Boeing 787 to take to the sky by end of Q2

17 June 2009

According to reports, the second Boeing 787 flight test article (the airplane on which Boeing will conduct systems testing), is ready to begin fuel testing outside the Boeing factory in Everett, Washington.

Meanwhile, the first plane, ZA001, powered by twin Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines is expected to begin flight testing in the week starting 22 June.

While the ZA001 is wearing Boeing's colours, the ZA002 is dressed in its customer All Nippon Airways (ANA) blue and white livery. According to Boeing's schedule the aircraft will be ready for delivery to (ANA) in the first quarter of 2010, probably in February.

According to the test regime the ZA002 will undergo extensive runway safety tests. These will focus on the stability and control laws for the plane which has a wingspan of 197 ft and fuselage length of 186 ft and a fly-by-wire flight control system which incorporates a distributed architecture for its avionics/electronics systems.

Z001 will be used to establish the 787's basic flight envelope (the limits of speed, altitude, acceleration within which an aircraft can safely operate) while Z002 will delve into performance of specific systems such as the autopilot and Trent propulsion system.

ZA001 undergoing the seventh week of pre-flight tests and has at least a week to go before it flies while ZA002 is expected to take a comparatively shorter time to fly as many of the tests conducted on ZA001 will not have to be repeated. According to the Boeing 787 flight-test team ZA002 could be flying within about three weeks after ZA001 begins to fly.