Boeing Gets The Nod From FAA For Its Largest Aircraft Ever, The 747-8

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After countless delays and numerous cost overruns the Boeing 747-8 has finally received approval from the FAA. The project initially got underway in 2005 with the goal of finishing in 2009 and was bogged down from the beginning as engineers had to put more effort into the already lagging 787 Dreamliner project. In addition to this the design underwent numerous design changes after the test flights began. These changes resulted in even more delays and pushed the entire process way behind schedule. The initial plan for this cargo jet project was to simply stretch the layout of the existing 747-400 aircraft. This plan consisted of adding two extensions to the fuselage, with the wings and remaining structure unchanged. Boeing decided to utilize the 787 style engine on the new aircraft for increased fuel efficiency, but this required changes to the wing in order to perform as expected.

Since this decision required the engineering team to totally redesign the wing it resulted in a much longer time frame than anticipated. The wingspan on the new 747-8 is a total of 225 feet which is 13 feet wider than the model used on the previous design. This ultimately resulted in some issues that were found on test flights. On the test flights it was discovered that there was excess vibration while operating at cruising speeds. While these vibrations were discovered to only be a nuisance, and nothing that compromised the safety of the aircraft, it was still another issue to be resolved. Another problem that was discovered during the many test flights was buffeting which occurred when the flaps were lowered during landing. However, this was a minor issue and was resolved by changing the settings of the flaps and did not require any structural alterations. The Boeing 747-8 was found to have much better handling at low speeds than expected, which helped with resolving the buffeting issue.

Test pilots who flew the 747-8 during the test phase of the project report that this model handles similar to the existing 747-400 models. Boeing reports that pilots who are certified to fly the 747-400 will only be required to have 3 days of training in order to fly the 747-8. While the new 747-8 was intended to have an advanced flight management computer system, problems in developing the new system resulted in the 747-8 being rolled out with the same flight management system as current 747 models. Boeing has plans to release an upgraded software package in the future which will add to the functionality of the current system.

With a total of $4 billion being spent thus far on developing the 747-8, Boeing is looking to recoup these costs as quickly as possible by increasing production of these models. They are currently producing approximately 1.5 units per month and they are planing to increase production to 2 units per month starting in early 2012. They have received a total of 78 orders for the 747-8 model and they are working on a separate model to accommodate passengers instead of freight.