Boeing and Build Rates
I feel they are over reaching them selves with their proposed 4 day final assembly times. I

I think Boeing are trying to get a very quick final assembly by having all of the sub assemblys “pre stuffed” ie with all the bits inside fitted and tested. All that will be required is to bolte the big bits together, connect all the plugs and put power on. All the fuselage bits that have been delivered to Seattle in the past come “Bare” and all the kitting out is done during the final assembly.

Rgds Cking

bring_it_on. Please don’t think I am having a go at Boeing, or any of it’s fine products. They have, after all put a roof over my head for about thirty years and, kept me gainfully enployed for twenty two of them.
My natural “fear” of the composite construction is due to the fact I’m a aluminium and rivets trained man. Also a lot of the technology inside the 787 is electronic. That’s a mystery to me as well!
I have said before that, perhaps, years ago, the old canvas and wood men were sceptical of those new fangeld metal aircraft!
May I ask what is your conection to the 787 program?

Rgds Cking

Looks like the King travels as light as my wife does!!!

Interesting set of shots

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You can bet that there will be a lot of senior Boeing (and subcontractor) officials, as well as engineers and assembly people working late for the next couple of months getting ready for first flight.
I’d love to observe all the “goings on” behind the scenes.

There was a documentary made about the trials and tribulations of the 777. You can bet you’r bottom dollar they will have recorded they will have made one about this!
Can’t wait !

Rgds Cking

. An out door full jacking is very dependant on the weather! The aircraft has to be facing into wind and the wind has to be less than 4kts.
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I checked up on the jacking limitations for the 777 to day. It’s not less that 4kts it’s less than 35 kts!!!!!!!! If you ever want an aircraft jacking in 35kts do NOT call me!!!

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IThe ex Laker A300’s were also jacked outside at Stansted, although one was damaged when the tail jack wasn’t lowered fast enough (not that that had anything to do with being outside).

A certain well known German airline did that to a 747 and bent it like a banana!!! There are pictures of it somewere on the net too!

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If you have seen the operation, how long does it take to raise the plane? I presume there are three jacks in operation. Are they independent of each other in the operation or do they work in unison?

Most airliners are jacked using three jacks and a fourth is used as a nose/tail steady. Each jack is indipenantly controled. They are hydraulic but have an air driven pump to do the donkey work. It takes two blokes to operate each jack, one to drive it and one to turn a lockingring ring around the piston. (The locking ring is there in case the jacks seal fail and the piston collapses) There are systems about that are centraly controlled but they havn’t worked their way down to me yet! To jack one up takes about an hour(ish). To get the jacks set up get the blokes together on the other hand……
The aircraft has to be level during the lift so there is usually a person in the u/c bay watching a built in leveling device. This is ,as Skymonster says, some times a plumbob or two sort of spirt levels that the manufacture build into the airframe. I dont know what sort the 777 has but the 747,757& 767 have the sprit level types.
There are two things that stand out as unusual to me about this photograph. Firstly, they are doing it out doors. An out door full jacking is very dependant on the weather! The aircraft has to be facing into wind and the wind has to be less than 4kts. This is not so much of a problem with a wheel change as we only jack the axle.
Secondly, they have raised ALL the gears. I have very rarely been involved with raising all the gear on an airliner. I have never raised all the gear on the 747,757 or the 767. I have done loads of single gear swings on them and I have raised all three on the 737. There are many reasons for this. One being that the aircraft shakes badly as the gear come down and dropping all three increases the shaking and there is a chance that the aircraft might fall off the jacks!!!! I was watching a main grear swing on a Tristar once and as the gear dropped it shook so badly that one of the nose jack’s feet left the ground. I ran!!! Also it takes an awful lot of hydralic pressure to lift the gear. The electric pumps will do it, but they wil do it slowly.So you would need an external hydraulic supply if you want to do it and get home for tea. In the air the engines or an air driven pump are available.

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