6/24/2009
NEWS BRIEFS
Delays Define Boeing’s Dreamliner

Editor’s Note: Articles in Media Spotlight are excerpts from publications that show the industry what the public is reading or hearing about fasteners and fastener companies.

“Something like a bucket of bolts could prove to be the difference between success and continued fear of failure on the once-vaunted 787 Dreamliner, one of the most complex new airplanes in aviation history,” writes David Greising of the Chicago Tribune.

“Last year it was a lack of fasteners. This summer, it is the need to add new parts to strengthen the airplane where previously no reinforcement was needed.”

The new delay comes unusually late in the development cycle, raising more questions about the overarching ambition of Boeing’s 787 and the global supply chain created to build it.

The parts to fix the design flaw reportedly will cover 72 square inches on the 787 airplane.

“But it’s where those 72 square inches fall — in two-square-inch increments along the line where the wings meet the fuselage — that is giving Boeing fits,” Greising writes. “Airlines and passengers have an acute interest in seeing wings attached securely to their airplanes. It’s an understandable concern, especially with an untested design.”

The latest flaw involves undue stress on the planes carbon-fiber composite, adding more time to two years of setbacks that have costs Boeing several billion dollars. ©2009 GlobalFastenerNews.com