Weather, luck, and wishes permitting, the plane should be taking taking to the skies around 10:00 a.m. PST/ 1:00 p.m. EST, so we've got another 20 or so minutes to head over to the webcast site, prepare to either cheer at a success or sigh at another letdown, and wish good luck to my second favorite daydreamer. I've got faith in this one, how 'bout you? [New Airplane]

You can find updates on the flight status, and the actual webcast right here and you can place your friendly wagers on whether this'll be a success or not in the comments. [New Airplane —Thanks, Dustin!]

The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) today announced that the first flight of the 787 Dreamliner is expected by the end of 2009 and first delivery is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2010.
The new schedule reflects the previously announced need to reinforce an area within the side-of-body section of the aircraft, along with the addition of several weeks of schedule margin to reduce flight test and certification risk. The company projects achieving a production rate of 10 airplanes per month in late 2013.

There you have it. According to their press release, the fabled Boeing 787 Dreamliner will finally take off by year's end. With their credibility completely gone, I don't know if I should laugh or cry. I think I will do both. [Boeing]

I'll let Boeing tell you about the latest snafu, with snarky blogger filter uncharacteristically removed:

"In two areas on the fuselage, the structure doesn't have the long-term strength that we want," said Boeing spokeswoman Lori Gunter.

What that means is wrinkles. Microscopic wrinkles. Dangerous, drop-out-of-the-frickin'-sky wrinkles in the fuselage that negatively affect the plane in ways I don't want to think about given I'm already antsy about air travel. Boeing has therefore ordered Italian supplier Alenia Aeronautica to halt production of these faulty fuselage sections immediately so that carbon fiber patches can be applied to make things right.

Carbon fiber patches or not, customers were expecting the first Boeing 787 orders to be filled by first quarter 2010. That's not going to happen. As we've detailed here in the past, the phrase "perpetual delay" has become synonymous with the 787 project, which has cost Boeing billions of dollars. Seventy-two planes have been canceled thus far (although, to be fair, 800 orders are still on the books). [Silicon Valley via Slashdot]

Last week the Seattle Times reported that the damage observed during a ground test of the Dreamliner happened very late in the test, more specifically:

Just beyond "ultimate load." That is defined as 50 percent higher than the in-service limit load and is the Federal Aviation Administration's test target.

That would've been just fine and dandy, except that it turns out that they were just a little bit off and the damage actually occurred "well below the load the wings must bear to be federally certified to carry passengers." Whoops.

The structural flaws are described as

Stresses at the ends of the long rods that stiffen the upper wing skin panels caused the fibrous layers of the composite plastic material to delaminate.

Those long rods lead to the joints of the wings which connect to the body of the plane which lead to a fuselage box where excess load is transferred—-who cares how everything is connected? "Delaminate" as in "to split into thin layers"! Somehow I'm not reassured by being told that the delamination of the wing skin "isn't likely to lead to catastrophic failure of the airplane," though obviously they're not changing the design because it's not an issue. What's that? They are? Ah, well. What's another delay when the plane is already two years late? [Seattle Times]

Representatives of All Nippon Airways eagerly anticipate the May 2008 date when the company begins accepting delivery on its fifty 787 Dreamliners ordered from Boeing, boasting that the fancy-schmancy toilets will "refresh the parts other airlines cannot reach." These washlet devices are commonplace in Japan, and are starting to make inroads Stateside. We can only hope that someday we Americans might catch up in the cleanliness department, joining the scrubbed ranks of the squeaky clean-assed Japanese.

Japan's New Toilets Wash, Dry... and Fly! [Inventor Spot]

Boeing ends Dreamliner wireless network [Reuters]