Boeing 787 Dreamliner - Mark Wagner [35]
Test work also was under way on the first full-size structural wingbox, and involved tests on a representative outboard wing section, as well as a nine-foot-long center section unit. Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI) made the wing center section, while Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) provided the outboard wing, with Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) adding the fixed structure.
Despite the decision to have the wing manufactured in Japan, final assembly was to be completed in Everett, with the addition of systems and Boeing-built trailing and leading edge moving surfaces. “We’ve traded on this one. Boeing traditionally did the wingbox on other wings, and the partners did the outside. This time it’s the other way around, and all the tests will happen here as well as the completion of all production wings,” said Gillette. MHI supplied ribs, stringers, and spars for the test unit, with Boeing providing the composite skins. Similar tests were also performed by Alenia in Italy on the first full-size horizontal tail structural box, and by Boeing at its Fredrickson site in Washington, where the vertical tail was being developed.
With external lines close to finalization, the development focus shifted to the cabin, flight deck, and systems. Of major significance was the flight deck, which, in keeping with the rest of the 787, was expected to be truly twenty-first-century standard. The outside world got its first formal look at the new flight deck in early September 2005 and was not disappointed. Dominated by five large flat-panel primary flight displays, the flight deck projected the look and feel of the 777 cockpit to enhance commonality and ease cross-crew familiarity and training. The most dramatic new features were dual head-up displays (HUDs) manufactured by Rockwell Collins Flight Dynamics. Using liquid crystal display technology, the HUDs were standard equipment.
Boeing banked on attracting new 787 orders as part of fleet modernization deals involving its older sibling the 777. Air Canada became one of several such multimodel contracts in November 2005 when it signed up for eighteen 777s and fourteen 787-8s, plus options for eighteen more 777s and forty-six 787-8s and 787-9s. In April 2007 Air Canada exercised half of its 787 options, taking firm orders to thirty-seven, making it the largest customer for the model in North America, and the third-largest in the world after ANA and Qantas. Originally set for 2010, planned delivery slipped as the program hit big problems in 2008. Boeing/Air Canada
The specially developed 787 systems integration facility at Hamilton Sundstrand’s Rockford site was meanwhile nearing completion. Engineers were testing the electronic links between the site and several suppliers that, working in conjunction with Boeing test engineers, would be able to conduct tests of the integrated systems remotely. It was through such advances that the 787 hoped to stay on track, despite the sophistication of much of the technology and the new territory being covered. “That’s how it’s balancing out,” said Gillette. “We’re doing a number of innovative things that a decade ago would have taken longer, but we’re able to compress time dramatically and essentially we’re doing more in a shorter time.”
And time was short. The first subassemblies were due “on dock” at Everett at the end of 2006 to allow flight tests to start in mid-2007. With the 787-3 and 787-9 variants hard on the heels of the 787-8, Boeing’s 787 design team knew they were in a race against time and that this was only the start of what was to become