Boeing 787 Dreamliner at Farnborough with Spitfires (click for larger)
Boeing 787 Dreamliner at Farnborough with Spitfires (click for larger)
Boeing 787 Dreamliner at Farnborough (click for larger)
Boeing 787 Dreamliner at Farnborough (click for larger)
Boeing 787 Dreamliner at Farnborough (click for larger)
Boeing 787 Dreamliner at Farnborough (click for larger)
If you follow aviation or airlines, you probably heard about the Boeing 787 Dreamliner going to the Farnborough air show recently. It going was awesome, but it leaving was pretty cool too. Not the fact that it left, but how it left…being escorted by two Spitfires.
“The 787 Dreamliner poked through the clouds outside London just before 9 am on Sunday. Instead of landing though, the all-new jet flew by and wagged its wings, the aviation equivalent of ‘how do you do.’
With cameras and cell phones pointed skyward for more, Captains Mike Bryan and Ted Grady circled back for a proper landing at the 2010 Farnborough International Air Show.”
This is exciting, since it was the first international flight of the Boeing 787. Boeing flew ZA003 which has the partial cabin set up to show off to airlines and the media.
Photo of Boeing 787 Dreamliner ZA002 with ANA livery taken at Paine Field during its first flight.
Boeing announced today that they hope to still deliver the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner to All Nippon Airways by the end of the year, but the delivery could be pushed into early 2011. Boeing points to issues with instrumentation configuration and problems with the horizontal stabilizer as reason for the possible delay.
“We have seen some test instrumentation configuration changes that have taken a bit longer than we had planned,” Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the Boeing 787 program said in a call with reporters. “That coupled with some of the inspection work that we’ve seen recently has led to a little bit of schedule pressure.”
It is unfortunate that this announcement will have a lot of people complaining about the Boeing 787 being delayed again. We must all remember, this is the next generation of aircraft and it is extremely complex. Boeing used companies all over the globe to build this plane and it is important to make sure the aircraft is 100% ready before being delivered to airlines. If that takes a little bit longer, I am alright with that. I rather the 787 Dreamliner be delayed a bit more than it pre-maturely gets delivered before it is ready.
Years from now, no one will remember how delayed the plane was…they will only remember how it ushered in a new era of air transport.
#1 GE estimates the GEnx engines projected to be sold in the next 20 years will emit an about 77 million fewer tons of greenhouse gases than older comparable engines.
#2 The GEnx engine will remain on wing 30 percent longer and is 30% quieter than comparable engines in service today.
#3 The GEnx-1B for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner has a fan diameter of 111 inches and the GEnx-2B version for the Boeing 747-8 has a fan diameter of 105 inches.
#4 The GEnx engine has 18 fan blades, which is about half as many as GE’s CF6 engine.
#5 If an airline were to replace 20 of 200-to 300-passenger aircraft with next-generation jets powered by GEnx engines, it would save nearly $37 million in fuel costs annually, based on jet fuel costs of $2.50 per gallon.
#6 The GEnx engine has one of the highest pressure ratios ’“ 23:1 that sets the high pressure compressor apart from other engines.
#7 By using GEnx engines, that same fleet could save nearly 500 million gallons of jet fuel each year. Enough to fly more than 12 million people from New York City to London on Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets.
#8 The GEnx engine is the only choice on the Boeing 747-8 and is one of two choices on the Boeing 787.
#9 The engine has composite fan blades with titanium leading edges.
#10 The GEnx has a fan bypass ratio of 19:2, which also helps reduce noise.
I arrived at the Future of Flight at about 9am to get ready for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner ZA005 to take flight. The weather wasn’t doing so great with mist, fog, and a low ceiling. There was no official time, but I was guessing 10am based on previous first flights. I thought the plan would be for ZA005 to complete high-speed taxi tests and then take off. However, time kept going and ZA005 just sat there. I heard a few different rumors of the reason, from a low ceiling to the chase plane not being ready. At least we got to watch a brand new Cathay Pacific Boeing 777 take off and land.
I had worked hard (took me three different ways) to get my iPhone hooked up to my tri-pod, so I could do a live feed while recording in HD, but I ended up having to tear it apart anyhow.
At 12:20pm I had to leave for an appointment I couldn’t miss. Since I promised a live feed, I left my iPhone with Sandy at the Future of Flight to do the live feed for me (THANK YOU SO MUCH SANDY)! However at about 2pm I got done with my appointment and made my way to a computer and saw the ZA005 had not taken off. BOO YA!
I hurried back and as I pull in I could see people along the fence still watching, so I knew I hadn’t missed anything. I grabbed my video camera and ran. Just as I got to the top of the hill and video camera turned on, ZA005 started rolling. For just running up a hill and not having a tri-pod ready, I don’t think the video turned out half bad.
I am never going to get sick of watching the 787 Dreamliner take off. They are so graceful, queit and oh man watching those wings bend is amazing. I am going to write up a blog with a little more information on these new GEnx engines being tested out today.
Over all I think the live feed function went well. By the time ZA005 took off there were 250 people watching the feed. I am excited to use that feature in future events.
