On July 8, 2007, Boeing officially unveiled its 787 Dreamliner, an event that was largely symbolic, since the date corresponded to the plane's name: 7-8-7. But on Thursday, Boeing said that the plane won't make its first flight until at least the second quarter of 2009.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News)It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, but on Thursday Boeing announced revised first flight and first delivery dates for its long-awaited and much-anticipated, but also troubled 787 Dreamliner.
The aviation giant said it now expects the first 787 flight during the second quarter of 2009, and the delivery of the first Dreamliner in the first quarter of 2010.
Prior to Thursday's announcement, Boeing had said the first flight would be in the fourth quarter of 2008 and the first delivery in the third quarter of 2009. But even those dates differed from what Boeing had predicted on July 8, 2007 (07/08/07) when it suggested at the roll-out event for the 787 that the first flight would be in August or September of 2007 and the first commercial passengers in May of 2008.
In its announcement, Boeing pinned the blame for the latest 787 delays on a machinists strike that shut the program down from early September to November of this year.
Now, the company says it is trying to figure out how the latest delays will affect its delivery plan, and what the financial impact will be.
But one thing is clear: Boeing needs to get the 787 program on its feet and up in the air, to mix metaphors. Yet, while the program has had its share of delays, there was recently a sign that at the very least, it is a fundamentally sound project: an intended-to-be-secret dossier recently put together by Boeing's archrival Airbus about the 787 Dreamliner seemed to indicate that the program was solid.
"(T)ake a look at the document," wrote aviation blogger Jon Ostrower on Flightblogger. Nowhere does it say that the program isn't going to work or that the plane isn't going to fly. At the end of the day, the report is a vindication of the program."
Now, Boeing just needs to follow through on that promise. The world is watching.
Northrop Grumman won a $40 billion Air Force contract to build refueling tankers Friday, a deal Boeing was expected to win.
(Credit: Northrop Grumman)Boeing officials must be feeling a little bit like the New England Patriots after the aerospace giant on Friday lost out on a $40 billion Air Force deal.
According to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required to view full article), Boeing was considered the favorite to win a $40 billion deal to build midair refueling tankers for the Air Force, but lost out in the end to a consortium made up of Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defence & Space, parent company of jet maker Airbus.
"Boeing was heavily favored to win the contract," the Journal reported. "It had been on the verge of sewing up a similar tanker deal in 2001, only to see it unravel after the revelation that a top Boeing official had conducted illegal job negotiations with an Air Force acquisition official who later joined the company. That thrust Boeing into a years-long ethics scandal, and the U.S. put the contract up for rebidding."
Still, heading into the Air Force's final decision on the deal, Boeing was seen as the front-runner for the contract, and even those at Northrop Grumman were expecting to be shut out.
But the Air Force thought otherwise.
"Northrop Grumman clearly provided the best value to the government," the Journal quoted Air Force acquisitions official Sue Payton as saying.
According to the Air Force, the contract was for the right to build up to 179 tanker aircraft, to be called the KC-45A, for the Air Force.
"The tanker is our No. 1 procurement priority right now," said Air Force Gen. Duncan McNabb in a press release about the deal. "Buying the new KC-45A is a major step forward and another demonstration of our commitment to recapitalizing our Eisenhower-era inventory of these critical national assets."
The KC-45A is expected to be able to provide refueling to both Air Force and Navy planes, while its predecessor, the KC-135, must be configured for one or the other before takeoff.
Boeing delivered its 1,400th 747 Thursday to GE Commecial Aviation Services.
(Credit: Boeing)I got an e-mail Friday morning from my contact at Boeing alerting me to the fact that the aerospace giant delivered its 1,400th 747 Thursday.
The lucky recipient of the 747-400 freighter was GE Commercial Aviation Services, which plans to lease the jet to AirBridgeCargo Airlines, a Boeing press release says.
What really struck me about the news is that there are only 1,400 747s. It seems to me that every time I fly through Los Angeles, I see something like a couple hundred of the big planes on the tarmac, half of them owned by Qantas.
