Third Italian 767 tanker 'delivered' to Naples

The third Boeing 767 airplane for the Italian Air Force rolled out from the Everett, Wash., factory last month. By the end of March it was scheduled to be ferried to Naples, Italy, for tanker modifications at the Aeronavali Modification Center. The airplane will undergo extensive work, including installation of the Remote Aerial Refueling Operator Station, aerial refueling boom, wing pods, centerline hose-and-drogue refueling systems and refueling receptacle.

Rotorcraft employees in UAW 1069 ratify company offer

Employees represented by the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America Local 1069 voted on March 18 to accept a four-year contract offer from Boeing. This collective bargaining agreement covers more than 1,300 Integrated Defense Systems employees in Philadelphia . The contract provides a 10 percent increase in total wages and premiums, plus lump-sum payments, and an increase in the pension benefit. Employees will be able to choose between four medical plans with monthly contributions to premiums ranging from zero to 10 percent. New employees hired after Jan. 1, 2007, will not be eligible for retiree medical benefits but will have a higher Savings Plan match to help them save for future retiree medical expenses.

777 line to use 'crawlers'

The 777 Program has begun to use new equipment, known as "crawlers," that will significantly transform the way 777 jetliners are assembled at the Everett, Wash., factory. These machines are integral to the program's effort to implement the Boeing Production System. When used in production, the crawlers will move 1.8 inches per minute in an automated mode while following a white line on the factory floor. The crawlers can move 10 feet per minute when transferring the fuselage section from Systems Installation to Final Body Join.

Also Around Boeing

• Flight International magazine in February named Purdue University postgraduate Jim Gregory its Aviation Excellence Awards Engineering Student of the Year. The Boeing Integrated Defense Systems–sponsored award recognizes Gregory's development of a new testing technique for rapidly changing pressure using a porous pressure-sensitive paint and a new piezo-fluidic actuator.
• A new Emergency Operations Center officially opened in late February at Commercial Airplanes' Everett, Wash., facility. The center will be the point of command for the site in response to a disaster or major incident.
• Heading toward a scheduled October launch, the Boeing Orbital Express satellite servicing system passed two major milestone last month. The system's Autonomous Space Transport Robotic Operations spacecraft completed a Baseline Integrated System Test, as ASTRO's spacecraft systems were powered up and operated collectively for the first time. ASTRO also successfully completed tests to verify component operation in the actual electromagnetic environment of the spacecraft. Orbital Express is a U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program aimed at demonstrating fully autonomous on-orbit satellite servicing.

'Moonshine Wars' draw attention

Attending the 2006 Boeing Commercial Airplanes Moonshine Wars event are (from left) Carolyn Corvi, Airplane Production vice president and general manager; Chihiro Nakao, the former Shingijutsu Consulting president who's considered the "father of Moonshine"; and Commercial Airplanes Lean Enterprise Office Director Mike Herscher. They're looking at one team's Moonshine ideas, which enabled it to develop a solution to a real production problem. Moonshine Wars is an annual event that challenges employees to develop and prove out design and manufacturing solutions. At this year's competition, held in February in Seattle, teams from the 767 Program and Boeing Winnipeg shared the title of the event's co–grand champions. Their prize is a week-long seminar in Japan to strengthen their Moonshine skills. The term Moonshine is derived from the days of U.S. Prohibition, when individuals illegally made their own liquor, usually late at night. They used inexpensive materials; borrowed, adapted and made their own equipment; and adopted the best ideas and methods.

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