Some 15,000 well-wishers witnessed the first public appearance last month of the Boeing 787 in Everett, Wash., an event broadcast live via satellite in nine languages and “potentially” reaching more than 100 million people. Now the company’s attention has turned to a more select and critical audience of airworthiness authorities, as it prepares the mostly composite, twin-aisle Dreamliner for first flight and an eight-month flight-test program.
Two days before the rollout, held 7/8/07, Boeing 787 program manager Mike Bair reiterated estimates of late August or September for first flight and a “high degree of confidence” in first delivery to All Nippon Airways next May. He dismissed suggestions that wiring could present a problem similar to Airbus’s travails with the A380, citing the comparative simplicity of the 787’s electrical configuration, but the short supply of fasteners made primarily by Alcoa remained a concern. Workers assembled the first 787 using temporary fasteners and must replace them before the airplane can fly.
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