From Start to Finish: How The Boeing 787 Is Made

boeing 787 first flew in 2009 and ushered in a new era of composite construction and more efficient wide-body aircraft it also introduced a more spread out production chain for boeing with suppliers in several countries and two u.s production lines while the aircraft has had its issues both in design and construction it remains a popular and successful development but what exactly does it take to produce the 787 dreamliner prior to the 787 boeing had great success with its wide-body aircraft the 707 was the first truly successful aircraft of the jet age later the 747 took capacity to new levels and was not matched for decades and the triple 7 has become the best-selling wide body of all time the triple seven first flew in 1997 and boeing was considering what aircraft would be next to follow this rather than develop a new variant or upgrade it chose to go with a new aircraft design this would build on the twin engine success of the triple 7 but focus further on efficiency improvements and lower operating costs it opted for a smaller 200 to 300 passenger capacity essentially making it a replacement for the 767 rather than a rival for the triple seven [Music] boeing set out to make the 787 more efficient to operate and to offer a lower cost per seat for airlines it designed the 787 to be around 20 percent more efficient than the 767 it also took into account the growing attention that airlines governments and passengers were now paying to the environmental impact of aviation the main design changes that contributed to the efficiency improvements included composite fuselage construction the 787 was the first major commercial aircraft to use carbon fiber composite components in the fuselage and wing construction this makes the aircraft lighter but still offers high strength aerodynamic improvements including raked wing tips which reduce wing vortex drag in a similar way to winglets and new more efficient engines the 787 can take either the general electric ge nx or the rolls-royce trent 1000 engine boeing launched the project initially known as 7e7 in january 2003 with the e standing for efficiency by july 2003 the dreamliner branding was in place and its first customer order from japanese airline all nippon airways came in april 2004. aircraft development is an expensive undertaking especially a new clean sheet design like the 787 the total development cost was estimated at over 32 billion dollars the 787 first flew in 2009 delayed from 2007 and entered service in october 2011 with a a it also embarked on an ambitious global marketing tour starting in december 2011 boeing began a six-month dream tour including visits across europe africa china thailand the middle east and the united states the 787 and airbus's response with the a350 are good examples of how the two companies compete and learn from each other in many ways boeing's move to develop the 787 was a bold one a clean sheet design with such an efficiency focus was a costly move in a market that was not yet proven at the time airbus was focusing on larger capacity aircraft with the a380 boeing still had the 747 to compete with this but ultimately the a380 would give airbus the lead in terms of capacity however smaller and more efficient quickly turned out to be where the industry would ultimately head prior to the launch and success of the 787 airbus had been planning a new mid-capacity wide body based on the a330 this would have new engines and a partial carbon fiber construction but otherwise would share much with its predecessor the european plane maker announced a revised clean sheet a350 xwb at the 2006 farnborough air show this late decision though meant the a350 xwb did not enter service until 2015 with qatar airways four years after the 787 both boeing and airbus often construct aircraft in several locations with a central production line for final assembly airbus was conceived around this concept with several smaller european manufacturers coming together in 1970 to take on larger u.s competition starting with the airbus a300 components have always been constructed at several locations around europe boeing has been more focused on production in the us with production facilities at renton and everett washington and later in north charleston south carolina the 787 was originally assembled at everett along with all other boeing wide bodies but in 2011 a second assembly line was added at north charleston to handle the increased production rate the 78710 is produced only in north charleston and boeing is currently moving all 787 production there boeing significantly increased the level of outsourcing and third-party construction for the 787 although all final assembly has taken place in north charleston many key components are constructed in other locations and by other companies this includes the main wings and central wing box by mitsubishi heavy industries in japan wing trailing edged by kawasaki heavy industries in japan wing tips by korean air in korea the tail and horizontal stabilizer as well as central fuselage section are built by alenia aeronautica in italy forward fuselage sections by spirit aerosystems in the u.s and kawasaki heavy industries in japan main landing gear by a combination of kawasaki heavy industries in japan and messier bugatti delty in the uk passenger doors by cup later