Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson to get 787-8 "Dreamliner"

Boeing 787-83Q ZA002 (40691/2) N787EX smokes the mains as she arrives back at Seattle-Boeing Field (BFI/KBFI) on May 6, 2010.

(Photo by Michael Carter)  

Boeing has found a home for the second of three 787 Dreamliners that are too heavy and out-of-norm to sell: The Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson.

The 787-8 aircraft, No. ZA002, (pictured above) which means second in production, flew into Davis-Monthan Air Force Base on Thursday.

The company gave its third Dreamliner to the Museum of Flight in Seattle in November.

The plane that went to the Pima museum is completely operable, and was in fact part of the flight test fleet that Boeing used to certify the 787 for the FAA.

But as one of the very first aircraft in production, it bore the brunt of the changes and additions that Boeing had to do to the first aircraft because of design issues and problems with early parts like fasteners.

“In some cases, test airplanes have been used commercially after testing is complete,” said Boeing spokesman Paul Bergman. “Boeing announced in August 2009 that the first three 787s used in the 787-8 flight test program (known as ZA001, ZA002 and ZA003) had no commercial value and their costs would be recorded as research and development expense.”

With a list price of $218 million, this is just one piece of the billions of dollars in unexpected expenses Boeing incurred as it worked to get 787 production under control.

Seattle-area aerospace analyst Michel Merluzeau, of Frost and Sullivan, was philosophic, calling ZA002 a “prototype aircraft.”

‘“That’s the nature of flight testing,” he said. “You find things, and that’s the way it goes.”

The Dreamliner is painted in All Nippon Airways colors, which Boeing Vice President of Sales Randy Tinseth, in a 2009 blog post, called a “tribute” to the model’s Japanese launch customer.

ZA002, one of six aircraft in the test program, was used for ground testing, as well as tests in flight.

The Pima Air & Space Museum has a collection of more than 300 aircraft and spacecraft.

(Steve Wilhelm - The Puget Sound Business Journal)