Scientific Article #1

"Boeing's Plastic Plane Takes Off"
http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/aerospace/aviation/boeing-plastic-plane-takes-off

Last year, On December 15th 2009 Boeings new 787 had its first commercial flight. This plane is unlike any other, the wings and fuselage are made entirely of composite plastics like carbon. The Boeing 787 is the first commercial jet-liner to have this. This significantly reduces the weight of the aircraft, in turn improving fuel efficiency by 20% comparing it to other commercial jet-liners and improving maintenance costs by 10%. Another interesting fact about this new aircraft is the collaboration efforts that went into the design of the plane. Japan, Italy and Australia had essential parts in the design process of plane, each country putting in their ideas about the plane on the table and eventually coming up with a final model that can satisfy all the countries involved. The original release date of the 787 was last June, but due to supply chain issues, and later on, worries about the strength of the wings, delayed the release of the jetliner by 6 months. The reception of this plane has been great; in fact so far Boeing has had so many orders that the 787 is now the fastest selling commercial jet-liner ever. The rival of Boeings midsize, fuel efficient jetliner is the Airbus A380, which has a much greater carrying capacity however it is a lot heavier and therefore less fuel efficient.