In test

At the same time the aircraft reached a speed – in a shallow dive – of Mach 0.97 to clearing the carbon fibre structure of any vibration issues.

According to Randy Tinseth Boeing’s VP Marketing “the technical team has made an initial assessment of the data and we couldn’t be more pleased with the performance of the 787,” says Boeing vice-president of marketing Randy Tinseth. The damping was as predicted and the pilots report that the airplane responded as expected.”

The second 787 to fly, ZA002 completed ground effects testing on March 19 down in California.

The two tests cleared the way for formal US FAA certification program to begin with a target of delivery to All Nippon Airways by late November.

In late March the 787 passed – with flying colours the ultimate torture test for aircraft of enduring wing loads of 230,000kgs by having its wings bent up nearly 8m.

The test at the Boeing factory in Everett, lasted over two hours and follow almost a year of fatigue and static testing on the 787 wings which simulates three life times of service or 55,000 flights and 165,000 hours of flying.

Interestingly unlike with previous aircraft programs Boeing is not going to break the wings because the composite wings are expected to be far stronger and would need an amount of force that’s too risky to the equipment and personnel.

Two 787s are being tested to destruction as part of the certification program and are surrounded by what looks more like a medieval torture chamber.

Thousands of sensors are attached to the airframes to monitor the stress applied by hundreds of hydraulic actuators which apply loads to simulate the worst flight conditions that would turn even seasoned travellers green.

Boeing’s Vice President and General Manager of the 787 program Scott Fancher told Australia Aviation that the 787 test program is the “most robust than ever conducted on a Boeing commercial aircraft.”

While the tests are a resounding success technical teams till have to review all the data to ensure there are no minor weak points.
“We are looking forward to the technical team’s report on the details of the test results,” said Mr Fancher.

Flight test progress

By early April the four 787s in flight test had completed a combined 128 flights and nearly 400 hours of flying.

The third 787 to joining flight test was in fact the fourth built – ZA004 – which flew on Wednesday February 24 and according to Boeing flew early because “the data it is collecting is needed more quickly both for certification and development of the 787-9.”

ZA004 is being used to test aerodynamics, high-speed performance, propulsion performance, flight loads, community noise and ETOPS.

The fourth 787 to fly was ZA003 which flew on Sunday March 14 and is partially equipped with passenger cabin fittings.

ZA005 was on the Boeing flightline during Australian Aviation’s visit and was preparing for it’s first flight scheduled for May 8th.

This 787 is the first with the GEnx-1B engines.

The final flight test 787 also equipped with the GEnx-1B, ZA006, is expected to be in the air by June 4 and is currently in building 40-24, adjacent to the 777 production line.

Currently Boeing is working up to a total of 90 hours a week of flight testing to support the end of November delivery goal.

At that time it will have built 30 – delivery standard – 787s.

On the 787 line Australian Aviation found ship LN17 the first for Royal Air Maroc followed by LN18 for ANA and LN19 the second RAM aircraft.

LN 20 a 787 for Japan Airlines, started final assembly in late March and is the first of the weight optimized 787s to enter into final assembly which introduces a major block change with significant weight savings incorporated.

And on our visit there was a significant difference in the 787 production line with virtually all of the temporary scaffolding to facilitate access for travelled work gone.

The production line looked clean and efficient.

787-10?

And as the 787 sailed past test milestones and thus retired risk New York based Bernstein Research suggested that the 787-10 may be back on Boeing’s radar.

In a report released late March it however did raise concerns about the numbers of flight test hours for the 787 which appeared – at the time – to be behind schedule, “although they are within the margin to enable first deliveries –three aircraft to All Nippon Airways – by the end of 2010.”

Bernstein believes, after meetings with Boeing’s management, that the company is “more confident about potential 787 weight reduction, which has made the second stretch airplane, the 787-10, again a possibility.”

Bernstein noted that it “does not know specifically where the 787 stands on weight,” but says management expressed confidence that later airplanes would meet performance requirements.

“One measure of progress on the 787’s weight is that management is again looking at the possibility of a second stretch, i.e. a 787-10,” it stated.

It is generally accepted that the 787-8 was overdesigned for a high margin of error on structure and lightning protection and the view at Boeing “is that there should be substantial potential to take out structural weight,” the Bernstein report said.

The research group sees that 787-10 as part of Boeing’s response to the A350-1000 series, along with a 777 rework.

Originally airlines were pushing for a 50-seat stretch over the 787-9 but with the same range (8,500 nm), while Boeing wanted a straight payload / range trade with a 7000 nm range.

The Bernstein report raises some concerns about rework given that 30 787s will be complete before the certification program is concluded.

It notes that “the potential for significant rework still exists on the program, although this has come down substantially after successful flutter /stability control flight tests and structural static wing tests.

To that end Australian Aviation noted that Boeing was taking a prudent stand with the 787s on the production line by not fitting final interior fixtures in case rework was required.

Bernstein sees Boeing delivering 3 787s this year, 61 next year, with 27 of those actually completed during 2009, 54 in 2012 and 78 in 2013.

