It didn’t take special insight to guess that Boeing wouldn’t meet its year-end target to certify and deliver the first 747-8 Freighter. Company executives certainly sent enough signals over the summer to clue in the most casual observer to the fact that, indeed, the program appeared bound to suffer yet another delay. Then, on August 30, Boeing handed oversight of the project to Pat Shanahan, Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice president and general manager of airplane programs, in an attempt to “re-energize” a flight-test and certification effort that had apparently fallen short of expectations.
Although all signs pointed to a delay of some magnitude, not until last week did Boeing finally go public with its intention to shift first delivery to mid-2011–some six months later than the previous official target and almost two years later than originally planned. Boeing blamed earlier delays on a lack of engineering maturity and a shortage of engineering resources due to the simultaneous effort to certify the 787. Later, it cited flight-test “discoveries,” such as buffeting at flap setting 30 and, more recently, a low-frequency wingtip vibration in certain flight conditions and an underperforming aileron actuator.
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