Boeing's New 787 Wings — Amazingly Flexible

An anonymous reader writes "Boeing is making the wings of its new 787 out of carbon fiber instead of metal. That means the wings are so strong and flexible that they could bend upward and touch above the fuselage — or come close. The company is expected to deliver the first 787 to All Nippon Airlines in May 2008. 'Boeing has completed static testing of a three-quarter wingbox, but engineers are still considering whether to limit testing of the full wing to a 150% load limit held for 3 sec. or to continue bending it to see when it breaks. 'There's a raging debate within the engineering team to see if we should break it or not,' says [787 General Manager Mike] Bair.'" They have come a long way in wing flexibility.

The 787

[kannibul]

The 787 will be the envy of "tuner" kidz everywhere with it's carbon fiber wings.

If only one could find a 4ft diameter chrome exhaust tip...

Must resist onomatopoeic humor...

[powerpants]

Pull them back, let them go, and... BOEINNNNG!

Re:missed the best part...

[kannibul]

Enter the flapping apparatus! It'll make the passengers feel more comfortable, having their plane flap it's wings!

Slashdot Poll

[chill]

If any article screams out for a Slashdot poll, this one is it.

1. Chicken out and don't break 'em
2. See how far they go and post it to YouTube
3. Orinthop mode! Pull 'em back and let 'em flap!
4. Cowboy Neal

Shopping for planes has never looked more fun

[ajenteks]

Airbus: Care for some metal wings?
Boeing Client: No, thank you, I take them flexible, like my women.

Pedantry

[Flying pig]

No, you are wrong. Boeing use good old US carbon fiber, while the Europeans use that low rent carbon fibre stuff. No comparison at all. Carbon fibre comes in litres and the fibre length is in metres, while carbon fiber comes in gallons (or perhaps liters) and fibers are measured in feet, (or perhaps meters). See how easy they are to distinguish?

I say let 'em break it...

[TheWoozle]

...as long as they post a video of it on their website!

Mythbusters anyone?

[YojimboJango]

Am I going to be the first person here to think these engineers sound like they're just having way too much fun with this?

Also I wonder what would break first, the wing, or the connection to the plane. I'm expecting the video to hit the internet in about a week.

Do it MythBusters style!

[Jugalator]

If they don't break, ensure they break in some way! ;-)

Seriously though, that idea isn't useful only for entertainment and cool effects, it is useful to know the tipping point, what boundaries they're actually working with, and not just to see if it does or does not work. And as they so often tell there -- the only way to know for sure is to test it in the real world on a non-scale model!

Time to cash in

[fishthegeek]

This would make one heck of a good video for Youtube would if it's done right. I would be very interested to watch the test accompanied by the 1812 overture with the wings snapping in a spectacular fashion just as the drums hit! Oh, and add two squirrels and a cat fighting to the video. And while you're at it add lightsabers and two chicks kissing. Now that would make a good video!

Re:I hope they test it!

[MonorailCat]

What a huge distraction, I just went on a 30 min youtube binge watching destructive testing of aircraft parts... Back to work!

Re:I hope they test it!

[Shadow Wrought]

It was in the summary!!!

Pfffft. Real slashdotters only need a headline.

Re:Design accommodations?

[mustafap]

>Or you could, you know, give up a disgusting habit that is poisoning you.

What? Give up slashdot? Never. I'll die first.

YMCA

[everphilski]

I want to see the 787 do the Y-M-C-A :)

Re:I hope they test it!

[steveo777]

What I think will happen is that tips will meet. They'll try to compress the wings vertically, but before any definitive results are in, there will be a very loud "SPROING" in which case, the wings will be freed from their restraints. They will smash toward ground, propelling the plane into the air. As they bounce back to equilibrium the wings will flap carrying the plane roughly 1000km in the direction it was pointed. Eliminating the need for any fuels on short trips. Carbon Fiber FTW!

This is your captain...

[Taimat]

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking... If you take a look out the windows on the left side of the plane, you will notice our right wing....

Re:I hope they test it!

[A nonymous Coward]

What's a headline?

I'm not used to all these new fangled additions to /.

Re:Ornithopter?

