(Forward) Tests Ending For Rolls-Powered 787

xiao3316 · 发表于 2011-8-18 11:25:16

Boeing will officially complete flight tests for FAA Part 25 type certification of the Rolls-Royce-powered 787 this week, clearing the way for deliveries to start next month.
The company says it is preparing a statement to announce the formal completion of tests “once all the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed,” while flight test sources indicate that with the exception of a few remaining engine ground tests this week, all the baseline work is essentially done.
So far the five Rolls-Royce Trent 1000-powered aircraft involved in flight test, functionality and reliability (F&R), and extended twin operations (ETOPS) tests have amassed almost 3,790 flights hr. in 1,315 flights. The flight test-hour total is roughly 50% greater than planned, due largely to issues uncovered in testing, lengthy delays to the overall program and the addition of the production-standard aircraft Line Number 9 (ZA102), which was introduced to augment the test fleet for F&R/ETOPS.
Boeing originally predicted 2,430 flight hr. for the Rolls-powered certification effort over a roughly nine-month period. However, the flight test program has taken approximately 20 months to achieve certification following the first flight of the 787 in December 2009. The current flight-hour tally is also expanded by non-certification flights, including long-range ferry flights.
The ongoing General Electric GEnx-1B-powered 787 certification effort is similarly stretched, with 1,037 flight hr. over almost 400 flights. The original target was completion of certification after 670 flight hr. The GE program is expected to commence F&R/ETOPS testing in September.
The imminent completion of certification tests also was forecast by Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Jim Albaugh. Speaking at the Jeffries Aerospace and Defence conference in New York on Aug. 11, he said, “We hope to complete the flight test program probably sometime this weekend. We think the FAA is going to hold their type [certification] review board next week, and we hope to get our ticket—so we can start delivering the 787.”
Boeing completed the ETOPS portion of 300 hr. of combined F&R/ETOPS tests on Aug. 2. The first aircraft (ZA001) has flown to Moscow, to appear at the MAKS show, while the second (ZA002) is set to complete ancillary engine ground tests on Aug. 15. Aircraft three (ZA003) is due to complete a minor test concerned with data for flight-test simulation on Aug. 16, while ZA004 returned to Seattle from Yuma, Ariz., where it conducted final engine cooling checks.