Of course, that's an exaggeration, but for a world famous airplane that first launched in 1969 and that is flown by airlines all over the globe, the number just seemed small.
Then again, you try picturing 1,400 747s lined up, and I think we're halfway to the moon.
Actually, according to the release, 747s over the years have flown enough miles--42 billion nautical miles--to have made 203,000 trips to the moon.
The planes had also been used for 17 million flights through 2007 and been in the air for 89 million hours.
In 2010, Boeing will unveil its next-generation of 747, the 747-8 Intercontinental. A modern, more sleek version of the familiar plane, it is expected to be more fuel-efficient and more comfortable.
That'll be an important move for Boeing as it takes on archrival Airbus and its A380 super plane.
A big question then might be, will Boeing ever get to a second 1,400 747s? My first instinct would be to say yes, and faster than the first time. But with airlines being able to buy A380s or Boeing's own 787 Dreamliners, I start to wonder if in fact the 747 will be a less common plane over time.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Airbus' mammoth A380 is the biggest passenger jet in history. Now, a French photographer has posted a panoramic image of the plane's cockpit.
(Credit: Airbus)Wow. I wish I was a pilot.
That's all I could think Monday morning when I came across an amazing panoramic image of the cockpit of an Airbus A380.
I must admit I don't understand most of what I see in the panoramic--I would show an image of it here, but as of this writing, I hadn't gotten permission from the photographer, Gilles Vidal, to do so--but it just looks like one heck of a plane.
This is also one of those great panoramics that lets you move around, zoom in or out, and rotate up or down and so forth.
And out the cockpit is another A380, just across the tarmac.
You can be sure that as further A380 news comes along, I'll feature it here. For now, though, just enjoy playing with this image. And try to not get nauseous, as the continuous movement of the panoramic is a little bit vertiginous.
Since I'm kind of an airplane nut--of the amateur variety--this is somewhat of a Homer Simpson moment.
Mmmmmm...A380.
Singapore Airlines flew the first commercial flight of the Airbus A380 Thursday. And it was apparently a big party in the sky.
(Credit: Pascal Parrot/Getty Images)Singapore Airlines flight SQ380, from Singapore to Sydney, took to the air Thursday and in the process made aviation history as the first commercial flight of the long-awaited mammoth flying machine, the Airbus A380.
I've never seen one of these planes up close. But I'm longing to. It recently made its first (test) flight into San Francisco and I was out of town. And sadly, neither Airbus nor Singapore Airlines invited me to take this first flight today.
But for those who did take it, it sounds like it was quite the celebration.
"The flight was spectacular, just truly awesome," Thomas Lee, reached by cell phone as the plane pulled into the gate at Sydney Airport, told the International Herald Tribune. "I'm thrilled beyond words, actually. Just extremely excited. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd put it at 12."
Lee actually has a claim to aviation history that I am rather in awe of. He was on the first commercial flight of the 747, in 1970, the Herald Tribune reported, and now was on the first A380 passenger flight as well. (For a look at the plane, including its luxury suites, see "Photos: Airbus delivers the A380, finally.")
That's pretty cool.
The A380, if you've not been following plane porn like I have, offers 50 percent more floor space than a 747, and can carry as many as 853 people. Of course, that would be in an all-steerage configuration. A more likely scenario would be somewhere in the 500-plus range.
The Airbus Web site hasn't been updated to reflect the news that Singapore Airlines made the first passenger flight of the A380.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)Still, that's a lot of airplane. And it just looks huge, too, what with an entire second level and the appearance of a flying monstrosity.
And while the Singapore flight had paying customers, it still wasn't a regularly scheduled flight. That won't happen until later this week. This flight consisted mainly of people who bought their tickets on eBay, with proceeds going to charity.
Of course, all this could be a lie. That's because, according to Airbus' own Web site, it hasn't delivered any of the planes, and none are in operation. Whoops.
Okay, I kid Airbus, but only because I'm really a huge 747 fan.
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