Brake control software and mid-fuselage section completion work on the second 787 are now the major pacing items for first flight on the new twinjet, but neither threaten to delay certification or first deliveries in 2009 say Boeing.

Pat Shanahan, 787 vice president and general manager says brake system control developer GE Aircraft Systems has “had to go back and re-write portions of the software, and it is the re-verification of that that’s put it on the critical path. I’m confident we will get it done.” Shanahan underlines that “it’s not that the brakes don’t work, it’s to do with the traceability of the software, which goes back to the whole certification process.”

GE Aircraft Systems future growth vice-president Peter Woolfrey says “we’ve had issues to deal with, both thermal issues and brake control, as well as a lot of new technology. It takes a lot to bring together and to expect it to get it right 100% first time around. But there’s nothing fundamentally wrong, and there’s nothing that can’t be resolved.”

GE Aircraft Systems, formerly Smiths Aerospace, is working the software verification issue with its sub-contractor Crane Aerospace at its Burbank, Calif. site and GE’s new systems integration site in Mukilteo, Wash. Woolfrey adds that “we’ve had to put additional resources into it because the job was bigger than we first thought.”

The completion of the mid-fuselage on the second aircraft is a critical path pacing item because this airframe will be used for ground vibration tests that must be passed before the 787 makes it first flight. “It doesn’t change flying in the fourth quarter, but I’m eating margin I don’t want to eat and the collateral will be on aircraft three,” says Shanahan. “The guessing game continues and the guess is where do these curves intersect, so I’ve moved hard over on partners as to what it is they can ship.”

The mid-fuselage section for aircraft four is still at Global Aeronautica’s Charleston, South Carolina facility having been deliberately held back from delivery to the Everett line. “The supply chain partners are ramping up and I’m now the bottleneck,” says Shanahan who explains the decision to hold the fourth fuselage “is a trade-off. We’re getting the work done in Charleston because we have to get the production system working as designed – but it is eating up margin. It’s about stabilizing engineering and getting production on the learning curve.” Delivery of number four was also delayed by the earlier production issue last month caused by the inadvertent drilling of larger than specified fastener holes by a visiting Alenia worker.

Completion of number one is meanwhile drawing near with 100% of hardware due to be qualified by the second or third week of August “except for the brakes,” he adds. Hydraulic tests are meanwhile due to begin next week, clearing the way for gear-swing and other major system evaluations. Further tests to be completed before first flight include three limit-load pressurization tests on the full-scale static airframe.