Maiden Flight of the 787

tigisfat · December 15th, 2009, 17:45

Originally Posted by Tylerb59

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 · December 15th, 2009, 17:46

Originally Posted by JohnC

On a cloudy Seattle morning, the 787 and two [LINESTRIKE]F-84[/LINESTRIKE] 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** · December 15th, 2009, 18:06

Originally Posted by tigisfat

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** · December 18th, 2009, 19:27

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** · December 19th, 2009, 00:16

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

**fliger747** · December 19th, 2009, 14:52

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** · December 19th, 2009, 20:01

Weather cut the trip short

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

**fliger747** · December 19th, 2009, 21:45

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