EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — Boeing Co. says the stress tests for its new 787 jetliner’s wing and fuselage went as planned.
On March 28, workers at Boeing’s Everett, Wash., plant bent the wing of a special test 787 by 150 percent of the most extreme forces it would experience in flight — about 25 feet upward at the wing tip. They also pressurized the fuselage to 150 percent of its maximum normal operating condition.
The head of the 787 program, Scott Fancher, says in a news release Wednesday that a thorough analysis of the results showed the aircraft performed as designed.
Chicago-based Boeing has been testing the new plane for more than three months, after production delays and problems with carbon-fiber composite materials put it nearly three years behind schedule. Japan’s All Nippon Airways is scheduled for the first delivery of the 787 later this year.
