Boeing 787 Dreamliner - Mark Wagner [97]
GE Aviation Systems’ Future Growth Vice President Peter Woolfrey acknowledged, “We’ve had issues to deal with, both thermal issues and brake control, as well as a lot of new technology. It takes a lot to bring together and to expect it to get it right 100 percent first time around. But there’s nothing fundamentally wrong, and there’s nothing that can’t be resolved.”
The completion of the mid-fuselage on the second aircraft was a pacing item, because it was the airframe destined for ground vibration tests that had to be passed prior to the first flight. “It doesn’t change flying in the fourth quarter, but I’m eating margin I don’t want to eat and the collateral will be on aircraft three,” said Shanahan.
Meanwhile, trouble of another type was creeping up on the 787. The three-year contract with the IAM, the powerful machinists’ union, was set to expire on September 3, just a few days after Boeing aimed to complete assembly of ZA001. However, by the time negotiations began in August, the continuing issues with systems and other catch-up items had pushed this date back into October.
The talks began meanwhile with hopes of averting a repeat of the 2005 strike that cost Boeing an estimated $1.5 billion in revenue. But with the 787 poised for the final push toward the first flight, the stakes were much higher this time around. This time the negotiations would include an extra factor not present in earlier contracts, that of job security and outsourcing—a direct fallout of the 787. To Boeing’s dismay, talks got nowhere, and on September 6 the IAM went on strike after 87 percent of the union’s twenty-seven thousand members rejected the proposal.
While the labor dispute boiled over, progress was still being achieved in the factory. In Building 40-23, three bays down from the final assembly line, the static test vehicle passed its crucial “high blow” pressurization test. During the two-hour test, the airframe reached an internal pressure of 14.9 pounds per square inch, or 150 percent of the maximum expected to be seen in service. The test was a clear demonstration of the strength of the composite structure, and paved the way for separate static tests of the leading and trailing edges, which would clear the way to the first flight.
A magic (if seriously delayed) moment for the program is captured here as the power-on sequence begins on June 11, 2008. The process began with checks to verify that wiring had been properly connected before electrical life was pumped into ZA001 for the first time from an external power cart. First to run were cooling fans, followed by 28V power to the electrical buses and the common computing resource cabinets. Note the flashing red lights by the stairways, indicating live power, and in the foreground, Systems Vice President Mike Sinnett in the act of using his BlackBerry to congratulate the president of electrical systems supplier Hamilton Sundstrand. Darren Shannon
In August 2008 the nose and main landing gear were “swung” for the first time, marking another big milestone for systems interaction, which required more than four million lines of software code. The “extend-and-retract-by-wire” gear swing required perfect integration of avionics, the common core system, the electrical power system, the hydraulic system, and the structure itself.
Despite the strike, engineers started preflight tests on the aircraft’s air data system in October, while ground tests of systems and avionics continued in the ITV and AIL labs. Speculation meanwhile grew that the first flight would inevitably slide into early 2009, and