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787 fasteners incorrectly installed!

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[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]http://www.atwonline.com/news/story.html?storyID=14579[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Fastener problems latest Dreamliner nightmare[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Tuesday November 4, 2008 [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Boeing's chances of flying the 787 this year took another hit after the company acknowledged further fastener problems with the first aircraft on the production line.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]A spokesperson confirmed the problem, telling ATWOnline that the manufacturer "recently discovered some fasteners on the 787 airplanes in Everett Final Assembly were incorrectly installed and do not conform to specifications. The fasteners themselves are fine."[/FONT]

Singlecoil, ImbracableCrunk, trip, On Your Six, Baze, whaitdoing?....I just wanted to add some crayola colors so you could see this little easier. I realize black is a tough color to read....:erm:
 
Flame away pal. If Boeing would have built the major components in-house, maybe this project wouldn't be the train wreck that it is.

Mistakes happen all the time when it comes to big projects. But, these types of mistakes could have been mitigated earlier if the assembly process would have started sooner.

Yeah, singlecoil and I are mega stupid and you're the only Rhodes Scholar on flightinfo.
 
In the middle of the Machinists strike, Boeing inspectors in Everett discovered a new and serious problem with the manufacture of the first 787 Dreamliners.
Boeing admitted Tuesday that about 3 percent of the fasteners installed on the five test airplanes under construction in Everett were installed incorrectly and will have to be removed and reinstalled. Some of Boeing's global partners have found the same problem in airplane sections under construction.
"We are finding that the specification for installation of the fasteners wasn't as clear as it could have been and so it was misinterpreted by folks doing the installation," said Boeing spokeswoman Mary Hanson.
Hanson said the issue was first detected about two weeks ago during an inspection of the "static test" airframe in Everett, an early production airplane that undergoes prolonged stress tests in a large fixture inside the factory. Subsequent inspections found the same problem on the four 787s under final assembly, three of which were due to be flight test airplanes.
The issue is not the fasteners themselves, but the way they were installed on titanium parts inside the airplane. Some were left sticking up slightly from the titanium surface, leaving a small but technically significant gap between the head of the fastener and the surface.
Referring to the incorrectly installed fasteners as "nonconforming" with specifications, Hanson said they were found in various areas of the airplanes, on sections made by various suppliers.
"The locations of the non-conformances aren't isolated to any particular area of the airplane," said Hanson.
She declined to identify which sections or which suppliers are involved. She said a "root cause analysis" is under way to find out why this happened and why it wasn't discovered until so late in the build process.
The first Dreamliner was within a couple of months of its scheduled first flight when the International Association of Machinists (IAM) strike began in September.
"We're going to strengthen our quality management system," said Hanson. "We have already prepared additional training on the installation process that is now being deployed through the factory to our workforce. And we've also sent it to our partners and they are deploying it to all of their workforce as well."
Last year, Boeing cited a shortage of fasteners and the need to insert temporary fasteners as contributing to the earliest delays on the crucial jet program.
Since then, delays have mounted and the first delivery of the airplane was already about 15 months behind schedule before the two-month Machinist strike that just ended. Hanson said Boeing has not determined yet if the discovery of this latest fastener problem, which was first reported online by the trade publication Air Transport World, will add yet more delay or can be fixed during the production recovery that follows the strike.
Hanson said that Boeing hasn't finalized a revised schedule for the 787.
But Boeing did officially admit Tuesday what has been obvious for some time: that the 787 will not fly this year.
After the previous round of delays, the first test flight had been pushed out to the "third quarter of 2008." But because of the just-ended 58-day IAM strike, that isn't going to happen.
The pushing out of first flight into 2009 is not attributable to the new fastener issue, said Yvonne Leach, another Boeing spokeswoman.
"It's directly related to the duration of the IAM work stoppage," said Leach.
Dominic Gates: 206-464-2963 or [email protected]

What were you saying Flyguy? How much did your parents waste on your elite education?
 
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Didn't they have a whole bunch of problems with improper/missing fasteners and other quality control issues the last time they had a strike in the nineties?
 
Obviously, your reading and comprehension skills are pretty sub-par, I'm guessing you are a product of the public school system.

The fasteners were INSTALLED wrong. You know who installs them? The same union workers that walked off the job and wanted more money. Maybe a few of them don't deserve it.............

It is obvious that you have no idea how Boeing assembles an aircraft. You should try comprehending the material before you post.
 
Is this an LA train wreck or just the the usual run of the mill train wrecK?
 
Singlecoil, ImbracableCrunk, trip, On Your Six, Baze, whaitdoing?....I just wanted to add some crayola colors so you could see this little easier. I realize black is a tough color to read....:erm:

My point is that WhineLover seems to think that a production problem which delays the 787's first flight is no big deal. Either that, or he thinks they should fly it as is.

Now what were you saying about reading comprehension?
 
While this story was breaking, American signed on giving Boeing another 100 sales. Just the initial American order for 42 jets gives Boeing a 930 jet backlog on the 787, before it has even flown.

Boeing will need to ramp up production to 12 jets per month to meet the current order book.

I don't know if they, and their many suppliers, can do it. But wow, the World loves this airplane.

IMHO Boeing needs to re-focus on building the airplane instead of outsourcing it.
 
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Singlecoil, ImbracableCrunk, trip, On Your Six, Baze, whaitdoing?....I just wanted to add some crayola colors so you could see this little easier. I realize black is a tough color to read....:erm:


Read on beotch....what color do you want? :D
 
While this story was breaking, American signed on giving Boeing another 100 sales. Just the initial American order for 42 jets gives Boeing a 930 jet backlog on the 787, before it has even flown.

Boeing will need to ramp up production to 12 jets per month to meet the current order book.

I don't know if they, and their many suppliers, can do it. But wow, the World loves this airplane.

IMHO Boeing needs to re-focus on building the airplane instead of outsourcing it.

Yes, they will need to refocus. True 'losses' are relative in a world of only 2 major a/c manufacturers, but with the delays and the long backlog they will have to work to ensure that they don't lose any of the middle to back end of their orders to the A350. They have/are essentially giving Airbus a reprieve for waiting so long to revamp the 350. A few carriers have already echoed that sentiment.
 

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