in france cargo doors built by saab in sweden and finally the up fusilized section and the tail fin for which boeing handles the construction boeing today has four large fuselage transporters known as dream lifters these were developed from the 747 400 and feature a lengthened expanded fuselage to carry aircraft components the dreamlifter was introduced for 787 assembly helping more efficiently bring together components from japan italy france and the uk to the south carolina and washington factories the dreamlifter can carry the separate fuselage sections and the wings of the 787 however it's not large enough for the 78710 mid-fusilized section after it's assembled from smaller components in north charleston it cannot be flown to everett which is why all production moved to north charleston for the 787 dreamliner in october 2020 boeing announced that it would be consolidating all 787 production to its north charleston facility beginning in 2021 this came following the reduced demand and slowed production in 2020 and 2021 and it seems likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future the last 787 at everett was completed in february 2021 as we've mentioned the 787 is focused on efficiency and we can see this clearly with the total redesign of the airframe it's the first commercial aircraft to rely heavily on composite materials rather than aluminium alloys around 50 percent of the materials used are carbon fiber reinforced plastic and other composites with only 20 aluminium 15 of it is titanium which is also a metal but proven to be lower maintenance overall this gives the 787 a 20 weight reduction compared to conventional construction according to boeing it also reduces the required maintenance of the fuselage due to fatigue and corrosion the composite fuselage had a significant influence on 787 construction composite structures can be molded into any shape this has allowed separate entire fuselage barrel sections to be made in different locations rather than aluminium sheets that needed to be bolted together you can see this carbon fiber construction in action if you look at the wings as the 787 takes off the more flexible wings bend upwards and remain this way in flight this is more efficient with less drag and helps performance moving forward with just one final assembly line in north charleston south carolina components will either be built at that location or transported there for assembly within this facility there are separate factories for the sub-assembly of two different fuselage sections these are the mid-body sections with the sections from italy and japan and aft body sections for the final section of the fuselage and the tail section in these facilities separate sections are joined together the necessary wiring ducts hydraulics and other equipment are also added to the fuselage sections at this stage previously fuselage sections for the 7878 and 7879 from here would be transported to everett two for final assembly there is then a further facility known as the interiors responsibility center this assembles many of the necessary interior equipment such as floor and ceiling panels storage bins and crew rest facilities lastly one main building houses the final assembly line this can handle up to eight seven eight sevens at the same time it brings together the previously sub-assembled fuselage sections with the wings and tail production at the north charleston final assembly line completed 14 aircraft per month in 2019. this has slowed significantly in 2020 and 2021 both with the pandemic and several quality control issues by the end of 2020 this had fallen to five per month there have been several separate issues identified and investigated by the faa this includes problems with the joining material known as shims used to fill gaps where parts of the fuselage were mated wider than allowable gaps between components in the horizontal stabilizer and most recently issues with decompression panels that separate the cargo area from the passenger area these issues led to aircraft groundings and inspections and a review of the assembly line in march 2021 the first 787 since october 2020 was handed over to a customer in late april though its inventory backlog was at around 100 aircraft with the issues fixed boeing hopes it can deliver these by the end of 2021 we'll have to wait and see if the plane maker can finally catch up the 787 has proved a popular aircraft with airlines with its point-to-point abilities and efficient operation it has not been without its challenges though and production lines have been a big part of this what do you think the future holds for this efficient airframe will we see production numbers hit pre-pandemic figures again or has the sun set on the dreamliner feel free to discuss the 787 its construction and future further in the comments did you know that we publish over 175 stories every single week on simpleflying.com be sure to check the link in the description for more great stories just like this

Channel: Long Haul by Simple Flying

Views: 85,360

Keywords: aviation, flying, flight, boeing, airbus, planes, aircraft, 737, 747, 757, 767, 777, 777x, a320, a321, airbus a380, a380, airports, american airlines, united airlines, delta airlines, british airways

Id: CDC0Cd8DP-c

Length: 12min 35sec (755 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 02 2021