It has been long way since we saw it complete for the first time but, after all the delays, the first commercial airliner fully made of composite materials is now a reality. [Gizmodo Dreamliner Coverage]

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!]

A world with ejection seat chairs, airplane piston engine tables, and a mirror bed made of wings, with a big-boobed blonde always by the side, preferably in a stewardess costume and semitransparent yellow lace lingerie. [Motoart via BornRich]

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]

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Is this thing ever going to fly? [Flight Global and Flight Global]

New Yorkers Erin Finnegan and Noah Fulmor tied the knot on Zero Gravity Corp's G-Force One, a padded Boeing 727-200 flown with parabolic zero-g-inducing maneuvers.

The bride had to tie her hair down so that it didn't float. The groom wired his tux tails so that they wouldn't develop a mind of their own.

As you might expect, the ceremony was actually quite awkward since it consisted of a multiple microgravity first-timers donning formal gowns. At one point, a member of the bridal party's ring floated off, confusing the bride and groom as to just what to do with a third wedding band.

And then there was the magic of the first kiss:

"The physics of the first kiss were off. I could feel where I was going, I knew where I needed to be, but it was hard to reconcile the differences," he told reporters.

"Noah knocked into my nose and I thought it would bleed," Finnegan said.

Beautiful. Read the full story over at Reuters. [Reuters via Bornrich]

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Rob Cockerham at PopSci got to see it in action, and took a few photographs of this mighty—and extremely useful—sploshing megalomaniac dream machine. [Popsci]

The occasion marks the first all-electric start of a commercial jetliner engine on a twin-aisle commercial jetliner; the engines had been started electronically in test facilities earlier.

OK, Boeing, if you say so, I believe you. They used the Auxiliary Power System to power the start of its two Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines. Now, what I really want to know is when are they testing the orgy room. [Flight Global]

Surprising no one, the Phantom Menace Ray parent program (X45-C) is funded entirely by DARPA to the tune of $942 million.

The Ray is designed to do a number of things all by its lonesome, including bombing runs, surveillance and autonomous mid-air refueling. Top speed? 0.85 Mach. Ceiling is 40,000 feet. It can carry 4,500-lbs., which hopefully does not include any chips on its shoulder for its human designers. Unless Jessica Biel is involved. Then by all means go to town. [Boeing, Image]

Like the Dreamliner—pictured here—its interior is designed to reduce jetlag in long range flights. It will be a lot quieter than the current 747, and it will have the same "new curved, upswept architecture" to make it airier and give passengers more room for personal belongings. Also like the 787, the Intercontinental will use special lighting to provide "smooth transitions for a more restful flight."

The other big difference is the size. While it won't be nearly as big as the Airbus A380 or allow to have full beds, it will be 18.3 feet longer and have a larger upper deck.

According to the company, the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental will arrive in late 2011.

Gizmag says Free Electron Lasers move at the speed of light and are capable of outputting a megawatt of power, which the military requires for adequate defense. FELs differ from gas or solid state lasers because they're not atomically bound. Instead the electrons are contained in a magnetic-based structure that lets the particles move freely. The FEL will be part of the foundation for the Navy's plan to develop an all-electric ship, which would be as capable as current Naval ships. [Gizmag] (Image Courtesy of the NYT)

Obviously, this plane won't have the same stealth capabilities of the F-35 Lightning II or the F-22 Raptor, but according to Boeing, it's a low cost version of those amazing fifth generation combat jets, according to Mark Bass, F-15 Program vice president for Boeing:

The F-15 Silent Eagle is designed to meet our international customers' anticipated need for cost-effective stealth technologies, as well as for large and diverse weapons payloads. The innovative Silent Eagle is a balanced, affordable approach designed to meet future survivability needs.

The plane has Digital Flight Control System—which reduces its weight and improves reliability—, anti-radar coating, and redesigned conformal fuel tanks that can hold the weapons inside, from air-to-air missiles to air-to-ground weapons. This allows for two things: It allows to have less surfaces to reflect radar waves—which result in a smaller radar signature—and, if you don't care about the radar, load more weapons, since the wings can carry the standard payload of any F-15 Eagle.

All cool stuff, as long as it break in midair. [Boeing]

These were custom made by the exhibitor for QVC, where they apparently sold out all 2500 of the limited edition for $199 apiece in 30 minutes, according to the dude in the booth.

Change, get it? CHAAAAANGE! With the financial crisis, this also takes on an added layer of irony.

And this was probably my favorite Barack toy: The Obama Mania Game! You use Obamabucks to navigate the campaign trail, where you can land on spaces like "Gov. Palin Proves a Liability to Her Party: GO SIX SPACES AHEAD!"

The Obama merch machine, clearly, shows no sign of stopping. [Toy Fair 2009]

Small UAVs armed with explosives or equipped with surveillance sensors are a growing threat on the battlefield. Laser Avenger, unlike a conventional weapon, can fire its laser beam without creating missile exhaust or gun flashes that would reveal its position. As a result, Laser Avenger can neutralize these UAV threats while keeping our troops safe.

The Laser Avenger is mounted on the kinetic-based Avenger air defense system. However, no kinetic weapons were used in taking down the UAV. Tested at the White Sands Missile Range— a 3,200-square-mile rocket range in New Mexico, the largest military installation in the US—the Laser Avenger tracked three UAVs flying "against a complex background of mountains and desert", shooting down one of the UAVs.

The test success comes after the company doubled the laser power and added acquisition and tracking capabilities to the original design. Star Wars, here we go. [Via Press Release]