787 Engine Start

Boeing 787

For those of us who just can’t get enough of the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Jon Ostrower’s wonderful Flightblogger blog always provides the latest fix. Today the engines were started on the first prototype, so the first flight shouldn’t be too far off any more. It’s been a long slog. This is a technically amazing design, but the one part that really didn’t work right was the attempt to subcontract much of the design to the suppliers. In many cases the sophistication of program management required on a project like this was beyond the capabilities of the suppliers, who are much more used to creating parts for, rather than whole sections of, a whole airliner. In the mean time a few heads rolled at Boeing, and things seem to be moving again. And it is a beautiful airplane, and with its many new technologies such as the composite construction and electrically started engines is a real milestone in airliner design.