Boeing is preparing to launch a battery of systems tests inside its very first 777X test jet and install interiors after powering up the aircraft.
The tests and a series of other equipment installations must be completed before the new 777X rolls out of the factory in Everett for its very first flight sometime in 2019.
“We are super excited to finish our functional tests and see the airplane fly,” Samantha Jarema, an industrial engineering manager on the 777X low-rate initial production line, said during a live webcast from Boeing’s massive aircraft manufacturing plant in Everett.
The Chicago-based jet maker’s newest passenger jetliner is now in its final assembly position inside the factory, Jarema said, and won’t move until its rolled out to outside world.
Boeing engineers and technicians will now test the 777X jet’s pneumatic and hydraulic systems, its environmental control systems and all electrical systems inside the giant aircraft, Jarema said.
The next and final steps to manufacture the first flying test jet will include:
- Hanging the new GE Aviation GE9X engines on the jet, that will power the new commercial aircraft. Neither
- Boeing nor GE has said when those engines will be delivered.
- Installing interior structures that will enable the jet to safely store and carry cargo.
- Installing the aircraft’s interiors.
Boeing launched the 777X program in 2013, assisted by Washington state tax incentives.
Read more: Boeing starts key 777X tests to prepare for the new jetliner’s first flight
