AFP
Boeing 787 makes emergency landing during test flight
An investigation was under way yesterday after a Boeing 787 jet on a test flight over Texas made an emergency landing when smoke was detected in the main cabin.
The incident was the latest setback in the development of the new plane.
The jet landed safely in Laredo and the crew was evacuated, Boeing spokeswoman Loretta Gunter said. Boeing was still gathering information about the incident, she said.
The smoke appeared in the rear cabin of the plane, furthest from the cockpit, said Lynn Lunsford, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
“The pilot landed and advised he was declaring an emergency,” said Mr Lunsford, who added that the airport fire department was called to the scene. He said the FAA would look into the incident.
Boeing said one person received a minor injury as the crew of 30 to 40 people were being evacuated down exit slides.
The 787 is made of composite material designed to make it lighter and more fuel-efficient, but Boeing has run into a series of delays in developing the big, two-aisle passenger plane.
Boeing has said it will deliver the first production models of the 787 to Japan’s All Nippon Airways in the middle of the first quarter of next year – about three years behind schedule.
Development of the aircraft has been pushed back several times by snags including availability of Rolls-Royce engines and supplier workmanship issues.
The company halted test flights last summer after finding that some parts in the tail were not properly installed.
It was unclear whether Tuesday’s incident would add to the delays.
Boeing is conducting flight tests with several 787s, some with Rolls-Royce engines, which will be the first mod-els delivered to airlines, and others with General Electric engines.
The company said last month it had completed take-off and handling tests for the initial version of the plane but that more testing was needed for 787s with GE engines.
Boeing is relying on suppliers from around the US and the world to build components for the plane. It has taken 847 orders from 56 customers.
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Jesmond Micallef
Nov 11th 2010, 14:44
continued....
A final note about aircraft flight testing. An aircraft needs to undergo quite a lengthy and rigorous flight test programme in order to achieve or confirm its capabilities. The test pilots and engineers do this. The machine would need to undergo various flight regimes within the flight envelope. Weight distribution within the passenger cabin is simulated by a collection of water tanks. Test flying an unapproved aircraft cannot carry passengers, for obvious reasons !! Changing the weight distribution would allow to establish the forward and aft limit of the aircraft centre of gravity for normal controlled flight, for example. A very important aspect when loading aircraft. Putting the aircraft through a series of "stall" conditions is also part of flight test programme. The stall is that condition in which the lift producing airflow over the wings cannot sustain the weight and hence the plane falls. Single engine operation is also tested. The temperature gradient effects upon the aircraft and its systems are also tested with the aircraft being flown to some very cold areas around the world.
I wish the B787 very good success. Another significant breakthrough in civil aviation. May its technology mature and develope as others did.
Jesmond Micallef
Nov 11th 2010, 14:15
continued.....
The FAA has its own representative technologists but together with the Boeing specialists, they would supervise or overshadow the complete process. I think its a two way approach that they use. The FAA itself, a massive organisation, does not build aircraft as such but it has the technical competence to actively participate and supervise the process.
The Boeing B787 is quite a challenge technologically. The fibre composite materials and method of construction are totally different to the riveted type of metallic aircraft construction. The concepts of damage tolerance, crack propogation are quite apart when comparing sheet metal to fibre composite construction. Its a different ball game altogether. With fibre composites, for example, components can have thier stress paths customised unlike a solid metal one. The fibre orientation within the component can be made to accomodate these stress paths, optimising the design and hence leading to less weight, for example. Composite construction is pretty much an optimised form of construction. With B787, Boeing has indeed made another major in passenger aircraft construction and design. Their classical Boeing B747 was a pioneering plane that brought trans Atlantic air travel to masses.
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Jesmond Micallef
Nov 11th 2010, 13:40
This latest development from Boeing is very interesting for the fact that its a new venture as a far as aircraft construction and materials are concerned. The B787 is made of composite material in order to make it lighter and of course more fuel-efficient. Manufacturers use the Competent Authority's legal code in order to satisfy the requirements for the aircraft to become approved and hence Type Certificated. What happens when a manufacturer designs and develops a new technology for which there is no legal code ? Consider the case when Airbus designed and built the A320 Fly by Wire (FBW) passenger aircraft. Was there a legal code available to Airbus in order to secure Type Certification of the then new technology.? Apart from the one off BAC/Aerospatiale Concorde, there where no fly by wire passenger aircraft flying back then so how would the aircraft gain Type Certification ? Airbus built a fly by wire demonstrator aircraft, a modified A300 in order to demonstrate the technology. It then transfered this onto the FBW dedicated A320.
This is where the authority's representatives come in. The FAA would have a permanent presence at Boeing overlooking the development of the machine in question.
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