Boeing News
Boeing Suffers Another Setback To 787 Program
In what is being described by the media as another blow to Boeing's credibility, the manufacturer indefinitely delayed the flight test of its 787 aircraft before it was expected to take place. The coverage was very negative, highlighting the continued problems Boeing has with the plane and the effect it had on the company's stock
NBC Nightly News (6/23, story 7, 0:25, Williams) reported, "There has been another setback for the aircraft Boeing likes to call the Dreamliner, the 787, billed as the next generation jet to forever change passenger air travel, built with a composite body. Just last week, Boeing said the 787 would fly by the end of this month. But now engineers have found a glitch, once again delaying delivery of hundreds of orders of aircraft."
The AP (6/24, Lovering) reports Boeing "said Tuesday it needs to reinforce small areas near the connection of the wings and fuselage before conducting the test flight. ... A revised schedule for the flight, as well as first deliveries to customers, will not be announced for several weeks." According to the article, delays like this one have cost Boeing "credibility" as well as billions in expenses and penalties. Scott Fancher, Boeing's 787 program manager, stated the plane needed a "relatively simple modification" that the company is already working on. "The 787 production team will continue testing the airplane, performing tests such as low-speed taxiing, Boeing said. Work also will continue on five other test planes."
A host of other news outlets also report the story, including USA Today (6/24, Reed), the Wall Street Journal (6/24, A1, Sanders, Michaels, Cole), the New York Times (6/24, B3, Drew), Reuters (6/23, Mukhopadhyay), AFP (6/24, Lever), and Bloomberg News (6/24, Ratnam, Rotham).
Problem Highlights Issues With Using Composites. The Problem Highlights Issues With Using Composites. The Wall Street Journal (6/24, A6, Pasztor, Sanders) reports Boeing's new problem "highlights the engineering, manufacturing and maintenance issues still associated with such high-tech materials." Independent experts "said Tuesday that even the most advanced computer-models sometimes have difficulty accurately predicting how stress will affect the composite parts, or where they attach to aluminum or titanium." In the past, "concerns with high-tech composites generally have focused on the manufacturing challenges," but now the stress issue "raises the possibility that other portions of the predictive computer models could turn out to need further verification and perhaps adjustment."
