Countdown To The 787 Dreamliner's First Flight Options

[Kilrah]

Live webcast of the 787 first flight is due to start at 9:40am PST / 17:40 GMT, so in just less than an hour!

Watch here!

[L-1011]

After several times of postponing, the 787 will at last hit the run way very soon. Kudos to Boeing and the Aerospace industry for achieving this feat! Down of a new Era. I wish I could participate in the flight. it would be spectacular to see the plane on its first flight

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After about 2.5 years of delays, the 787 flew out of Everett on its maiden flight today. Scheduled for a 10:00 AM departure, the flight departed at about 10:30 (PST) to the cheers of a myriad of Boeing workers and interested observers gathered alongside the taxiway areas. The challenge now begins to complete the certification process and deliver the first aircraft to ANA by the end of September 2010 (roughly 2 years later than originally scheduled)

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/boeing-78...0?siteid=yhoof2

787 #1 flew off in a picture perfect departure at about 10:30 PST. This flight will be completed without retracting the landing gear.

The aircraft will land at BFI (Boeing Field) and enter a regimen of flight testing which will lead ultimately to certification. The target date for completion of the certification process is September 2010 with delivery of the first aircraft to ANA following shortly thereafter.

The first six 787aircraft built have been deemed "unsuitable for delivery".

Additional test aircraft (6 more either in work or comleted) will join 787 #1 for the certification tests.

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787 #1 flew off in a picture perfect departure at about 10:30 PST. The first flight will end at 13:00 PST (about 1 hour ahead of schedule) Seattle weather appears to be deteriorating somewhat.

[L-1011]

Here is the Link:
//www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/787TAKEOFF12159.xml&headline=Boeing 787 Takes Off&channel=comm

Boeing began eight months of flight testing on the first jet designed and built in the 21st Century at 10:27 a.m. PST when the 787 took off under heavily overcast skies in Everett, Wash.

Pilots Mike Carriker and Randy Neville lifted the 390,000 lb. test airplane flying north from Paine Field on the start of a nominal five-hour flight that is to end with a landing at Boeing Field in Seattle.

The takeoff rotation was at 140 knots. Carriker climbed the 186-ft. long 787 to 2,500 feet initially to assure its flight stability. The flight plan calls for him and Neville then to gradually proceed through a series of reduced flap settings while flying east over Moses Lake toward Coer d'Alene, Idaho.

Their flight level is not expected to exceed 15,000 feet with a speed 250 knots. But all of the day's flight activities will be dictated by the aircraft's performance and the weather, which was heavily overcast with about a 2,300 ft. ceiling at takeoff.

While Boeing wants the basic flight envelope explored, a safe takeoff and landing are regarded as a complete success.

At last after 2 and a half years of delays, the 787 has finally commenced it first flight. Very spectacular and
superb. Kudos to Boeing and the Aerospace industry

[tripleseven]

Bravo Boeing...Bravo(in my best Winston Churchill voice impersonation)...;)

[Kilrah]

The wing flex on that thing is really impressive!

The first six 787aircraft built have been deemed "unsuitable for delivery".

Ouch, that must have hurt...


PS: Please keep all the discussion in one topic, no need to open multiple ones in different sections. I merged the 4(!) existing ones.

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sorry about that - I thought I was editing a post and it went into a "new" post.

They went out over the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Sequim or so then back and forth. They never went over to the dry side of the mountains (Eastern Washington) because the weather was much worse there. The flight was said to end at 13:00 PST but since right NOW it's 13:00 and they are up around Whidby Island, they won't make that schedule either. Landing now said to be about 13:25 or so


As to those other 6 "unsalable" birds - maybe they can find someone who wants a cheap biz-jet after the testing is complete. maybe make one into a tanker test bird... Since they are carbon composite, they won't make good beer cans...

[Kilrah]

Website says 1:22PST - stay tuned!

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touchdown 13:35 PST

[bluebird121]

Thanks for the link guys.. I saw the Dreamliner's flight on the television news here in Australia and it was magnificent. I look forward to the day when I fly in her, although that seems a wee way off yet.

[L-1011]

Boeing says initial results from the first flight of the 787 give it confidence the certification program will be completed on schedule late next year.

The first flight on Dec. 15 lasted 3 hours and 5 minutes, around two-and-a-half hours shorter than planned due to poor visibility. But the aircraft "flew better than in our simulators," said 787 chief pilot Mike Carriker, who added all systems performed well. "This aircraft could turn around and fly again today, but we want to put more instrumentation in the aircraft."

The aircraft spent its time running race track patterns over the San Juan Islands near Vancouver Island at altitudes of up to 12,000 feet. The original plan was to perform some work over the Puget Sound area before testing at up to 15,000 feet over Eastern Washington during the latter phases of the flight. But neither of these targets were possible because of the weather, said Carriker.

Tests included opening up the flight envelope for take off and landing configurations with different flap settings, and cycling the landing gear. The flight achieved around 50% of the points on the test card. Some of the points not completed required long straight runs but "because of the weather we had to turn around every 15 minutes. The only thing that stopped us was the descending cloud deck over the Straits of San Juan de Fuca," Carricker said.

The first aircraft, ZA001, is due to make its second flight before the end of the month. A total of six test aircraft will be dedicated to the flight test program which is set to be complete by October.

ZA001 is scheduled to complete initial airworthiness, stability and control and primary flight control system tests over the next three to four weeks before moving on to flutter tests that will clear the way forward for higher speed envelope expansion work in February.

Here is the Link: Check this

This post has been edited by L-1011: Dec 17 2009, 04:07 PM