[skoaldipper]

Yes! And when it's time for departure, we exit out the rear lacquered up in shock absorbing dirty white suits, dropping down into our parked cars.

Re:The 787

[Jeff DeMaagd]

To be truly "tuner", the exhaust tip needs to be at least twice the diameter as the actual exhaust. Just to make it look fast.

Re:I hope they test it!

[pyrbrand]

Haven't you learned anything from Mythbusters? Since when do we not test things just because we don't need to know the answer? Get Jamie and Adam on it and the build crew will clean up the mess!

Re:I hope they test it!

[russellh]

Pfffft. Real slashdotters only need a headline.

Some of us only need a category

Re:I hope they test it!

[Kozar_The_Malignant]

It was in the summary!!!

Meh! Everyone knows the summary bears no relation to the article.

Re:I hope they test it!

[TrebleMaker]

Don't you remember the old WWII slogan: Loose Lifts Bring Rifts.

Then there's a whole new meaning to "If you break it, you bought it!".

Re:Who cares if they bend

[AK Marc]

Sorry, I didn't realise that you could shrink the downward pull of gravity. I am fairly certain that it stays at about 9.81 m/s^2...

No, I think that the "pull" of gravity is mass times the acceleration due to gravity. When you "pull" on something, you are talking about the force, not the acceleration. Not only are you a pedantic ass, but you are also wrong.

[beavis] YEAH, YEAH! BREAK IT! BREAK IT! [/beavis]

[Anonymous Coward]

Sincerely, every engineer who ever got a degree in aerospace.

Plus, uh, Beavis.

Re:I hope they test it!

[fosterNutrition]

Pfffft. Real slashdotters only need a headline.

Some of us only need a category

Oh come on, who needs categories? We all know what to say anyway:
Does it run linux?
Imagine a Beowulf cluster of those!
In Soviet Russia, aeroplane wings break you!
etc, etc, etc.

Clearly, you must be new here.

Re:I hope they test it!

[kryten_nl]

Fly the new 787 - It's so strong, you only need one plane for two towers.

If this doesn't bring my karma down .....

Re:I hope they test it!

[CasperIV]

Well Aircraft unlike computers are only operated by trained professionals.

Yeah, but these "professionals" seem to have a higher percentage drunk then computer users. Hell, these new "flapping" carbon wings will be nothing new to them... they already thought the wings were flapping after the first two drinks.

Re:787 is a revolution in design and manufacturing

[HarvardAce]

So if it isn't released until late July, perhaps 7/25/07, are they going to rename this plane the 7257?

No, they'll just release it on August 7, 2007 which will please such airlines as British Airways and Virgin Atlantic (those crazy Brits do DD/MM/YY for those of you who didn't get the joke). Not sure about the rest of Europe, but I e-mail folks in London almost every day and have to convert all their dates.

Re:I hope they test it!

[binarybum]

because if Chuck Norris were on an aluminum airplane he could go out on the bent wing and bend it back, but if he were on a carbon fiber airplane he would just shout, "I've got nothing to work with here assholes!" shoot everyone on the plane, jump out the window, knit a parachute out of his sweater on the way down and land topless on a throng of adoring Laotian women.

 

Re:I hope they test it!

[Lorkki]

Your ideas are intriguing and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

Re:Debate?

[taustin]

The Mythbusters school of aeronautical engineering?

Re:I hope they test it!

[complete loony]

Newsletter? I'm blind you insensitive clod.

DUH

[hurfy]

What is the point of having all that cool test equipment and cameras if you can't break stuff ?!?

hehe, 30 years later i still remember a trip to the local power station that had the test equipment for powerlines and stuff. They crushed a large ceramic insulator til it blew up. Took some insane amount of pressure like 20000 psi. Quite spectacular. They had a rig for pulling apart a powerline too, we would have killed for that test ;)

Re:I hope they test it!

[Anonymous Coward]

such bad taste. There's at least 5,000 people who wouldn't find that funny.

Re:Ornithopter?

[Headcase88]

Haven't you heard the old saying? Brandy's dandy, Liquor's quicker, but Lacquer... well there's no good rhyme for it but suffice to say you'll be in a bad way the next morning.