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There were some rumours last week about the delamination of the wings, albeit the Flightblogger was able to gather some other informations that this rumours was nonsense. But after almost 15 years in the computer business i´ve got a fine sensor for half-a... dementis. Ben Sandilands writes in Boeing avoids the ‘D’ word about a statement he was able to gather from Jon Ostrower (the flightblogger) which he got from Boeing:

Our tests continue to confirm that the composite construction of the 787, including the wing, is sound. The 787, like every commercial jetliner, is going through a rigorous series of tests to verify the safety and certificability of its structure, systems and operations. The FAA will review the results of this compliance activity prior to certifying the airplane for commercial use.

I don´t think, that´s a good dementi. I would like to hear "There is no delamination. Period." instead of "When we get this plane through certification, you can be sure that there is no problems with the wings"

Okay, this starts to get ridiclious. Boeing announced another delay in the 787 program according to this article. The first flight is rescheduled to next year and they didn´t announced a new date. The delivery of the first aircrafts in 2009 look impossible for me.

While everybody expected that the IAM strike would have some impact to the schedule, there is another reason: Wrong installation of fasteners. According to Boeing 3% of all fasteners were incorrectly installed.

An estimated 3 percent of the fasteners on four flight-test planes at the Everett plant, plus two others that have been assembled for ground testing, were installed incorrectly and will have to be removed and replaced.

At a count of several hundred-thousands fasteners per aircraft, 3% is a lot of work. Another article at the Wall Street Journal writes:

Engineers have traced it to improper instructions on what type and length of fasteners to use on certain titanium parts. The fasteners, located throughout the airplane, were installed mostly by suppliers at the plants where the major sections of the jet are being built, and affect all fuselage sections built so far

.I start to get some doubts about entering a 787 when it will entering service in the future.

Perhaps it´s just me, but i think there must be really big problems in the 787 program, when Boeing celebrates such small steps as a successful static pressure test.

I don´t think, that i will fly with the 787 anytime soon ... even in case, this baby will fly next year. There are new delays in the programs. As far as the usual suspects report, a mechanic at Alenia was able to destroy a complete barrel of the fuselage by using wrong fasteners. The damage was so severe, that they wait for a new center fuselage barrel.

Okay, this can happen, but this rises some questions for me as an outsider to this business : How do Boeing expect that an ordinary flight mechanic can repair the 787 on the apron, when a catering truck bumps into the plane or an uncautious loader rams its vehicle into lower deck? When even the people at the factory are unable to repair a damage? And to think it the other way round: Will they throw away such fuselage parts in the future or will they repair this to save some money (Boeing is a public traded company and i think Fight Club was right with it´s presentation of the internal logic of companies). The damage must have been severe enough that Boeing examines it complete schedule as Dreamliner Four plays an important role in the flight test schedule. And this just by the mistake of a single mechanic.

Additionally: This damage happpened at a part of the plane that was problematic for Boeing in the past as reported for example at Design News: Boeing Stiffens 787 Wing Box Spars: More Schedule Delays Possible.

Some strange: AirportBusiness.com reports in "787 partner halts work briefly after FAA audit":

The South Carolina plant that assembles the mid-fuselage of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner halted production for 24 hours beginning Monday night after a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) audit found lax manufacturing procedures that could result in damage to the aircraft sections.
[...]
He said it wasn't surprising the FAA found issues, given the high number of workers there who "never worked on airplanes before.
[...]
"In the beginning ... they were basically looking the other way to get the plane built," said the contractor. "Now people are paying attention to procedures and everything is being done by the letter of the law."

Sorry that i can´t resist ... but: The test flight pilots should wear parachutes not only on first flight

Well, i´m not in the aircraft business and i´m just a interested outsider , but at the moment my confidence as an upcoming consumer in this aircraft is waning at best ...

I´ve collected some comments from the aviation world in the last few days:

• Power-on-Testing on 787
• 787 delays
• The US Air Force tanker deal

The Flight Blogger reports in this article that the first power-on testing of the 787 had started. Interestingly this is one month after the planed delivery based on the original schedule . But good to see that this program makes some progress.

The Chicago Tribune speculates in "Takeoff appears delayed for 787" about delays due software problems. I don´t think, that the software will be the biggest problem of the 787. As far as i know, nobody has long-term experience with an large sized commercial aircraft consisting out of plastic. Until now all "plastic aircraft" were military ones, pulled into the hangar at night, relativly small time airborne and with a "no-matter-the-costs"-maintainance. But whats with an apron-parking aircraft, that rushes from one airport to another?