ZA002, Boeing's second 787 flight test aircraft, may fly as early as "next week", according to Pat Shanahan, Boeing vice president of airplane programmes.
Speaking to ATI and Flightglobal on the sidelines following the 15 December maiden sortie of ZA001, the first 787, Shanahan added that ZA002 might flight before ZA001 flies on its second flight which is expected before 25 December.
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ZA002 will be ferried from the company's Everett, Washington facility to Boeing Field south of Seattle, where the flight test operations centre is housed.
In preparation for first flight, the aircraft is expected to begin a "mini-gauntlet" of closed loop testing on 18 December to ensure the functionality of all the aircraft's systems before final taxi tests and first flight early next week.
ZA001 underwent an expanded round of gauntlet testing before its maiden sortie.
ZA002 is the second of second of four Rolls-Royce powered Trent 1000 flight test 787 aircraft, out of a total of six. The balance are powered by General Electric GEnx-1B engines.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
