This was the first visit to Italy for the Dreamlifter, and the first delivery of 787 fuselage structures by Alenia. (Photo courtesy of Alenia Aeronautica
I wonder if this great blog will continue after Baseler retires the end of April?
Posted on 03/31/2007 9:31:40 AM PDT by skeptoid
If you wanted some further visual evidence that we’re getting close to our first 787 Dreamliner, you need only take a look at some remarkable photos out of Italy.
Alenia Aeronautica delivered the first fuselage sections of the Dreamliner at the end of last week. These two composite center sections (known as sections 44 and 46) were manufactured at Alenia’s 787 facility in Grottaglie.
This was the first visit to Italy for the Dreamlifter, and the first delivery of 787 fuselage structures by Alenia. (Photo courtesy of Alenia Aeronautica
I wonder if this great blog will continue after Baseler retires the end of April?
Oh, wait... ;)
aero-ping
Meadow Muffin
If you want on or off my aerospace ping list, please contact me by Freep mail.
I like the hinge-side view the best.
Has the Dreamlifter been certified yet. I read it was having problems with oscillations in the wing. The first deliveries were allowed on an experimental basis only.
But damn it, you'd already posted that image. It's a lot easier to run my ping list if you'd send me a link to the picture you'd like me to use.
the FAA has not yet certified it. That had been expected in early 2007, but Boeing said Monday that it won't happen for a "few months." Boeing has worked out a plan with the FAA that allows the Dreamlifters to haul 787 parts in the meantime.
Boeing removed the winglets and redistributed the fuel load.
I wonder if the raked wing tips from the 747-400ER would be beneficial, or would it cost too much to certify?
(It causes me to ponder the control linkage arrangement!)
The control links go through the hinges. I bet it was complicated to design hydraulic cables rugged and reliable enough to withstand the tail door opening and closing thousands of times.
I read somewhere that the hinges used on the Dreamlifter tail cargo door was derived from the hinges deveoloped for folding the wingtips of the 777. No airline has opted for the folding wings due to the weight penalties and work arounds to get planes to fit in to gates.
Here's a quote from that article.
In addition to All Nippon and Japan Airlines, the first 787s are scheduled to be delivered to airlines in China. Boeing has promised airlines they will have the jets in time to fly people to the August 2008 Olympic games in Beijing.The funny thing is that the A380 won't be carrying anyone to the 2008 Olympic games, because it is two years behind schedule.
It's another unique aspect of the 787 program. The LCF is absolutely essential for the production of the ground-breaking Dreamliner and the LCF is one-of-a-kind itself. It seems to me this must be one of the most innovative production schemes ever attempted on such scale involving so many and diverse international partners. To an armchair observer like me, this unfolding story is absolutely riveting!
From Randy's Journal: 
This photo of the 787 fuselage sections inside the Alenia facility
gives you a sense of the size of the airplane.
(Photo courtesy of Alenia Aeronautica)
Do I understand this right? Did Boeing make a special plane (Dreamlifter) in order to travel to Italy to transport fuselage sections back to the USA to build planes here? Wouldn't it be easier to skip the special plane and just make the fuselage sections here?
The goal is to complete the final assembly of all the 'preassembled' sections into a flying machine in THREE DAYS. I'm assuming this gargantuan ballet is the best, most cost-effective way to achieve such a high production rate (and sell them faster) to make obscene profits in record time so they can 'contribute' lots of tax revenue in order to keep me comfortable as a "greedy geezer" who will really enjoy travelling on such a wonderful aircraft as the Dreamliner.
If that's true, I'm all for it!!
There is a list of 'international participants' at Boing Commercial Airplanes
I wonder how long the first one will take to assemble?
First Flight is scheduled for 7/08/07 !!
Silly question I think. Will they do actual wind tunnel tests before it really flies?
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