Plastic zoom, zoom, zoom.
Posted by Rob Longenecker on July 8th, 2007
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner may look like a conventional airliner, but it is the most radical development in commercial aircraft since the 707 was brought to market in 1954. In fact, it’s the first new commercial airliner from Boeing in 13 years.
The Dreamliner will be debuted with hoopla and hullabaloo on July 8th and the first flight is scheduled in September. What’s the big deal? It’s sophisticated in every way and mostly plastic construction. Instead of using aluminum, Boeing is relying on manmade carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic, known as composite, for the entire airframe.
It’s been written that the new wings are so strong and flexible that there was talk of bending them beyond any reasonable limit in tests and that engineers were arguing over whether they would break before their tips touched.
Why should we be interested? For one thing, it’s a paradigm shift (the rules for how to design and manufacture an airplane are now completely new) and when a paradigm shifts everyone else goes back to zero. That means competitors will have to make a rapid leap to play catch-up. (Like when Tucker brought out the Answer - no one has equaled it yet.)
It will revitalize Boeing in the face of the threat from the European Airbus, save American jobs (even though Boeing is farming out 70 percent of the 787 work to nearly 50 partners and top-tier suppliers at 135 sites spanning four continents) and keep the U.S. commercial aircraft industry viable.
The Dreamliner is sold out until 2013 with 643 orders worth an estimated $100 billion from 45 airline customers.
Boeing’s airline customers have been attracted to the 787 on promises of a 20 percent increase in fuel efficiency, 30 percent less maintenance costs and an unprecedented range for a mid-size airplane of 8,000 miles — the diameter of the Earth at the equator — allowing airlines to fly fast-growing, non-stop routes between the United States, Asia and Europe.
It’s a story worth watching. You may be riding on a plastic airplane in a couple of years. Here’s why Boeing thinks there’s a Dreamliner in your future.
If there’s a new holster in your future, then look here.