Global Fastener News

Fasteners Prompt More Dreamliner Delays for Boeing

Jason Sandefur

Boeing Co. needs to replace thousands of improperly installed fasteners on the first Dreamliner jets before they can be flown, further delaying production of the 787, the Wall Street Journal reports. The problem was reportedly discovered during a routine inspection.

“Engineers have traced it to improper instructions on what type and length of fasteners to use on certain titanium parts,” writes J. Lynn Lunsford of the Journal. The fasteners were installed “mostly by suppliers at the plants where the major sections of the jet are being built, and affect all fuselage sections built so far.”

Boeing spokesperson Yvonne Leach blamed the problem on “specifications that weren’t specific enough.” Leach claimed the problem was confined to less than 3% of the fasteners on the airplane, adding “no major structures are having to come apart to fix this.”

Boeing must inspect about 350,000 fasteners on each of the 20 787s under production.

A critical shortage of aerospace fasteners caused weeks of delay for the 787 in the early stages of production, prompting Boeing to have the components delivered with thousands of temporary fasteners. “Because the Dreamliner is built largely from carbon-fiber composites and machined titanium castings, rather than from conventional materials such as aluminum and steel, it required Boeing and its partners to invent new types of fasteners,” Lunsford writes.

Experts say the latest setback, which comes on the heals of a nearly two-month machinists’ strike at the aerospace giant, could jeopardize delivery of the first Dreamliners, scheduled for the end of 2009. �2008 FastenerNews.com