24 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING | MARCh 2010
The dream becomes
REAlITy
Major milestone: Test aircraft ZA001 during its first flight last December
On December 15th last year, Boeing’s long awaited 787 Dreamliner finally got off the
ground as aircraft ZA001 took to the sky to begin the flight testing programme. With
initial deliveries planned for the end of 2010, Simon Lott speaks to vice president and
general manager of the 787 programme Scott Fancher to get a project update.
B
oeing’s new mid-size 787 the 787 in six major end items, fully understand technologies and options for
Dreamliner will bring the stuffed and ready for final assembly. the aeroplane as we went through the
American airframer into a new These include the forward nose section early phases of concept development.
era when it enters service with All [provided by Spirit AeroSystems], a Suppliers have also provided more of
Nippon Airways later this year, taking the fully integrated centre fuselage section their own development, design and
aviation industry one step further into [assembled from sections produced manufacturing funding. The tier one
the composite age. Being the first major at Alenia Aeronautica and Kawasaki partners now have primary responsibility
aircraft to make use of a predominantly Heavy Industries], the aft fuselage for managing their sub-tier relationships,
carbon fibre structure, the 787 boasts [Vought], the wings [Fuji, Mitsubishi, although we have visibility of supplier
a fuel efficiency improvement of 20% Kawasaki and Spirit], the horizontal performance at all levels.”
over similar sized vehicles of the current stabilisers [Alenia] and the vertical fin The programme is now firmly into
generation, a potential 30% reduction [Boeing]. This simplifies the assembly testing mode, with the vast majority
in maintenance costs, and with its 787-9 process considerably and requires no performed so far serving to confirm
variant, can carry up to 290 passengers over monumental tooling. That alone changes that the aircraft’s performance and
a range of 8,000 to 8,500 nautical miles. the appearance of the factory when characteristics are close to Boeing’s
The main difference, besides the compared with the assembly lines of predictions. It has however also revealed
obvious weight advantage, is the size aluminium airplanes and it is a much the importance of understanding the way
and relative simplicity of assembly quieter environment. The assembly tools in which composite parts are designed.
that composite materials allow. “Using can also be mobile and are designed with Last June, the company announced it had
composites on the 787 airframe has ergonomics in mind.” discovered a need to reinforce an area
allowed us to build a huge structure To ensure that new processes ran within the side of body joint connecting
out of one piece,” explains Fancher. smoothly, he also mentions that: the wing to the fuselage due to a design
“Instead of literally thousands of panels “Suppliers were involved much earlier issue. The solution fortunately was
that need to be fastened together into in the development process than ever relatively straightforward, requiring the
subassemblies and joined, we receive before. They helped us develop and installation of new fittings at 34 stringer
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