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.

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

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.