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Boeing has confirmed that the first flight of
the 787 Dreamliner, which ANA the launch customer was hoping would
take place this month, has been postponed.
Boeing said that it had to reinforce an
area within the side-of-body section of the aircraft before the
first test flight could take place.
The need was
identified during the recent regularly scheduled tests on the
full-scale static test airplane. Preliminary analysis indicated
that flight test could proceed this month as planned. However,
after further testing and consideration of possible modified
flight test plans, Boeing decided to postpone the flight.
First flight and, more importantly for
Boeing's customers, first delivery, will
be rescheduled following the final determination of the required
modification and testing plan.
Boeing said it would be several weeks before the
new schedule is available.
"Consideration was given to a
temporary solution that would allow us to fly as
scheduled, but we ultimately concluded that the right
thing was to develop, design, test and incorporate a
permanent modification to the localized area requiring
reinforcement. Structural modifications like these are
not uncommon in the development of new airplanes, and
this is not an issue related to our choice of materials
or the assembly and installation work of our team," said
Scott Carson, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial
Airplanes.
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