B787 Dreamliner, almost there

B787 Dreamliner: you're almost there
fWikipedia

How I wished the Dreamliner to be delivered before the end of this year. But the news is that its initial delivery to All Nippon Airways (ANA) has been pushed back to February 2011. The plane is already three years behind schedule.

The reason is that ZA002, one of six B787 test aircraft, caught an electrical fire on board, filling the aft cabin with smoke, during approach to Laredo, Texas Tuesday, November 9, in its 6-hour test flight. As a result, the aircraft lost primary electrical power but backup systems performed as expected, including the deployment of ram air turbine (RAT).

Upon initial inspection, Boeing found out that a power control panel in the aft electronics bay has to be replaced. During the time of the incident, the technical team was monitoring the nitrogen generation system (NGS) but they do not suspect it as the cause of the fire.

Updates from Boeing stated that it was the P100 electrical panel that led to a fire involving an insulation blanket. Fortunately, the fire self-extinguished once the fault in the panel had cleared. The P100 panel is the power distribution center of power coming from the left engine. In case of failure, backup systems will activate.

The Dreamliner was launched in April 2004 and test flight began in December 2009. It has suffered delays due to various problems, such as the international production of parts by suppliers and the aircraft stabilizers. However, the fire incident is the most serious since flight testing began.

Boeing claims that the Dreamliner would be able to make a 20 percent reduction in fuel consumption as compared to similar airplanes, like the B767. This is one of the main selling points of the aircraft, together with composite essentially making 50% of the aircraft by weight and 80% by volume. Todate, it has 847 orders by 56 customers valued at 147 billion dollars. The aircraft had become the fastest-selling wide-body airliner in history.

The aircraft is powered either by Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 and General Electric GEnx engines. Click this link for the latest update in Wikipedia.