The Boeing 787 Thread

[Gerald A]

From info I received this morning.

Doubt the 787 will fly today, FAA rules for test flights require VFR conditions. The cloud deck is at 2,000-3,000 feet. It all depends on what weather restrictions the FAA has put on the first test flight.

The test flight is due to start at 7:40am Sydney time today.

For anyone who has a HF-USB band radio, below is the list of Boeing flight test frequencies.
2851
3004
3443
5451
5469
5571
6550
8822
10045
11288
11306
13312
17964
21931

[Sarah C]

It is happening now. Engines are on:

http://787firstflight.newairplane.com/ffindex.html

[Sarah C]

It is airborne - an AMAZING takeoff!!!!!!!!!

[Gerald A]

Thanks for the update Sarah

I got the timing wrong:o. Seems like the old menory bank, is not working to well these days.

[Mike S]

Well i just turned the ripe age of 25 and i missed it as well!

Im just waiting for youtube to update hopefully soon with a video!

[Mike S]

As i wrote that, here they are!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSN_qLWTho

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv9ZU4EEMao

Wow she sure has some power!

[Michael Rychter]

Several comments (for explanation please)

Firstly the amazing bend in the wings as the aircraft became airborne. It was much more pronounced than what I've observed in the 747-400. Would the first flight have been heavy to cause that bend or is that what we will become used to seeing with the flexible wing on the 787?

There seemed to be a (test) device streaming from the tip of the tail. What's that called and what is it measuring?

I wonder if we will see the films from the chase planes? (Sam Chiu - were you on board<g>?)

[Ash W]

The wing bend would have been due to it being light on fuel, not heavy. It is fuel that generaly 'weighs' wings down.

[Andrew McLaughlin]

Would the first flight have been heavy to cause that bend or is that what we will become used to seeing with the flexible wing on the 787?

The wings are designed to flex that much, although the upturned wingtips exaggerate the affect a little. The aircraft would've been fairly light compared to its planned MTOW. You'll see similar flex on the 747-8 as well.

There seemed to be a (test) device streaming from the tip of the tail. What's that called and what is it measuring?

It's a static pressure test probe - designed to provide backup altitude and airspeed figures in case the aircraft's pitot doesn't work.

[NickN]

I know the aircraft was considerably under MTOW however it was quite noticeable that there was not alot of nose up pitch on rotation to get it off the ground and also not alot of flare on landing.

[Peter Casey]

Was good to see it fly....apparently Airbus will make a competitor version to this, I heard on TV.

Rgds

Peter

[Ash W]

Peter, where have you been for the last few years? Airbus have been planning the A350XWB, the so called competitor for a number of years. Though in reality the A350XWB sits half way between the 787 and the 777.

[Owen H]

Nick, if you were flying an aircraft for the first time, when you have a lot of excess runway, would you rotate the aircraft quickly, or use a high rate of descent and then large flare for landing?

I think you'll find you can discount a lot of the way the aircraft flies on its test flights as being test procedure rather than the way it will ultimately be flown.

[Danny G]

On the Boeing web site there is a video where the Chief Pilot describes his flight plan for the first flight. Also look at the Pilots' Bios , very impressive !

[Dan Hammond]

Hi Guys,

for those of you that havent seen it the full flight path it took is here http://flightaware.com/live/flight/BOE1

And at boeing.com for those that missed it is the video of the take off and landing

[Craig Lindsay]

how bloody good was that

[Scott Lindsell]

