For Boeing, it's finally time to test-fly the 787 Dreamliner

The Wall Street Journal

reports that on Tuesday, Boeing (BA) plans to test-fly its 787 Dreamliner. The $166 million, 250- to 330-seat passenger aircraft with 865 orders and an estimated $150.6 billion backlog has been delayed six times over the last two years. While I hope Boeing succeeds, the causes of the previous delays raise questions about whether the 787's technical problems have really been solved.

Can Boeing really pull it off this time? In a word, yes. The test flight is supposed to last four or five hours, so there's no way for the company to bluff through it. And given the enormous embarrassment that Boeing has suffered from previous missed deadlines, I'm confident that the 787 will fly as long as the weather is acceptable on Tuesday.