[Edski777]

Ian

Thanks for the additional information. I couldn’t find it that fast last night..

[retread]

Saw this quote and thought it gave some interesting facts.

“Air India, which has had a spate of incidents on its Boeing 787 fleet in the past year-and-a-half, is satisfied with the overall quality of service from the aircraft, according to chairman and managing director Rohit Nandan.

Air India took delivery of its 13th Dreamliner last week.

Nandan said that the 787’s dispatch reliability has averaged 98.6%, which is just a notch below its 777 fleet.”

[nmh1204]

Very interesting Ian.
I didn’t know they used water vats as passengers

Going back to my original post, I didn’t mean testing in a centre where the plane never leaves the ground, I meant do manufacturers actually perform a (test) real flight full with ‘passengers’ and weight etc, where it leaves the ground and lands say 6 hours later on a different continent, or do they only do virtual ones?

[CXDiamond]

These incidents don’t appear to be reducing. I cannot remember another new aircraft with so many faults so far in to service.

[AMcWhirter]

An issue with the spoilers has grounded another Air India B787. This time it happened at Paris CDG yesterday. 236 passengers were stranded.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/dreamliner-snag-leaves-250-holi-revellers-stranded-in-paris/articleshow/32139023.cms

[JohnHarper]

Air India again? Did they get then ones built on a Friday?

[IanFromHKG]

canucklad, I did a bit more googling.

From Airbus’s own description of flight testing at http://www.airbus.com/company/aircraft-manufacture/how-is-an-aircraft-built/test-programme-and-certification/: “Although not required for certification, but part of Airbus’ commitment to smooth entry into service, Airbus undertook a series of four Early Long Flights in September 2006 where over 2,000 Airbus employees took part to assess the cabin environment and systems in flight”. Given that that averages out at 500 employees per flight that would seem to be getting on for a full load in a multi-class layout.

According to Auntie (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5312020.stm), “An Airbus A380 super-jumbo … complete[d] its first test flight with passengers.
With 474 Airbus staff filling seats in first, business and economy class, they tested everything from the plane’s televisions to its toilets. The seven-hour flight is due to be the first of four this week designed to check all the A380’s on-board services”

[nmh1204]

Interesting reading Ian

[IanFromHKG]

Another interesting article about aircraft testing with “substitute” loads and real loads

http://www.ausbt.com.au/airbus-a350-cabin-seats-revealed

Let’s hope Airbus don’t have the same problems Boeing did

Speaking of which – is it just me or has the spate of 787 incidents slowed/stopped? I hope so, I want to take it off my “no-fly” list…

[AMcWhirter]

The latest B787 development took place at Frankfurt last week.

An Air India B787 bound for Delhi had to cancel its take-off twice, owing to problems with its spoilers.

The plane eventually ran foul of Frankfurt’s strict curfew, so the B787 and passengers had to overnight.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/AI-Dreamliner-attempts-take-off-from-Frankfurt-twice-in-vain/articleshow/35543175.cms?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=timesofindia

[Travellator]

Ethiopean is still on the ground at LHR – what prognosis ?

[IanFromHKG]

Hmmm. Just when I was beginning to think that the Dreamliner had been out of the news long enough for me to lift my personal embargo!

[retread]

AMcW….. really!? 787 bashing?

Even the article says…. ‘The problem was sorted out in about 90 minutes.’ Sounds like the 787 was good to go. It was just bad luck/timing that the aircraft and pax were forced to stay in FRA.

Maybe questioning the 9pm airport curfew would be more appropriate.

[IanFromHKG]

Or maybe it is yet another example of a B787 being unreliable??

I think anyone would find it hard to question the hypothesis that the B787 has been unusually troubled, to the extent that some frequent travellers – including me – have decided not to fly on it until such time as it has a decent run without unusual levels of problems. That there has been yet another spoiler problem (there have been quite a few before) and that one of BT’s journalists has chosen to raise it does not represent B787-bashing, it represents dissemination of news which is of interest to his readers. The fact that the problem was fixed relatively quickly – but only on the second attempt – doesn’t make it any less newsworthy

[AMcWhirter]

retread – Reading the news article again it would appear that the B787 taxied twice for take-off and as a result missed the curfew and therefore the aircraft and passengers were stranded overnight.

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