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After a delay Friday morning due to snow and ice in Seattle, Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner landed in Wichita just before 4 p.m., part of Boeing’s six-month worldwide Dream Tour for the 787.
Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems representatives and media lined the runway, taking photographs and video as the sleek blue-and white 787 landed at McConnell Air Force Base before taxiing onto Boeing property. It pulled up in front of Boeing’s main hangar along south Oliver and parked facing one of Boeing’s massive, specially modified Dreamlifters, which flies 787 parts from suppliers to the Seattle area.
The delay in arrival postponed a media tour of the 787’s interior until today.
Boeing and Spirit employees on the program will have the chance to tour the aircraft over the weekend. It leaves Wichita for the next stop of its tour on Monday.
“The 787 is an opportunity for Boeing employees and Spirit employees to see the finished product of their handiwork,” said local Boeing spokesman Jarrod Bartlett. “It really is a symbol for the future of Wichita’s aviation industry with the way the commercial marketplace is growing.”
The 787 is made up of 50 percent plastic composite and 20 percent aluminum materials.
After a monster Pacific Northwest storm coated Washington with freezing rain on Thursday, the 787’s hangar doors were frozen shut Friday morning, delaying the flight. After getting the hangar doors unfrozen and the plane prepped and deiced, the 787 – designated ZA003 – took off for Wichita.
The aircraft was first used in flight testing. It has since been refurbished to show off its capabilities and features.
The long-range, wide-body, twin-engine airplane is important to Spirit in Wichita, a significant supplier on the program. Spirit builds the composite forward fuselage and engine pylons in Wichita, and the wing’s leading edge components in Tulsa.
Boeing has taken more than 800 orders for the 787 from more than 50 airlines. The company launched the 787 – originally called the 7E7 – in April 2004 with an order from Japan’s All Nippon Airways.
After multiple program delays, the 787 made its first flight in December 2009, and the first aircraft was delivered Sept. 25, 2011.
About half of the 787 is made up of plastic composites. It is 20 percent more fuel-efficient than similar-size airplanes and has 20 percent fewer emissions, Boeing said.
The 787-8 can hold from 210 to 250 passengers. Later derivatives of the 787 will carry up to 290 people.
Contributing: Travis Heying of The Eagle.
