Wednesday, June 11, 2008

The 787 feels the power.

The 787 was powered on for the first time today, confirming earlier rumors that Boeing would start power on testing very shortly as well as speculation that Boeing would indeed meet the schedule that they had set in early April.

A source at Boeing told me that there is a temporary perimeter fence around LN 1 with a sign reading "Warning - Power On Test - Authorized Personnel Only - No Entrance - No Exceptions".

There are large flat panel displays set up on the factory floor showing a live video feed of the cockpit control panel and a Boeing employee recording video of the event.

Jon Ostrower is reporting the same thing here.

Of the milestones that Boeing had set for itself to complete by the end of June and that remains to be done is movement of of the fatigue air frame out of 40-26 in order to make room for Dreamliner 4 and the start of final assembly of Dreamliner 4. The fatigue air frame is due to be moved to the 767 line temporarily on June 19th. The rear fuselage for Dreamliner 4 was delivered last week which leaves the forward fuselage and the main fuselage the only remaining large parts to be shipped to Everett. If those remaining items occur then Boeing would hold true to the schedule it had outlined.

Note that this apparently was a partial power on and the entire aircraft is not completely powered on. Boeing hopes to have the aircraft fully powered on by the end of the month. There should be more on this story coming out of Everett soon.

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