Mock up of the Boeing 747-8I in full Boeing livery. Photo by Boeing.
A quick little update on the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the Boeing 737. Too much interesting news coming from Boeing to write individual posts, so here we go:
787 DREAMLINER ZA102 AND OTHERS:
Boeing announced on Monday that they expect the first 787 to be delivered to All Nippon Airways (ANA) during third quarter 2011. Boeing stated, “The new delivery date reflects the impact of an in-flight incident during testing last November and includes the time required to produce, install and test updated software and new electrical power distribution panels in the flight test and production airplanes.” They have also worked additional time into the schedule in-case other issues pop up between now and then. Flight Blogger asks some important questions of these changes. ZA001, ZA002, ZA004 and ZA005 are all back in test flight status.
As of now ZA102, the ninth 787, has still not taken flight. Word was it was supposed to take flight on Monday, but as of now it still has not flown. I asked Lori Gunter, with Boeing 787 Communications, about the delay and she brought up a great point. “It wouldn’t be right to call it a delay. We are working through the disciplined process of getting to first flight. Until all of the work is complete, we won’t fly. Boeing has not committed to a first flight date on ZA102.” All the 787s are still going through the testing phase and I am sure Boeing wants ZA102 to fly more than us outside observers do.
747-8 INTERCONTINENTAL ROLL OUT DATE: On Tuesday, Boeing announced the roll-out ceremony for the passenger version of the 747-8I (RC001) will be on February 13th — a perfect Valentine’s gift for all those airline geeks out there. The Boeing 747-8 Freighter has been conducting flight tests, but this will be the first Boeing 747-8 that will carry passengers. I have been told the first aircraft will be delivered to a private buyer. As of December 2010, the Boeing 747-8 has eight private buyers, which were all governments. I haven’t been able to track down who will take delivery of the first Boeing 747-8I. However, I have confirmed the aircraft will be in Boeing livery, but unsure if it will be the full livery or light (I am hoping for the full). At this time, Boeing does not know the exact time and of course the date could move depending on the circumstances. I will keep you updated on any changes for the roll out and first flight of the 747-8I. If you can’t make it to see in person, Boeing will be providing a live webcast of the event.
737 FUEL EFFICIENT ENGINES: Although the Boeing 747-8 and 787 have been getting a lot of attention recently, the Boeing 737 is making a bit of news as well. United/Continental has been working with Boeing to test out a new, more fuel efficient engine on the 737. It might only be a 2% savings, but with the average flying of a Boeing 737, that can add up to about $125,000.00 in savings per airplane, per year — not to mention the environment impact.Learn more about this and watch a video on Boeing’s website.
UPDATES: Man, Boeing is just on a roll this week with exciting information. I normally do one blog per day, but have been doing two per day because of Boeing’s good stuff. Here are two more additions announced today:
777-300ER FOR AMERICAN AIRLINES American Airlines and Boeing announced today that the airline has ordered two Boeing 777-300ER. This is the first US airline that has ordered this type of aircraft. The two -300ERs will join American’s fleet of 47 Boeing 777-200ERs. American hopes to take delivery of the new aircraft in late 2012.
CHINA ORDERS 200 BOEING AIRPLANES
Again today, Boeing announced that China will order 200 aircraft worth a reported $19billion. Boeing spokesman Miles Kotay told KOMO news that the deal is for 185 Boeing 737 jets and 15 Boeing 777s. Although exciting, this does not change the current 737 backlog numbers, but confirms the finalization of orders already announced.
One Dreamlifter and two Airbus A380's sharing a hangar. (click for larger)
Oh yes! Now this is totally amazing airplane eye candy of the largest scale. One Boeing 747 Dreamlifter (N780BA) parked between not just one, but two Airbus A380’s inside Lufthansa Technik’s Fankfurt hangar. A big tip of the hat to Jon Ostrower on his blog FlightBlogger for sharing this amazing photo (check his blog for more information on the airplanes).
How would you like to have this airline model collection located in the Boeing Archive? Um, yes please.
A while back I had the amazing experience of checking out Boeing’s archive located in Bellevue, WA. My first post in September gave the general overall look at the archives. Unfortunately since then, I got distracted with other things and caused a delay. This post will be going over the models (airplane not people) found in the archives and next week I will be posting my interview with Boeing Historian Michael Lombardi.
These are just some of the models located in the lobby of the Boeing Archive. They keep the real good ones locked up.
When I went for my visit in September, I was expecting the archives to be a bunch of boxes on shelves. One of the best surprises were all the amazing and unique models housed in the archives. From single aisle Boeing 747 mock ups to Boeing boats, I felt like a kid in a candy store needing a sugar rush. The archive has so many models, it has been difficult to store them all. I told Lombardi that I would be more than happy to store some at my house, but I don’t think that will work out. Although some models were spread around in the lobby and on random shelves, most were stored in two long rows of shelving. There were military and commercial airline models, but of course my main interest were the airliners.
