"Few days" delay for damaged 787 piece

Damage done to one of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner test planes will create "a few days' delay" after a worker used the wrong fasteners in part of the fuselage, according to Alenia North America, which helped build the section.

The damage occurred when a temporary worker put wrong fasteners into 11 holes in the mid-body fuselage of the fourth flight-test plane, damaging a foot-long area, an Alenia official said Tuesday in Rome. Alenia is a unit of Italy's Finmeccanica.

"It was repaired with success through the usual procedure, which was a carbon-fiber patch," said the official, who declined to be identified. "The only consequence is a few days' delay to the delivery of the fuselage."

The 787 program has already been set back at least 14 months from its original target of entering service in May 2008, amid parts shortages, a redesign of the wing section and vendor delays.

Boeing spokeswoman Yvonne Leach said Monday the company is reviewing whether the damage will have an effect on the full program's schedule.

The section was built by Global Aeronautica, a Boeing venture with Alenia in Charleston, S.C.

The 787, the first commercial aircraft made mostly of carbon-composite material instead of aluminum, is being built in sections by suppliers in the U.S., Italy and Japan, who ship the parts to Boeing's Everett plant for final assembly.

Alenia said in a statement Tuesday that the contractor responsible for the error was an experienced aviation mechanic brought in from elsewhere. The individual was fired.