Boeing 787-9

Initial aircraft handling qualities are good and systems appear to be robust, says 787 Chief Pilot Randy Neville. In an interview with Aviation Week, Neville said that progress has been rapid thanks to careful pre-flight test preparations, lessons learned from the 787-8 and good performance of systems during four days of “gauntlet” ground tests, which simulated flight operations in the run-up to the maiden flight on Sept. 17.

The first aircraft, ZB001, is now being used for the first phase of stability and control testing and on Oct. 2 conducted its first flight with a full complement of flight-test engineers. Until now, initial airworthiness has been conducted with two flight crew only. Phase one stability and control focuses on lateral stability and the performance of the primary flight-control system.

The initial handling work assesses the baseline safety of the aircraft and includes initial stall testing at various center of gravity positions (cg) and flap settings.

The 787-9, which is stretched by five frames forward and five frames aft for a total of 20 additional feet in length over the baseline model, has a slightly larger cg range to test, as well as added flap settings. These include a “deeper” flap 30 setting for higher lift, as well as added detents at 10, 17 and 18 deg.

The 30 flap setting is designed to optimize performance in some gross weight conditions and field lengths. Although originally indicative of actual flap angles, the detent positions on more-recent generation Boeing aircraft are simply representative of pre-set positions for takeoff and landing.

Flaps 1 on the 787-8 indicates the leading edge slats are extended, but trailing edge fully retracted, while Flaps 5-20 are currently takeoff flap settings with leading edge slats extended and increasing amounts of trailing edge flap.

“The airplane has been flying regularly, with just a day for initial checks between the first and second flights, as planned. As of this morning, the 787-9 had racked up more than 40 hr. in the air and has completed initial airworthiness testing,” says Boeing Commercial Airplanes Vice President, Marketing Randy Tinseth.

Flutter tests lie immediately ahead and will evaluate the aeroelastic characteristics of the airframe and the 787-9’s latest generation of composite primary structure wing. Flutter testing is a critical part of the envelope expansion for any new aircraft and, until the work is complete, the 787-9 is limited to lower speeds, altitudes and weights.

Boeing vice president (VP) of 787 development says it took out 1.45 tonnes (10,000lbs) of weight from the airframe with its vice president (VP) and general manager (GM) of airplane development declaring that the 787-9 is “really about performance. The 787-9 is just an amazingly efficient machine. This is not a simple stretch.”

The first test airplane ZB001 is now beginning flutter tests imminently after concluding the initial phase of flight testing, including stall tests and successfully ironing out the “software logic error” that led to ZB001′s main landing gear door cycling on its first flight, Aspire Aviation‘s multiple sources at Boeing revealed. The 787-9 is now on course to be delivered to launch customer Air New Zealand (ANZ) in April 2014 with the 74,000lbs Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 Package C engine, which was certificated by the European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) in early September.