Boeing’s next generation widebody – the 777X, with several size variants – faces new challenges today. It’s years behind schedule, and the airframe manufacturer’s test fleet has just been grounded.
As first reported by The Air Current, a Boeing 777-9 test plane operated a Kona flight on Friday. When inspected after the flight, Beoing found “cracks in the thrust link structure.” Furthermore, there’s also been an issue with the mounting of the engine to the plane on Boeing’s other two test 777-9s.
Each engine has two thrust links which “transfer thrust loads from the negine to the aft lower engine mount.” If one fails, they’re designed so that the engine will still be carried by the structure.
The design of the 777X thrust link is not common with other aircraft currently in operation. The plane’s engines are larger and heavier than those on existing Boeing aircraft.
The massive Boeing 777X! pic.twitter.com/6W2UN3ZpE8
— Jeff Dumps (@elektronenjager) July 29, 2024
Over 500 planes have been ordered, with first delivery most recently expected in 2026. At least 403 777-9 orders have been reported, along with 43 -8s and 55 -8 freighters. The largest order came from Emirates. Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific, ANA, Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa and Korean Air are all reported large customers. No U.S. airline has ordered one.
Emirates reveals SkyLounge, the most exclusive Onboard Lounge to be introduced on its Boeing 777X fleet from 2020. A completely transparent lounge with unmatched aerial views and unparalleled luxury, Emirates SkyLounge promises window views like no other. pic.twitter.com/pwtoocM9mN
— Emirates (@emirates) March 31, 2018
It’s unclear how a pause in testing will affect this schedule – that will be determined by any findings. The plane’s first test flight was four years ago.
The first Boeing #777X is in flight. After a few hours of flying, the jet will land at Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington.
Track the flight here: https://t.co/ekfjglCcb7 pic.twitter.com/XRTetREL4M
— Boeing Airplanes (@BoeingAirplanes) January 25, 2020
It will be interesting to find out the cause of the cracks. Some possibilities are metallurgy, manufacturing or engineering. It is much better that the problems were found now instead of after some production units were shipped.
@jns … “The plane’s engines are larger and heavier” …
That’s an important clue for the cause of the cracks .
When it comes to large Boeings , I’m a 747 man , myself .
What a sad day it was when McDonnell Douglass management took over running Boeing and started this colossal set of clusters that have plagued every plane they’ve introduced since the merger. The sadder part is that management bragged about changing from being a quality engineering company to the mess it is now.
each engine weighs over 21,000 lbs which makes it the heaviest civil aircraft engine.
There will be problems but another delay is not what Boeing needs. LH launched the 777-9 11 almost 11 years ago.
The 777X was developed to compete with the A350-1000 and Airbus has already delivered about 85 35Ks and has another 200 plus on order and a good chunk of those will be in service by the time the 777-9 enters service.
The 35K will still have much more range than the 777-9 and it might be near the end of the decade before the 777-8 enters service with range comparable to the A350.
For US carriers, getting the MAX 7 and MAX 10 certified and delivered matters a whole lot more. The 777X is predominantly a Middle East airline aircraft with a good topping of Euro and E. Asian carriers.
This is not a drama, despite the tabloid tone of this posting. This is part for the course with prototype testing. THe headline should read “Business as Usual”.
It wasn’t McDonnell Douglas management that took over Boeing… GE management took over McDonnell Douglas, then merged itself into Boeing… Taking down both companies.
@Alert, just because the engines are larger and heavier doesn’t mean a company cannot engineer components to work with the size and weight they are. If the engineering is done correctly, then the both the manufacturing and metallurgy need to be checked. Sometimes problems are due to maintenance but I doubt that that is the problem on an airplane that is still in the testing phase (see American Airlines Flight 191).
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That is not the new Boeing needed.
Almost certainly fatigue stress. A new aircraft, new engine, these kind of things are uncharted territory. They’ll redesign the parts involved to beef them up a little, and all will be fine. Relax.
Not sure I understand the posted comment “almost certainly fatigue stress” This is highly unlikely on a new aircraft with very low flying hours. Much more likely to be a static stress failure which basically means they got their sums wrong.
Cutting corners always catches up with those who do it. Greed has caused all of these issues.
Saw it at KOA on Saturday. It’s been doing test flights for the past few weeks. Didn’t realize it was grounded. SMH Boeing
It’s a good thing Boeing has been under more scrutiny before the 777X got pushed out of the factory. Airlines should be prepared for multiple rolling delays before Boeing actually delivers.
Article may be legit and true but contains typos. Please fix, will add more veracity. Thanks.
A flying Amtrak scenic train.
FYI: The Emirates X post (back then Twitter) was an April Fools joke
@JzTz – yes but Emirates has since announced they do plan bars on their 777Xs!
Each engine weighs 10.5 tons , and guess what ?
“Weight restrictions apply .”
Duh .
For every 737MAX that Boeing sells, Airbus 5 FIVE A321neos. Five to one! Meanwhile, they’re taking like half a century to update an existing model? Look where they are now. They can’t seem to get the 777X right. And when they finally do, it will have taken so long as to make this new model out of step for market conditions of that future.
This company has been turned into a joke by Wall Street corporate nippleheads like Calhoun, making decisions to smooch big stockholders with short-sighted, short-term moves. Such as killing off the NMA. They could have been raking in money with a mid-sized offering. But no, let’s go cheap and “maximize shareholder value” by offering up stale leftovers in the form of the MAX. How did that work out for you morons? I never cease to be amazed at how stupid many people in high corporate positions actually are.
“Crisis”? Really? What is this, the NY Post?
When it’s Boeing , I’m not going. American engineering at its best. Diversity destroyed that abominable rogue nation.
Fatigue usually requires a large number of loading actions to cause a crack. The number of flights these planes have been on is relatively low, so it’s unlikely to be takeoffs and landings, or major changes in thrust. This makes me wonder if there is side to side or front to back oscillations of the engine or airplane to cause cyclic loading in excess of design forces. I would be surprised if there weren’t sensors recording oscillations and associated forces. The original 777 has had left/right oscillations felt most strongly at the back of the plane. The heavier engines and longer planes could put more stress, but I would have thought they would have designed for that.
It could also be manufacturing defects, but that would have meant they weren’t able to detect this when they were made. It also would mean there is a manufacturing defect in a substantial number of parts. This would also be surprising.
Until they can determine why these cracks developed, they can’t fix them.
As for the comment about A321 sales vs 737MAX sales, the numbers I see don’t support the statement. Both aircraft started being delivered in 2017. Deliveries are the actual sales. Before that there are just orders. That I learned selling books door to door in 1978. For the 737MAX there have been 6,327 net orders and 1,586 deliveries. For the A321 there have been 6,476 net orders and 1,427 deliveries. These are from Wikipedia. This year (2024) there have been 166 737MAX airplanes delivered and 179 A321neo airplanes delivered per Wikipedia.
@jns. Facts matter . . . thank you for the clarification.
@Jc – “Diversity destroyed that abominable rogue nation”: what do you specifically mean? Diversity in terms of what/who? Please clarify.
Finding issues during flight testing is a positive outcome and allows potential issues to be resolved before Entry Into Service.
The issues Boeing is experiencing are not due to diversity but due to leadership priorities of profit/delivery over quality and in some cases, safety is affected.
If the term diversity implies a particular social demographic, which demographic is responsible for the priorities and key decisions which have led to the failures?