Dreamy cabin

When aircraft designers first built passenger aircraft, their main criteria, apart from keeping all on board alive, centred on such things as preventing mud and engine oil from splattering passengers and to devise a way of keeping them warm.

Breakthroughs included enclosed cabins, forced-air heat, reading lights, leather upholstery to replace wicker chairs and hot and cold running water not to mention a toilet.

Fast forward to the 787 and issues such as reducing jet lag, dramatically improving ride quality, removing volatile organic compounds from cabin air and increasing humidity are the order of the day which will enable the 787 to virtually obsolete any aircraft in its class.
And with the 787 now kicking goals Boeing is back touting the virtues of the 787 cabin.

It is no surprise that our bodies do not actually like being stuffed into an aluminium tube and shot through the air at 960km/h.

That tube is pressurized to an altitude of 8,000ft and has extremely low humidity to help eliminate corrosion damage to the fuselage – but this takes a toll on passengers which is why airlines encourage us to drink water and leave the alcohol.

However the enormous strength and non-corrosive properties of the 787’s revolutionary reinforced carbon-fibre polymer fuselage, in contrast to aluminium, has given designers the opportunity to eliminate some of the significant factors which cause jet lag.

The use of carbon fibre composite on aircraft is nothing new and has been used since the 1960s in military aircraft and in components such as vertical tails on commercial aircraft from the 1970s.

The US B2 stealth bomber is made entirely of composite material as are the US built Harrier wings.

Problem for commercial aviation has been the cost of construction of composite aircraft and Boeing – and also Airbus – has now perfected industrial processes for the large scale commercial production of composite structures.

Because of the great strength of the composite material Boeing can pressurize the 787 to an altitude of just 6,000ft and allow humidity levels of 15 per cent.

According to the British Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), some passengers may experience mild hypoxia at altitudes of 8,000ft, the symptoms of which include reduced exercise capacity, fatigue, possible mild hyperventilation, headache, insomnia and swelling of the extremities.

While the effects are very mild, they do combine to cause varying levels of discomfort and the feeling of not arriving in good shape.
With the 787, Boeing’s design team set out to “look at all the factors that make passengers more comfortable – both physical and physiological,” according to Michael Sinnett, Boeing VP Airplane Systems.

Boeing turned to the Oklahoma State University for assistance with the pressurisation and a study was conducted using US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine methodology, characterising 68 possible altitude symptoms to determine comfort levels at various pressurisation levels.

The 500 participants surveyed experienced a 20-hour flight regime in an aircraft cabin simulator pressurised to five different altitude equivalents and each level was tested nine times.

Results were conclusive and study participants reported feeling less achy, more relaxed and more comfortable with the 6,000ft cabin pressurization.

With the pressurisation problem solved Boeing turned to improving the aircraft quality on board by removing what are termed volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with a new filtration system.

The VOCs, more than humidity, affect how people feel at the end of a flight according to Mr Sinnett.

“VOCs dry you out and alcohol is an astringent. If you consume too much alcohol, this will certainly dehydrate you, but we found that just having the alcohol in the air is a problem – it is one of the biggest components of VOCs in aircraft today. We even get alcohol from the handy wipes that they hand out at meal time.”

For the cabin Boeing wanted to create something radically different and the aircraft’s composite carbon fibre construction has enabled the company to build an aircraft with twice the window area.

At 19in by 11in, the 787 windows are large enough for all passengers, no matter where they sit, to see out, thus significantly reducing the effects of claustrophobia and fear of flying.

According to Captain Miki Katz, a Boeing 777 captain, who has run the Relaxed Flight fear of flying course since 1993 sitting away from a window “increases the feeling of crowdedness and the subconscious raises the feeling of enclosure and density.”

“Looking out a window reveals infinite open spaces and a feeling of abundant air,” said Mr Katz.

Focus groups told Boeing that passengers consistently gave aircraft with larger windows higher ratings than cabins with smaller windows.
And Boeing has replaced the typical pull down window shades with photo-chromatic technology, which is similar to glasses that change to sunglasses with light.

Lockheed tried this technology with its L-1011 Tristar in the 1970s but had to abandon it before production commenced because of technical issues.

Flight attendants will control the overall range of the windows’ transparency and passengers will use seat dimmers to make individual adjustments.

Australian Aviation was able to test out the new technology and hopefully it will end the tussle between those who want and do not want windows shades up.

The effect at the 90% level was like looking through the heaviest window tinting.

Smoother flight

And a flight on the 787 is going to be significantly smoother with a technology called vertical gust suppression.

The technology has been proven on the 777 and used in a lateral mode with the 777’s tail to reduce tail wag in the rear cabin.

Pressure sensors on the wings sense pressure differentials, which moves the spoilers, ailerons and flaperons to cause added or subtracted lift to counter the turbulence.

It’s not possible to eliminate turbulence but Boeing has demonstrated in a purpose built turbulence simulator that the 787 ride will be at least 50 per cent to 70 per cent smoother than the 777, which is itself considered one of the industry’s leaders in ride quality.

Boeing is very pleased with the results, which it believes it will be a big selling point just as the introduction of weather radar was in the 1950s.

It appears Boeing is back to being Boeing.