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787: Putting It Together

The following link shows a time-lapsed video of a United Airlines 787 being assembled at the Boeing facility in Everett, WA. AIT tooling (the blue fixtures) accomplishes several major functions of final assembly, separated into two positions at this site.

Position 1

  • Join the mid-fuselage to the forward and aft fuselages
  • Join the wings to the body
  • Provide circumferential drilling
  • Join the horizontal stabilizer and vertical fin to the aft fuselage

From Position 1, AIT tooling moves the aircraft to Position 2.

Position 2

  • Lift the aircraft
  • Install landing gear
  • Lower the aircraft on its landing gear

Then the tooling is disassembled and moved back to Position 1, while the aircraft is wheeled out for painting.

Basically, any time the 787 is lifted, moved or positioned, AIT tooling is involved.

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