10 | Flight International | 15 December 2015-4 January 2016 flightglobal.com
cover story
For up-to-the-minute air transport news,
network and fleet information sign up at:
flightglobal.com/dashboard
B
oeing unveiled the first 737
Max 8 flight-test aircraft –
dubbed “The Spirit of Renton” –
on 8 December, in a low-key
employee and supplier-only cer-
emony scheduled 19 years after
the 737-700 roll-out, and nearly
49 years after a champagne-
soaked christening of the
original 737-100.
The lack of public fanfare re-
flects a decision to focus the
event on an internal audience,
congratulating employees and
suppliers who so far have kept
the re-engining programme on
time, says Keith Leverkuhn,
Boeing vice-president and gener-
al manager for the 737.
Boeing even kept the aircraft’s
official “roll-out” – when the 737
Max 8 moved from final assembly
to a nearby paint hangar – a secret
when it was completed on time
on 30 November, Leverkuhn says.
“We wanted to thank our
employees and our team,”
Leverkuhn says. “All the mile-
stones have been met. Engineer-
ing has been early. The supply
chain is performing well. When
the airplane actually showed up
here in the factory, the mechanics
were ready to go. The parts teams
were ready to go. So this is a cele-
bration for the team.”
The public unveiling of the
freshly-painted 737-8 in a unique
teal livery marks a shift in focus
for the four-year-old programme.
Since completing the detailed de-
sign process a year ago, the em-
phasis has been on releasing
parts to suppliers and assembling
the first group of test aircraft.next to appear
The first aircraft – referred to as
“1A001”, after the 787 programme
retired the alphabetic prefix with
“ZA001” – now enters pre-flight
testing, as assembly continues on
the remaining three test aircraft.
1A002 will be the next Max to
appear, and has had its fuselage
and wings mated and systems
installed. Boeing machinists
swung the landing gear – some
8in (20cm) longer than on the
current-generation 737 toprogramme stephen trImBle seattle
Spirits on the rise
at renton as first
737 max unveiled
low-key ceremony at revamped seattle production facility is
latest step towards service entry for re-engined narrowbody
accommodate the 69.4in fan di-
ameter of the CFM International
Leap-1B engines – for the first
time on 7 November.
A tour inside 1A002 on the as-
sembly line revealed a complet-
ed cockpit and a fuselage filled
with partially completed test sta-
tions. No water ballast tanks
were visible, suggesting 1A
will be dedicated to testing the
737 Max’s new avionics and
electrical systems.The redesigned tail cone for
the 737 Max in final assembly
presented a striking visual con-
trast with the aft fuselage of
737NGs on the adjacent “east” as-
sembly line inside Boeing’s 4-
hangar in Renton, Washington.
To improve the aerodynamics,
Boeing added a 787-like, circulartail cone to the 737 Max to fit
around the exhaust vent of the
Honeywell-supplied auxiliary
power unit, eliminating the vortex
generators found on the 737NG.
The wings for 1A003 also have
arrived on the “central” assembly
line, which is dedicated to sup-
porting the 737 Max. The fuselage
is still being completed inside a
systems integration tool located in
the adjacent 4-81 hangar, says
Greg Batcher, director of the 737
Max assembly operations. The fu-
selage will soon be moved to the
central line in the 4-82 bay, where
it will enter the wing-to-body join
position as the first step in the
final assembly process.
No signs of the fourth flight-
test aircraft were visible on a Boe-
ing tour of the line, however. Lev-
erkuhn says only that 1A004 will
enter final assembly “later on”.
With Boeing officials already
contemplating a 737 Max debut
at the Farnborough air show in
2016, 1A004 is assigned the most
high-profile role in the test pro-
gramme. It will be the first of the
evaluation aircraft to have a com-
pleted interior, including passen-
ger seats, luggage compartments,
galleys and lavatories.“ the milestones have
been met. engineering
has been early. the
supply chain is
performing well”
Keith LeverKuhn
Boeing VP and general manager, 737Jeremy Dwyer-lindgrenleap-1B engines should be 15% more fuel efficient than CFm56s