B787-tegningen på Flightradar24 - Mer info - Curt Lewis

Boeing 787-10 Flight Testing Reaches Landmark

787-10 testing passes halfway stage as Boeing traces huge 787 outline over the U.S. during Trent TEN certification

While Boeing's recent decision to draw the shape of a giant 787 across the continental U.S. during a long-range engine test flight may strike some as gimmicky, to the company it displays growing confidence in completing two linked milestones that are key to the long-term success of the twinjet program.

The enormous airliner shape was drawn by the final 787-8 development aircraft, ZA004, during a marathon 18-hr. test flight on Aug. 2-3 for certification of the upgraded Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 TEN. The new engine will not only be Rolls's standard powerplant for the 787 family, but it will also be the first to enter service on the stretched 787-10, which remains on track to debut in the first half of 2018.

For the extended test flight, ZA004 departed Boeing Field at 3:38 p.m. PST on Aug. 2 and returned 18 hr. 1 min. later at 9:39 a.m. on Aug. 3. The duration of the flight was stretched to ensure adequate time for ETOPS and functional and reliability (F&R) certification by designing a flightpath that drew the outline of a 787 over 22 states. Angled northwest toward Washington state, the outline of the aircraft's nose was flown over Wyoming, while the wings stretched from northern Michigan, near the Canadian border, to southern Texas. The tail extended from Alabama to Kentucky.

For ETOPS certification the flight was used to validate aircraft, engines and systems reliability with the revised Trent variant. Launched for the 787-10 in 2012, the Trent 1000-based turbofan will power all new-build Rolls-powered 787s from the fourth quarter of this year. The hybrid engine incorporates technology from the company's Advance3 core program and the Trent XWB-84 developed for the AirbusA350. The engine is expected to produce at least a 2% improvement over the current Package C production version on the 787. Flight tests of the TEN engine began on ZA004 in Seattle early in December 2016.

Skirting or overflying several storms, Boeing's development 787-8 ZA004 crisscrossed 22 states on Aug. 2-3 during an 18-hr.-1-min. ETOPS and systems functional and reliability test flight for Rolls-Royce's Trent 1000 TEN engine. Credit: FlightAware

The key Trent engine test comes as the 787-10 flight-test program passes the 50% completion mark. With three aircraft in the program, one of which is powered by the optional General ElectricGEnx-1B engine, the manufacturer says it is "pleased to report the three test airplanes continue to perform per design." Although Boeing declines to give specific details, the test fleet flew more than 90 hr. in July and, following completion of the ETOPS test mission, is expected to amass a total accumulated flight time of almost 500 hr. by mid-August.

The first of the 787-10 test fleet, ZC001, has flown the bulk of the test hours since making its initial flight from Boeing's Charleston, South Carolina, facility on March 31. Normally based at Boeing Field, the aircraft flew to Victorville, California, on Aug. 9, from where it will be temporarily based for performance takeoff testing. The second aircraft, the GE-powered ZC036, has most recently been undertaking airspeed calibration, buffet boundary and climb performance flight testing and joined the program on May 2. The third airframe, ZC002, has remained in South Carolina since its first flight on June 8 and in early August was undergoing cargo compartment smoke penetration ground testing.

"We've completed a number of tests thus far, including taking ZC002 through a comprehensive combination of ground and inflight tests as part of our Operate Like an Airline [OLA] testing," says 787-10 deputy chief project engineer Wayne Tygert. "Conducted in preparation for next year's delivery, OLA tests simulate the real-life airline environment. They ensure that the airplane is service-ready outside the confines of the controlled test program. The series of tests were successfully passed," he adds.

Boeing, meanwhile, is expected to start final assembly of the initial production 787-10 at its South Carolina facility later this month. The aircraft, which is likely to be employed temporarily for F&R testing prior to final FAA Part 25 certification, will be delivered to launch customer Singapore Airlines in early 2018.