Over the past few weeks, the crews piloting the Boeing 787 have performed between 50 and 60 stall tests on this brand new aircraft. During the stall tests, the pilots reduce power on the aircraft until it is no longer able to generate enough lift and then recover to normal flight speeds. Boeing 787 Chief Pilot Mike Carriker was quoted “You’re putting enough in the airplane to make the airplane bounce up and down at 1.5 gs, so you’re getting thrown about a lot in the airplane.” Carriker also noted that “the tests went very well and there were no surprises”. During the completion of flight testing of the Boeing 787, there will probably be more than 200 more stall tests.
In additional news on the Boeing 787, the fatigue test airframe has been placed on the structural test rig at its Everett plant in Washington State. Fatigue testing is a long process that simulates a much higher number of flight cycles than the airframe would normally experience in its lifetime. The testing is due to start in mid-2010.
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