Big Day!

Today the 787 was put into the ultimate test to see if it could withstand a 150% load factor and today I am pround to say it passed and had no issues. At this point they did not follow the 777 Test where they broke the wings but you never know what we may eventually see them do and see what this puppy can really do!

Sorry for the Lack of updates

Been crazy with having this last week from work off spotting everyday for countless hours and oh yeah, having my Crohn's disease flare up on me for about a day and a half. If you don't know what it is here is a good read on it-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crohns_disease
But after all of that here we are again!

So for the last week and a half ZA001 has been dominating the flying around Seattle. She has completed all flutter testing to this point. She came in on Sunday looking a little tail heavy and on the BA ops frequency sounded like MTX control was talking to them about it. Whatever it was it lead me to believe it was the cause of ZA004's flight getting scrubbed that night. She flew again today but it was 2 short and sweet flights.
Heres a pic of her high strut-


ZA002 Has completed its ground testing and returned today to BFI. She was away for 2 weeks and came back today after the 2 hour flight from VCV with 18 Souls on Board.


ZA003 came in last sunday and has been parked in the hangar since.

ZA004 Finally completed it's 2nd flight on Thursday with a 3 hour flight that brought her back in around 2015 PST or so and made a nice Streak across the sky's-


Her flight did start with gear down and was down as far as the eye could see-


And the 747-8 program has started to do some more flights out of BFI with 522 aircraft N50217. She flew sunday, missed it by a few got a pic from monday though-


Her size is amazing and with how close we can get to her is also great for the people as you get a nice look under the wings-


Today though was one of the best as the lighting was just amazing on her!-


Til Next time Have a Great Night!

787 Update!

Honestly the last few days have been quite. Yesterday no flights and today 1 flight after super Sunday. So not much to report other then the 747-8 Flying today!

ZA003 Welcome to BFI

Boeing Co N787BX
Originally uploaded by Drewski2112

Sadly I missed the landing since it skipped the flag stop in MWH but oh well life goes on. Thank You Drewski for being there and getting this capture.

So she finally flies, lets see when her next one will be though. ZA004 Tommorow! I am excited to finally see her!

ZA004 update

So why hasn't it flown again many people have been asking. Well here's why-
The aircraft has been receiving the v5.5 software and has been on the ramp at BFI working out the last bugs. This is the aircraft that is working on having to most updated and official Flight Module Control systems. The next flight of this bird is expected to be monday where it will be doing extensive testing and then having it fly south to Victorville for extensive engine testing in getting the RR Trent 1000's.

Also the first flight of ZA003 is actually supposed to be tommorow so going to try to get up to Paine for that possibly and then BFI for the landing!

03/12/10 Update

Today ZA001 really got to get the speed racer on. Though only getting to about 28000 ft she was really working on speed today and got up to Mach .98. Could only be the third traditional passenger jet to go greater than Mach 1.

ZA002 might be flying VFR and that is why there is no updates on her.

ZA003 First flight Sunday March 21st.

ZA004 I heard should fly again at the latest on Monday as it has had new equipment installed that I will be updating on here shortly.


Also the 2nd 747-8 should have its first flight on Monday March 15th!

Update on testing 03/11/10

ZA001 Well yesterday they stretched 001's legs out a little bit and got her all the way up to 43,100 ft for a new high altitude, however no free falls yesterday as they only took her up to mach .84.

ZA002 flew to Victorville on Tuesday however it still has yet to take to the skies again since flying down there. So hope fully we will see her going tomorrow.

ZA003 still in Everett with the official date of her first flight now scheduled for 03/21/10. Not sure on a length of time yet but sure we will here soon enough.

ZA004 has moved a little on the ramp to where ZA002 was always sitting at BFI but that is all she has done. Maybe we will see her fly for the first time tomorrow since her initial on 02/24/2010 but we will have to wait and see.

When looking for the stats and info from today's test flight of ZA001 it doesn't have any history besides the fact it flew today and because I had to run to work missed the landing by about 10 minutes of its 3 hour test flight. So if Flight Aware updates later today I'll post another update but that is all for now though til tomorrow.

Also worth noting today also that the 747-8 received its initial airworthiness certificate after 33 hours of flight time and now enginears will be accompining the aircraft during flights and the other 2 should be joining the testing program here soon!

Have a good night everyone!

Some quotes and updates for all the Boeing Programs

I was able to attain a copy of the transcript of the interview that Jim Albaugh had recently.

The first thing I would like to share that I read from the transcripts is that ZA003 IS set to offically have its first flight on March 21, 2010. Although #3 it will actually be the fourth Dreamliner to fly for the program.

For the 747-8F flight test program there should be 2 more added over in MWH by the end of the month. This program is expected to however move down to southern California very soon. The reason it is going to be down there is bacause of the lack or rampspace and personel at BFI to operate 2 flight test programs.

Direct 787 updates/quotes-
"We've got a very aggressive flight-test program in front of us. We're going to have six airplanes flying. We have to fly those airplanes around 90 hours a week."

