Leeham News and Analysis
There's more to real news than a news release.
Leeham News and Analysis
- A350-1000 or 777-9? Part 3 April 25, 2024
- Boeing CEO promises company is turning around…again April 24, 2024
- Solid start for stand-alone GE Aerospace despite cuts to LEAP output April 23, 2024
- SPEEA, Boeing at impasse over safety program, union says April 23, 2024
- Better transparency needed on Boeing’s 1Q earnings call April 22, 2024
Odds and Ends: Repairs begin on Ethiopian 787; WTO appeals; CSeries update
Ethiopian 787: Remember that Boeing 787 fire at London Heathrow Airport some months back? It seems that Ethiopian Airlines, the owner, and Boeing, have finally reached agreement on how to fix the airplane–but nobody is saying how, according to Steve Wilhelm at the Puget Sound Business Journal.
WTO Airbus/Boeing: In case anyone was wondering what’s happened to the cross-appeals of the World Trade Organization findings that Airbus and Boeing received illegal subsidies, it seems the USA isn’t the only place where budget constraints have bollixed things up. The appeals are delayed by budget shortfalls at the WTO.
CSeries Update: In case you’ve been wondering about the Bombardier CSeries test program–the plane has flown only three times since first flight Sept. 16–BBD just posted this YouTube with an update.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwkhQDDEgdw&w=420&h=315]We understand that the long run of rainy weather in advance of the first flight (delayed by a week because of the weather) meant that some of the testing that had been expected in advance of the flight resumed after the flight.
Flight Global has this short story.
My guess, FWIW, is they’ll make some kind of boilerplate temporary repair and then fly it back to the factory unpressurized. Then remove the tail feathers and APU and replace the old tailcone section with a new one with all the plumbing and wiring already stuffed.
My guess is Boeing will put some type of temporary patch on the ET B-787 and then fly it someplace were a complete repair can be accomplished. Whether the repair site is in Europe (LH Tech?) or the US remains unanswered.
What is interesting to me is that the affected area is not covered against the weather. The scaffolding is still being set up, so the temporary patchwork has not yet started.
The new set of vibration testing is puzzling. It looks like during the first flight they reccorded very high vibration levels, above the predictions that followed the extensive ground testing, at low and high speeds.
I hope for them that they is no flaw with their models of worse the main design of the structure.
Have a look here at home, sorry just in French !
http://avia.superforum.fr/t1227p520-boeing-787#41261
Seems like Boeing is installing a winter facility at Heathrow, for a long time !
Not sure the image will follow… I’ll make a try, with an air Pic !
A British Air Police picture on AvWeek !
http://sitelife.aviationweek.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/10/10/3a9bd52c-a00b-434f-9a7d-1629f5d27cd8.Full.jpg
So, may be a very heavy transplant with all surgery needed, or complete change of the section … but, Boeing has just stablished his camp in Heathrow for a long time (As it seems to me !)
Hope it works !
Assuming the temporary tents around the plane are also set up as part of the preparations for repairing the aircraft, that looks like they’re preparing themselves to be there for quite a while yet.
Which to me means that significant work is required to make the plane airworthy again, given the premium you pay on real estate at LHR. Will be interesting to see if they are going to put the permanent fix in place at LHR or whether it’s “just” a patch-up to then fly the plane somewhere else for the final part of the repair.
Has the UK government ever issued a report on the cause of the 787 fire at London Heathrow? Even a prelim report?
A Special Bulletin was released.
http://www.aaib.gov.uk/publications/special_bulletins/s5_2013___boeing_787__et_aop.cfm
I would not be surprised if the CSeries flight test programs isn’t progressing as fast as hoped / scheduled. They had multiple time consuming software upgrades shortly before first flight.
Perhaps an easier idea would be putting the complete aircraft into a tent, just the wings out of it … remove the complete aircraft except the wings…. scrap it in small pieces and each mechanic is taking one piece at a time out of it, at one night in the worst possible weather with a lot of fog a large heavy duty truck is driving a completely new aircraft (again without the wings) into the tent, do a bad paintjob at the place where the repair is supposted to be and remove the tent and declare the repair as successful 😉
They removed the VTP from the Ethiopian 787, perhaps they’ll complete the repair in-situ……
http://www.flickr.com/photos/57530104@N02/10341011313/