Maiden Flight of the 787

[JohnC]

On a cloudy Seattle morning, the 787 and two F-84 T-33 chase planes began the 5 1/2 hour maiden voyage from Paine Field to Moses Lake.

[BOOM]

Fantastic!!! been a long time in the making

[d0mokun]

Cool photos. The chasers were T-33's though.

[DaveKDEN]

Great news for Boeing! :salute:

(Minor note though, the chase planes are T-33's)

[spotlope]

It was really thrilling watching it take off for the first time. One of the first things I noticed after takeoff was the high degree of wing flexing it has at low speeds. I can't recall if that levels out at higher speeds, or becomes even more pronounced. This is definitely a good looking birdie, no doubt about that. I'm sure the pilots are having a blast today.

[Tim-HH]

The 787 is a wonderful looking airplane! I hope the Dreamliner will be a big success for Boeing :applause:

Greetings
Tim

[ryanbatc]

Good video coverage here:
http://www.kirotv.com/video/21974146/index.html

[IanP]

It's official. The place down below has officially frozen over. A380, A400M and the B787 have all left the ground. Where's the fainting icon when I need it? :icon_lol:

[wantok]

Congratulations Boeing!... and ANA for being the first recepient next year.:salute::applause:

[n4gix]

Track it live!

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/BOE1

[Lazerbeak]

I don't care what anybody says, that plane is beautiful. So sleek, so graceful. That nose, it's almost like a futuristic Caravelle. I hope this plane brings great success to Boeing, and I'm looking forward to flying on-board this beauty of the future.

Great pride to see ANA being the launch customer! The ANA livery looks absolutely stunning on the 787. I can't wait to spot them at Narita! :salute: :japan:

[Naki]

Cool T-33s! :mixedsmi:








Actually looking forward to seeing the 787 here. Air New Zealand was the second airline to order the 787 and the launch customer of the 787-9 version. Unfortunately we wont see them for a couple of years yet.

[hews500d]

It just had a successful landing, beautiful plane! I still say it would look better wiith steam gauges in the cockpit though !

Darrell

[limjack]

Weather cut the trip short ( It sucks here today, grey and rain) . I was sure hoping it would would fly over the house but NOT. I did watch it on the local news though. Very exciting. Have to drive to UW Hospital on the other side of Seattle tonight, might get a glimpse of it as I drive past Boeing field. Thanks for sharing your shots JohnC

[Tylerb59]

Flew over my house. :)

Congrats, Boeing.

I've had a look at the 787 on the flight line for several years now, it's always fun driving by the Boeing plant on the way to flight school, but man it's too cool to finally see it up in the air.

Going to do the local economy a great one! :)

[tigisfat]

Going to do the local economy a great one! :)


Well, Seattle area union workers are really biting the big one since the second assembly plant will now be in South Carolina thanks to one to many strikes. I'm not offering an opinion on unions, but I am saying that it's not always right to keep sticking it to your company. Those strikes cause massive delays in the 787 program. I'd be mad if I was a decision maker at Boeing myself.

[tigisfat]

On a cloudy Seattle morning, the 787 and two F-84 T-33 chase planes began the 5 1/2 hour maiden voyage from Paine Field to Moses Lake.

John, it sure looked like it landed at Boeing field to me.

[JohnC]

John, it sure looked like it landed at Boeing field to me.

It did land at Boeing Field. From what I heard, it was supposed to pass over Moses Lake at the furthest point from Seattle and then come back. The flight was also cut considerably short from foul weather (from 5.5 hours to ~3.0)

Also, an interesting fact from the last machinist strike; a higher percentage of union workers voted to initiate a strike than voted the proposed contract was disagreeable.

[Lazerbrainz2k3]

They had this on a live feed at work here in Philadelphia for the maiden flight - just a few days after four V-22s flew in for the Army-Navy game flyover at the Linc. It was great - the 787 guys were thrilled, I know some had it streaming nonstop from takeoff until wheels stop.

Also the company's announcer had said the helicopter flying by all the Boeing employees was operated by the people from IMAX - so are we getting an IMAX film about the 787? That would be great to see!

[calypsos]

Nice shots of the T-33's, not sure about that tubeliner getting in the way though!!!:icon_lol:

[fliger747]

The wing flexing was due to the light fuel load. For a long range trip the weight of the fuel in the wings will keep them down a lot more.

As one of the first customers for the 747-8 we were starting to joke that the 787 might make it's first flight on the back of the -8, ala Space Shuttle.....

Glad to see it get airborne. Boeing managment has had many difficulties after moving to a certain midwest city (one where I sit at the moment). Perhaps the ability to wander down to the shop floor and see what is happening does have value....

T.

[Piglet]

Weather cut the trip short

Hope that won't be a recurring problem with that shiny new state of the art airtuber.

[fliger747]

Test flight programs are done with a very closely defined set of allowable parameters, such that all flight regiems can be evaluated in discreet steps. No untoward surprises are wanted that might threaten the valuable test airframe or test program.

T

[tigisfat]

The wing flexing was due to the light fuel load. For a long range trip the weight of the fuel in the wings will keep them down a lot more.


Sure, but the 787 is also designed to long curving wings at a high dihedral. I believe it offers more wing loading at a higher aspect ratio.