Extra Four-Month Delay For Boeing 787

First deliveries of the delayed 787 may be pushed back until June or July 2011 as a result of last month’s electrical fire on ZA002, a report in French newspaper Les Echos claims.

The report says the news was relayed by Boeing executives to Air France officials at a delivery ceremony for one of the airline’s Boeing 777-300ERs yesterday at Everett, Wash. A broader suggestion in the report of a likely “mid-summer” delivery target would indicate a roughly four-month program slide from the existing schedule, which still officially calls for initial delivery in mid-February 2011.

Boeing has acknowledged the systems redesign and certification issues created as a result of the Nov. 9 electrical fire incident in Laredo, Texas, effectively rendered this target unachievable, but the airframer has yet to identify a revised delivery target date. Asked about the Les Echos report, Boeing says, “We continue to assess our schedule and will announce a new schedule when that work is complete.”

The report goes on to say that Boeing engineers have identified “possible solutions” to the problems with the flawed response of the electrical system and control software following a short circuit or arc caused by a suspected loose washer or some other small foreign object inside the P100 main power distribution panel.

The Les Echos report says Boeing and its Hamilton Sundstrand-Zodiac partners on the electrical system aim “to complete corrections by the end of the year to resume test flights in January, and lead to certification in June.” However, it adds that Boeing must obtain clearance from the FAA before resuming flight tests.

In the meantime, more information is emerging about the specific areas of damage and the precise location of the fire behind the P100 panel. This structure takes the electrical power generated by the left engine and distributes it to power vital systems. The panel, which is about 3.5 ft. tall, is located about 1 ft. below the passenger floor in the aft electronics bay just behind the wing. It contains electrical boxes, including control units, circuit breakers and relays.

Forensic evidence from the fire damage pinpoints Contactor CK2435505, one of two in the P100 panel, as the source of the ignition. The contactors are electrical control boxes that relay the power from the generators on the engine and distribute it as needed. They open circuits or close as power needs fluctuate. Contactor CK2435505, on top of the panel, was “melted” according to a leaked Boeing engineering report, while the lower contactor, CK2421501, suffered “extensive fire and smoke damage to backside.”

Fire from the contactor burned a hole between 12 and 15 in. long in the back of the P100 panel, and badly charred the adjacent fuselage insulation blanket material, which effectively did its job in preventing burn-through to the interior of the 787’s primary composite fuselage skin structure.