Boeing: 787 fix is complete on first plane

Boeing mechanics Wednesday completed installing reinforcements to the wing-body joint on the first 787 Dreamliner, the company said Thursday. The modification work was to fix a design flaw that has delayed the first flight of the new jet since the summer.

Scott Fancher, who heads the 787 program, said this step adds to his confidence that "the first flight of the 787 Dreamliner will occur before the end of the year."

The company laid out a schedule of tests after completion of the fix that indicates the plane won't fly until mid-December at the earliest.

In June, Boeing postponed the new jet's first flight after engineers discovered delamination of the composite carbon-fiber skin at the wing-body joint during tests that bent the wing.

The fix involves cutting out the ends of 17 stringers — or stiffening rods — on each upper wing skin, as well as the corresponding stringers on the wing box inside the fuselage, then adding metal fittings to reinforce the stringer ends.

Spokeswoman Mary Hanson said Wednesday that Boeing mechanics are still installing the same fix on another Dreamliner that is used for extensive strength tests on the ground. The modifications on that test plane are expected to be completed "in the coming days."

Once that's done, Boeing will reattach strain gauges and other instruments to that plane and bend the wing to ensure the fix works. After the test is done, sometime "later this month," Hanson said it will take about 10 days to analyze the data and give the go-ahead for first flight of Dreamliner No. 1.

"As soon as we confirm the loads are being handled appropriately in the joint we will complete preflight activities on the airplane," Fancher said in a statement.

In advance of the test that will prove it, Boeing appears convinced the fix will handle the loads.

"We've done a significant amount of ... testing at a subcomponent level and those tests have been very successful," said Hanson. "That gives us confidence we have the right approach."

As preparations continue for the ground test, the wings of Dreamliner No. 1 will be sealed again and all access doors, fasteners and systems will be restored to readiness for first flight.

Assuming the ground test gives a green light, the 787 flight-test team must then perform another set of system tests and ground-taxi tests on Dreamliner No. 1 before it can fly.

That sequence of testing makes a first flight unlikely before mid- to late December.

Meanwhile, Boeing continues to install fittings on the second ground-test airframe and the remaining five flight-test airplanes. Other airplanes will be modified in the weeks ahead.

Fancher said the modification work is progressing well overall.

Separately, Boeing sent out invitations to a groundbreaking ceremony in Charleston, S.C. next Friday for the second 787 final-assembly facility.

Plans call for a 610,000-square-foot assembly building, plus additional buildings, including an airplane-delivery center. The plant is expected to complete its first plane in 2012.

And in Everett, Boeing's other new jet, the first 747-8, rolled out of the assembly building and over to the paint hangar at 5 p.m. Thursday.

After painting, this newest, largest version of the iconic jumbo jet will undergo weeks-long testing on the ground and is expected to fly soon after the New Year.

Dominic Gates: 206-464-2963 or dgates@seattletimes.com