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Dreamliner 2 (ZA002) Heads For The North Pole

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Note 9000N 00000W in the flightplan. (flightaware.com) More...

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DAL498
DAL498 0
Why?? Cold weather testing?
DAL498
DAL498 0
Why?? Cold weather testing?
DAL498
DAL498 0
Why?? Cold weather testing?
jeyrivera89
Jesus Rivera 0
Guess Santa wants to invest in a new economic flight system.
Canadadry
Testing the aircraft in cold weather. They did the same thing with almost all airliner...
Checkguy
DA SHAFE 0
Over 14 hours. Thanks for posting!
Yfenh2
Yifeng Hua 0
It's comming closer to the market now!
carrikerhh
Hoyt Carriker 0
Since the company I work for builds nav systems for airliners, it is more likely a nav system check over the pole. This is a very important for great circle flights.
gaffneyp
gaffneyp 0
Cold weather testing? Not likely. At the altitudes these aircraft fly, it's just as cold at the equator as it is at the north pole. Surely it's nav system testing.
jetlagged
Martin Weaver 0
I don't know if they'll land someplace cold, but I woke-up an MD-80 one snowy morning at SLC--it was testy. Airplanes act differently when cold-soaked. Once the airplane warmed up it returned to normal. I guess they need a cup of coffee to get going; I know I sure did.
skylloyd
skylloyd 0
Being retired from Boeing Flight Test, Boeing has done this type of testing on every jet that I can remember and testing is not limited to the North Pole.
edpost
edpost 0
My guess is a navigation instrument test. Close to the pole, magnet compass is useless, and there's electromagnetic interference with instruments because the earth's magnetic field is no longer deflecting high-energy particles. Also, all computer programmers understand that crossing over the pole could expose subtle and nasty bugs in the navigation and autopilot software as one's heading swaps immediately from 360 to 180.
jbermo
jbermo 0
"subtle and nasty bugs in the navigation" - Recall the first time that a flight of F-22's had crossed the international dateline on a positioning flight to Japan. When crossing, their onboard computers went haywire and froze. All because of the software manufacturer's neglect to include the instant date change in the data base.
ALStevens
Allen Stevens 0
But did it really make it to the pole? Flight log doesn't indicate that.
skylloyd
skylloyd 0
I belive that is what they are going to do is Navigational validity, when, good question..
Check there site: 787flighttest.com or Flightaware.com (this site) live tracking= BOE2
za002dad
Rick Bell 0
Right on edpost! Za002 was testing Polar Navigation. My son is an engineer on the Flight Test team aboard ZA002
klimchuk
klimchuk 0
That's so cool. I wish I had photos from that flight!
stasklapi
It is normal test for nav instruments for all plane which are going to fly over North Atlantic.

edpost
edpost 0
I was curious about the flight log too. My best guess was that there is really no radar coverage near the pole, and the controllers (and log) rely on position reports from the crew. The controllers could well have told the test pilots that they have their own airspace to play in during testing, don't bother to report position until they get back in radar range. Probably this happened during this (9 hour) discontinuity in the flight log:
01:13PM 74.50 -163.60 323°
01:14PM 74.60 -163.88 114°
10:55PM 58.72 -123.05 180°
10:56PM 58.58 -123.05 180°
julianjim
jim garrity 0
WHAT EVER! I'm just glad things are moving along.
Kjoden44
Ken Oden 0
Rick,
How long has your son been with Boeing? The 787 program is finally getting up to speed; glad to see that. I was with United when the triple seven was kicked off - lots of interesting flying then when they were setting up to go ETOPs right out of the starting blocks.
za002dad
Rick Bell 0
Ken,
Sean has been with them for about 3 yrs. Graduated in Aerospace with honors from Univ. of Fla. (Go Gators!!!). He spent 2 summers as an intern for Boeing. One at Everett and one in Long Beach. He was a software test engineer in Long Beach for the C-17 when the opportunity to join the 787 program came up. About 3 weeks ago my youngest son and I met Sean and the Dreamliner team in Yuma and received the full tour of the plane, inside and out. A once in a lifetime opportunity for a really proud Dad!! The plane is amazing. With the new wing design it truly looks like a bird in flight, and is almost as quiet! The delays have been frustrating for all involved, but the design is so radically different, they are understandable.
NPSHI2
NPS Rasmussen 0
A full tour, wow! The best I can do is tour my Lego 787!
JHoward777
This Dreamliner represents more than a new concept in design and materials. It represents
America's leadership in aviation. Boeing is, without exception, the world standard. GO BOEING!
MY HAT IS OFF TO ALL PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE FOR PUTTING THE 787 IN THE AIR!
NPSHI2
NPS Rasmussen 0
I like AirBus, and Boeing the same
Kjoden44
Ken Oden 0
Mr. Rasmussen,
You're going to have to learn the phrase:
"If it ain't Boeing, it ain't going!"
AirBus simply has a different way of building airplanes. And Boeing does it the right way.
KenO
NPSHI2
NPS Rasmussen 0
true, i believe you, sorry there was a mix up, it was supposed to be Boeing first
Kjoden44
Ken Oden 0
I hear one of the Rolls Trent engines came apart on the test stand in England last week. The Trent is one of the engine options for the -787. The feeling is that testing will slow down a little, but airframe testing will continue on schedule.
With something this big, complex and important to the future of Boeing, it's simply going to have to be working and correct when the first airframes are delivered to ... is All Nipon still the first customer?
KenO
NPSHI2
NPS Rasmussen 0
don't ask me, i'm not a airplane maniac, i think there cool thats all

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