I got so distracted by learning about the Boeing boats, I forgot to take a photos. But I did catch this HUGE Boeing 747 model.
Did you catch I said “Boeing boats” earlier? I am not talking about the Boeing 314 Flying Clipper, I am talking about real boats. Using their knowledge from aerodynamics, Boeing dove into the world of hydrofoil/jetfoil boats. They first launched in 1962 and built boats for military and commercial use until 1988 when Boeing Marine Systems closed and sold the license for the Commercial Jetfoils to Kawasaki Heavy Ind. Lombardi tells me that some Boeing Jetfoils are still “flying” to Macao and between Korea/Japan.
Two single aisle, double deck mock ups for the original Boeing 747.
When Boeing was looking at making a larger aircraft after the Boeing 707, they played with the idea of a double-decker, singled-aisle airplane like these two models depicted above. Can you spot the differences (larger version)? One has the wings in the middle of the fuselage, the other a bit higher. Also check out the differences in landing gears. These models look much more like the Airbus A380 than they do the Boeing 747. You can really see the nose of the Boeing 707/727/737 in the white model. Also, do not miss the Boeing SST model, there were quite a few of those spread out around the archive.
This is one odd-looking potential Boeing 727
This little guy (seen above) was hard to spot amongst all the models, but looked very interesting. Lombardi explained what the function of the engines being placed on the wings. “During the 1970s Boeing studied all aspects of commercial aviation and also reviewed the entire commercial family to see what could be improved. This model of the 727 shows one of those considerations it is a STOL 727 using a concept called USB or upper surface blowing. USB was successfully tested on the Boeing QSRA and the Boeing YC-14.” The Boeing 727 is one of my favorite airliners since it looks so majestic. I don’t think I would have the same love if it looked like the model above or like this other funky looking 727 model.
These show what Boeing was looking at with the Boeing 767.
There was a pretty big section of Boeing 767 prototype models in the Boeing archive. There were ones that closely resemble what became the Boeing 767 and others that looked… well, unique. Boeing was playing with the idea of making the 767 being a quad or even tri-jet aircraft. Probably the most interesting Boeing 767 prototype is the one you can see on the right on the photo above and detailed in the photo below.
Check out the sweet waistline on this possible Boeing 767 design.
This was one of my favorite models. That slick waist-line shape would have allowed the plane to travel at near sonic speeds. Lombardi explained why it wasn’t chosen. “Much like the Sonic Cruiser and it did not go forward for the same reasons that the Sonic Cruiser did not go forward – the fuel burn increases dramatically at near sonic/transonic speeds because of the increased drag.” I would imagine the seat layout on the interior would have been interesting and a bit cumbersome.
A model of the Boeing 747 Tri-Jet at the archive.
No matter how many times I have seen the mock ups, the Boeing 747 TriJet always looks odd to me. During the 1970’²s Boeing wanted to better compete with the DC-10 and L1011. The Boeing 747SP was too costly to directly compete, so for a short while, Boeing looked at creating a 747 with three jets instead of the standard four. The design has two jets on the wing and one on the tail in an ’œS’ configuration, much like the L1011. The concept was scrapped since it would take too much time, money, and a new wing design.
Ah, the Boeing 7J7. Wait a second... is that a Boeing 767 with foldable wings?
The Boeing archive wouldn’t be complete without a model of the Boeing 7J7. This aircraft was designed in the 1980’s with the idea of replacing the Boeing 727. It used Unducted Fan Engines on the rear of the plane that provided superior fuel economy. Boeing hoped the 7J7 would burn about half the fuel of the Airbus A320 and hoped to revolutionize commercial air travel. A reduction in oil prices and noise concerns ended up killing off the 7J7. Might we see another version of the UFE in the future? I am going to bet on yes.
The Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental is one step closer to taking flight. The 747-8I has 133 miles of wires and a heck of a lot of power systems.Although the aircraft might look similar to the Boeing 747-400, Bernard Choi on the video reminds us that, “beneath the familiar exterior lies a suite of new technology, all of which need power to function. For example, the Intercontinental features a more powerful flight management computer, the option of dual electronic flight bags, and a new wing with control services that are fly-by-wire, all features that make it easier to pilot the airplane. At the same time, a new cabin services system, including LED lights, will make the 747-8 Intercontinental a more comfortable space for passengers.”
I can’t dance. But the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental sure can. this video shows three major parts of the new 747-8I fuselage pieces being put together to form what looks like a real (cool) plane.Take a look at the video and check out their website for more information.