ZA001 has managed to reach a mach spped of .97 and a crusing altitude of 43,000ft with pressurization still showing at only 6,000ft. The program is about 40% through flutter testing which began on Feb. 14.

"Right now we've got a month, month and a half of contingency in the program against the entry into service date later this fall, early next winter, but I want more contingency. We're working very hard to improve the efficiency of the test program, which means do more test points per flight. And we're also trying to improve the turnaround of the airplane so we can get more hours in the air with the six airplanes we're going to have."

The first delivery off of the Charlston line is expected to be in 2012.

747-8 Updates-
The program has achieved approximently 8 flight for a total air time of about 33 hours.

"We have a third airplane that's coming on line on the 15th of this month and we have another airplane coming online on the 17th."

And my quote of the day from hom on On the Air Force's aerial refueling tanker competition:

"It's the longest running soap opera since Days of our Lives. I'm not sure we've seen the last episode."

Have a good day everyone and thank you Seattle PI for posting the transcripts from this interview!

ZA001 03/09/10 Update

Today ZA001 took off from Boeing Field at about 12:45 and went to the east side of WA state to its personal racetrack. It was airborne today for about 5.25 hours of flight testing. It seemed to hover around 15,200ft for most of its flight. It got up to mach .84 for the day and that was about it. A pretty uneventful testing day as it seems like they were just doing some stall testing.

Possible Hydrolic Issues was inaccurate. Some reason all the doors were down again

Boeing 787 Dreamliner N787EX
Originally uploaded by Code20photog

After seeing this shot from Code20photoq I am begining to wonder if they had another hydrolic issue near the end of the flight again similar to its first flight. There has been no word from Boeing yet but we will have to see. Seems to be ZA002 is going to be Boeing's problem child as it seems to be the one with the most issues as of yet-
Issue 1-Hydrolic Failure on first flight
Issue 2-FOD in fuel tanks lead to cleaning
Issue 3-Fuel tank dumping fuel after landing as seen here-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13497349@N04/4342541587/in/set-72157623262306317/
Possible Issue 4-Files for 8 hour flight but comes back in after an hour. Still have not heard of a reason but was back out and testing next day
Possible Issue 5-Another Hydrolic failure here landing in Victorville.

Thank you so much to Code20photoq and Bernie Deyo Photography for the photos from Victorville.

UPDATE- There wasn't a hydrolic issue just needed to do an inspection of the interior area of the gear apparently is all.Thank You Randy from Randys Journal for the heads up!

N787EX At Victorville

Tuedsay
Originally uploaded by Bernie Deyo Photography

ZA002 Made it to Victorville Today after a 2 hour and 14 minute test flight from Boeing Field in Seattle. This is the first time that the 787 has landed in a field out of the state of Washington. The flight intially reportidly supposed to be 3 hours was cut short. Not sure if it was done intentionally or if the pilots just wanted to get down there. From the flight log of the flight looks like they just flew a normal commercial type flight with no real testing. Maximum altitude it achieved was 27000 Ft and it seemed to cruise down at that altitude. It also seemed to reach a top speen of mach .8 or abour 532 MPH for those non science geeks :P Will be updating on ZA001's status from today in my next post here shortly. Also ZA004 still no 2nd flight yet so maybe tommorow? We will have to waut and see.


Also Many thanks to Bernie Devo Photography for the pictures from Victorville as well as Code20Photoq for the shots from sunny Southern California.

ZA002 To Victorville and update on ZA003-4

I have heard that as early as tuesday ZA002 may actually land out of the state of WA for the first time down in California. It is expected to be a 3 hour flight that will take it south. Victorville is known as an aircraft boneyard but this time it will be the test site for the 87 as it has the 2nd longest runway in the nation.

I was doing some night time spying around BFI last night after I got off from work and saw that ZA004 has funally come back out of the hangar and means we should see iot flying around the puget sound very shortly. This could be why #2 is heading south now that they will still have at least 2 flying full time around SEA.

I also noticed that the ramp at BFI is getting a little full with 3 787's down there now and the move to Cali for #2 could also be the sign of ZA003 to finally fly as she was expected to have done so by the end of Febuary but is still hanging out at Paine. Also a video came out the other day on Youtube of ZA003 from the inside. This is the one that will be focusing on the ETOPS certification for the aircraft type. It also has 135 seats and crew rest on board and is the first to do so.

Welcome!

Hello, my name is Brandon Farris and I am an aviation nut. I am creating this blog for now to track the 787 Flight test program and bring you the news as stuff happens from BFI. I will also try to post updates on the 747-8 program but this blog is mainly dedicated to the 787. I am there almost any day before work from around 1100 til 1330 or so in a red suburu impreza that says Horizon Air on the back. Most of the time I am on the roof spotting :-P. Feel free to stop by and say hi and also let me know of anything you have heard about the program and if it seems like it is true I will post it on here and put your name as the reporter.

Also I will throw in updates with the latest 737 movements around BFI but as stated above this blog is mainly dedicated to the 787 Program!