Boeing is breathing: 18 days after cracks were discovered on engine pylons, 777X is back in the air
The flight test stop of the Boeing 777-9 lasted 18 days. On Saturday, September 7, in fact, the aircraft marks [...]
It lasted 18-day flight test stop of the Boeing 777-9. Saturday September 7, in fact, the aircraft marks N779XY took off From the airport in Kona, on the west coast of Hawaii's "Big Island. For a flight lasting about an hour and a half over the Pacific Ocean., and then landed smoothly on the same Hawaiian airport.
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Last Aug. 20, all 4 aircraft involved in the tests with Federal Aviation Adiministration (FAA) pilots on board had been grounded following the discovery on one of the 777-9s of some cracks on the 'pylons' connecting the engines and wings, pylons through which the pipes that carry fuel from the tanks to the GE90X engines, which are the largest and heaviest ever mounted on a passenger airplane.
More than four years after the first flight (performed on January 25, 2020), last July 12, Boeing had finally received the long-awaited 'Type Inspection Authorization' from the FAA (TIA), authorization for pattern inspection, which means. The start of official flight tests, carried out with FAA pilots and technicians on board.
A little over a month later, however, had come the halt to testing and the grounding of all aircraft involved, news greeted as yet another nightmare by a company, Boeing, whose reputation has plummeted as a result of continued accidents and problems involving its 737 MAX and 787 Dreamliners over the past 5-6 years.
So is Boeing's newest addition, the 777X, turned into a huge headache for Everett's builder., since nearly ten years after the first orders and more than four years after the first flight, the aircraft had not yet begun official testing for its certification, Pushing further and further the assumed date for The first deliveries to customers, which are now expected between late 2025 and early 2026. That is, if no other problems emerge during FAA testing.
