Global Fastener News

Boeing To Test 787 With Temporary Fasteners

Jason Sandefur

Boeing Co. is proceeding with test flights on its 787 Dreamliner without replacing all the “temporary or improperly installed” fasteners on the test jet, the Seattle News Tribune reports.

“Fasteners have been an issue since the time that Boeing’s partners delivered the first major sections of the plane two years ago,” writes John Gillie of the News Tribune.

A shortage of aerospace fasteners plagued production of the Dreamliner from the start. Boeing announced an initial six-month delay and promptly replaced the head of its 787 program and deploying engineers into the field to help suppliers boost production. The test aircraft had to be delivered with temporary fasteners.

Months later came the news that Boeing was scrambling to replace other fasteners that had been improperly installed. That problem was traced to an engineering error made at the company’s facility in Everett, WA. The bolts in question were used inside the fuselage to fasten titanium structure to carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic composite.

Since then, Boeing machinists have been unable to replace incorrect fasteners in hard to reach places.

“Boeing says the fasteners that still don’t meet specifications are in areas not critical to safety or structural integrity over the short run,” writes Gillie. “Those fasteners will be replaced after the test-flying before the planes are turned over to the airlines that ordered them.”

Since the location of all the fasteners is not certain, mechanics had to re-inspect the airplane from nose to tail. One unnamed 787 mechanic described quality-control inspectors “crawling through” the first two airplanes in the assembly bay “ripping all the systems out, everything that’s in the way.”

A pressurization test revealed a small gap under the heads of thousands of fasteners inside the fuselage.

The specification that mechanics consult for precise instructions made proper installation impossible.

The news comes as Boeing’s fastener problems continue to spread. Boeing confirmed it is working to replace more uncoated nutplates that lack a cadmium coating on its wide body jets – 747s, 767s and 777s. About 30% of the nutplates need to be replaced on nearly four hundred 737s delivered after August 2007.

The nutplates lack a cadmium coating that would help prevent corrosion on adjoining aluminum parts. Each 737 contains 3,000 to 4,000 nutplates. �2009 FastenerNews.com