can be seen being "excited" during testing.
In the second video, ZA002 is seen during ground effect testing in Victorville, California. Ground effect testing is important because the disruption of airflow when an airplane is close to the ground changes the aerodynamics and flight characteristics of the airplane. These changes are noticed during the critical phases of flight of take off and landing.
There are several great shots including ZA002 crabbing into a crosswind and some very low passes over the runway. For the ubergeeks, there is a nice close up of the unique raked wingtip of the 787.
Mike Sinnett, Chief Program Engineer on the 787 mentions the completion of ground effects testing also helps Boeing to further refine the training simulators. This fine tuning of the simulators is something test pilot Mark Feuerstein talked about during our visit to the engineering simulator back in January.
We will be back down at Boeing Field in Seattle this week to learn about the software behind this fly-by-wire airplane. As important as those fancy wings are, it is the mountains of code that keep all the little hamsters running together.
*Photo: Boeing *
