so the 787 flew today

[BigWill]

I'm really interested in everyone's thoughts, particularly Dog and LL.

From what I understand, all went well, although the flight was cut short due to weather.

 

[general35]

id like to see how the plane handles a rough landing. i hear it is extremely quiet and a nice ride.

 

[mcbrett]

The most important stat to me- uses 20% less fuel. Considering you fly this thing 20 hours/day- that is huge. What a business improvement- helps your margins, and oh yeah- produce less emissions too.

It uses a better engine- and the composite materials lowered the weight significantly- amazing stuff. It's like the Mrs. Robinson movie from the 1960's coming back again- "I have just one word for you, , , plastic." Except today that word is, "Composite materials." Err, two words.

 

[THEU]

mcbrett,
This is real technology that exists that the market place can bear and is demanding!! YES!!! I am excited as well for 20% less fuel and emissions in a real world application, and not by some government edict or false 'technology.' that exists in theory.

 

[alden]

From the wiki page:

In reply to:

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[Rayug]

Did you see the wing flex on the plane when they showed it taking off? Very odd looking..

 

[911_horn]

The wing flex on this thing is huge. On the 777 it is something like 24 feet before failure. Not sure what it is on this one, but it looks to be big.

 

[mcbrett]

THEU,

Right, glad we agree.

There are also several other examples of real technologies that provide real benefits without any govt. assistance.

 

[Burnt Orange Bevo]

Glad Boeing finallly got the 787 aloft. BA management had lost some credibility with the two years' worth of delays.

In an odd way, however, the delays turned out to have some benefits. Many airlines had pushed back deliveries due to the economic downturn in order to conserve cash/capital. And with moderate oil prices, the fuel savings were reduced as well.

The 787 has a lot of cool technologies and increased passenger comforts (e.g. lower altitude cabin pressure, LED sky lighting and electrically dimmable windows), which will be really cool to experience. Hopefully the program is back on track and all the delays are behind them now.

 

[HornsInTheHouse]

As a frequent flyer I am giddy about the 787 and Airbus' A350 they'll have out hopefully in 2013. They'll provide more cheaper, more comfortable flights to customers.

The heavier-than-expected weight is typical of big industrial projects. The engineers design the machine in CAD, assign weight values to all the components and add them up. But when each component is manufactured, from the smallest bolt to the largest composite panel, slight defects arise and inevitable push the production weight up. The 787 also had to re-engineer the center wingbox for more strength, adding weight that wasn't in the specifications provided to customers when they signed up.

 

[zork]

the weight loss of the plane is likely more than offset by the average weight gain of the average passenger over the past 2 decades.

 

[chango]

THEU, way to work in the Obama dig in a completely non political thread!!

 

[THEU]

chango,
I had to reread my post several times. It wasn't a dig at Obama. I actually just like to see the real world market demand new technologies that help in efficiency. As far as I know the federal government has all types of requirements dating back decades, and have nothing to do with Obama.
If you read something into my comment to be Obama specific it was unintended.

 

[BigWill]

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