boeing 787 dreamliner

The Federal Aviation Administration has approved Boeing's plan to redesign the batteries of the 787 Dreamliner airplanes but testing is needed before the planes can serve passengers again, the Associated Press reported today.

The planes were grounded in January when the batteries of one, a Japan Airlines 787, caught fire.

The Federal Aviation Administration told the AP that Boeing's plan includes "a redesign of the internal battery components to minimize the possibility of short-circuiting, better insulation of the battery's eight cells and the addition of a new containment and venting system."

Boeing said it submitted … Read more

There's been no shortage of publicity and investigation surrounding the grounding of the world's 787 Dreamliner fleet after recent battery fires aboard the Boeing airplanes. But there's one question that has gone unanswered: Where are all those Dreamliners?

Thanks to our friends at Airchive.com, we now know where all those planes are sitting as regulators, Boeing, and its battery suppliers work to once again get eager passengers aboard the much-hyped aircraft.

According to Airchive.com, there are currently eight carriers flying Dreamliners -- if you can call having a bunch of planes parked on tarmacs at … Read more

Boeing's 787 Dreamliner has suffered through a series of high-profile delays and setbacks, culminating in this week's grounding by the U.S. government, but thanks to its cutting-edge technology, it's almost certain the plane will thrive in spite of the repeated body blows.

The Dreamliner -- the much-heralded, next-generation plane that Boeing designed to offer airlines big fuel efficiencies and access to new intercontinental routes -- had already stumbled through more than three years of delays including an onboard electrical fire before the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration grounded the entire U.S.-based fleet this week … Read more

Airbus yesterday formally opened the assembly line of its next-generation A350 when it began final construction of the first test aircraft in Toulouse, France.

The center fuselage section, which arrived at the company's production facility in the belly of an A300-600T (aka the Beluga), can now be joined with the forward fuselage section already in place. Next to come will be the wings and aft fuselage, which are currently being built in plants in Germany and the United Kingdom

The first aircraft, MSN5000, will be used only for static testing on the ground. According to FlightBlogger's Jon Ostrower (… Read more

Now this is clever marketing.

Over the last few months, Boeing has been sending its next-generation airplane, the 787 Dreamliner, all over the world on a goodwill tour meant to impress country after country with its composite materials, its curved wings, and of course its fuel efficiency.

But this month, the aviation giant sent one of its Dreamliners on a very precise flight over the United States. Over the the last two weeks, a 787 has been plying the skies of America, tracing out "787" and Boeing's signature logo over much of the northern U.S.

To … Read more

It's fair to say the planners at Boeing Test & Evaluation spiced up a recent extended operation test of the Boeing 787.

Spanning 9,000 nautical miles over 12 states, the 787's impressive route spells out "787" and the Boeing logo like a giant Etch A Sketch in the sky. The next-generation commercial airplane took off on February 9 at 1:33 p.m. from Boeing's airfield in Washington state, and landed this morning at 8:45 a.m. Some of the turns needed to create the numbers and logo seem like they'd send a stomach into a spin, but the zoomed-out map exaggerates the sharpness of the turns. … Read more

It's been only two weeks since taking paying passengers skyward for the first time, but Boeing's 787 Dreamliner has already had its first mechanical glitch.

According to published reports, Boeing and All Nippon Airways--the Dreamliner's launch customer--are investigating a landing-gear deployment problem that hit ANA's first 787 on Sunday. The pilots of the next-generation plane had to "deploy the landing gear using a manual backup system," Reuters reported, "after an indicator lamp suggested the wheels were not properly down."

No passengers were injured, and the plane is said to have already been … Read more

And all the engineers breathed out.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration last week gave Boeing certification for its 787 Dreamliner, saying that the company's years-in-the-making aircraft is finally safe for passengers. The announcement came after the aircraft completed its final flight tests on August 17.

The green-lighting will allow Boeing to make its first delivery to Japan's All Nippon Airways on September 28, at Tokyo's Haneda airport.

The Dreamliner is in many ways the aircraft on which the aerospace giant has staked its future. Constructed with composite materials, the 787 is supposed to be more fuel … Read more

There were probably smiles and handshakes in the executive suites at Boeing yesterday, as the aviation giant announced that it has scheduled delivery of the first 787 Dreamliner to an airline customer for the third quarter of 2011.

But that announcement--which comes in the wake of a November halt to the 11-month-old Dreamliner test flight program after an on-board electrical fire in a control panel--belies the fact that the much-anticipated, next-generation Boeing plane, which costs between $185 million and $218 million depending on the configuration, is now guaranteed to be at least three years behind the schedule the company … Read more