Hi all,
An amazing day here in Seattle. Years of waiting finally gave way to incredible joy as the 787 finally took to the skies.
No spotters here thought the airplane would fly today given the weather forecast. Last week was crystal clear but down to -12c however this week was the normal dreary low ceiling and consistent rain.
Rumors at Paine Field of the aircrafts immenent taxi were greeted with cheers through the festive crowd and the aircrafts stairs were pulled away at bang on 1000am PST. The frame started taxing at 1010, the scheduled time for the day and taxied straight along 16R/34L before the media and gathered crowd estimated at 25,000. After a few minutes of holding on the runway for the chase planes to come back around the 787 growled and started edging forward. She rotated in around 4500ft and stayed low and level until disappearing north of Everett, gear down and chase plane of each wing. Five minutes later the rain started and continued through the day. Plenty of time to drive back down to Boeing Field despite the new arrival time brought forward for the deteriorating weather and low ceiling now down to just over 1500ft. One of the smoothest touchdowns I've ever witnessed was greeted with yet more cheers from the South Seattle crowd.
This airplane is awesome! From a spotters perspective the lines are to die for. So sleek and graceful. The strobes are ultra bright LED's with a long lag time which makes catching double beacons on camera a sinch. You guys are going to have your hearts stop a beat when you hear the RR engines start up. They immediately sound like a 773 for the first few seconds before developing this distinctive and sexy deep growling pitch. Never heard anything like it before.
Been an interesting year in Seattle aviation. First P-8 flight a few months ago, the 777F, now the history making 787 flight and hopefully within weeks the first 748F. By the way the second 787 should take off in the next ten days and there are now 5 787's on the PAE ramp.

Here are some shots from the day:

Taxing for take off at PAE:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bfiguy/4188278657/sizes/o/

Lifting off on rotation at PAE#1:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bfiguy/4189051364/sizes/o/in/photostream/

Landing for the first time at BFI:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bfiguy/4188298815/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Taxing past the media pit at BFI:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bfiguy/4189079926/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Cheers to making aviation history,
Scott :)

[Grahame Hutchison]

Thanks for the images Scott, can't wait to see it for real, hopefully downunder soon on a test flight or two.

[Sarah C]

Thanks for the photos Scott - I am sure plenty of board members like myself would have loved to brave the cold to be there. I am sure it will be a flight you won't forget - next up, the 747-8!:)

[Bernie P]

I wonder if we will see the films from the chase planes? (Sam Chiu - were you on board<g>?)

John Ostrower has got some already! HERE (http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/flightblogger/2009/12/photo-of-note-za001-as-seen-fr.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+flightblogger%2Fsubscribe+%28 Flightblogger%29)!

[Gerald A]

The second Boeing (NYSE: BA) 787 Dreamliner, ZA002, completed its first flight today. The all-new airplane, which features the livery of the Dreamliner's launch customer, ANA (All Nippon Airways) of Japan, took off from Paine Field in Everett, completed a two-hour flight and landed at Boeing Field in Seattle.





http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=1010

[Scott Lindsell]

Just realised there was this post and viewers may not have seen the other.
Photos of ZA002's departure at PAE and arrival at BFI are on my Flickr page along with the 748F. Sadly the weather was as bad as ZA001 last week.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bfiguy/


Scott.

[David Knudsen]

Interesting article from Wired about the 787's interior features here: http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/12/boeing-787-dreamliner-interior/

[Justin Griffiths]

in regards to the flex of the wings, this is an evolution in wing design from the delta wing design. Similar to the winglets for example on 737NG's (and perhaps the A380 and others) in regards to reducing lift induced drag caused by wingtip vortices.
The flex wing design also has raked wing tip technology! (only just noticed it on Scott L's photos) which both complement performance enhancing efficiency, and safety to a degree. Flex wing, blended winglets & raked wingtip technology tend to be advantageous at higher altitudes.... blah blah,
Viva La Evolution, Viva La Boeing.
And what about the interior, liquid crystal windows, overhead space, just beautiful.
http://www.newairplane.com/787/virtualTour/

[Scott Lindsell]

The wingflex Justin just mentioned is apparent in the third shot and to give you an idea during a side profile the wing on the opposite side reaches up over the fuselage.

787 #1 flew for the second time today (this time in clear winter sunshine)....
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bfiguy/

[Mike W]

The 787 testing is really cranking up with BOE1 having logged over 100 flight hours now and BOE2 over 40.

Today BOE1 ramped it up to 0.88 on occasion as it conducted "Flutter" tests.

We are also only days away from BOE4 taking to the air with BOE3 not far behind. There are some fabulous tools for tracking progress on these tests for those interested (like myself)

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/BOE1/history/20100218/1850Z/KBFI/KBFI/tracklog

http://787flighttest.com/

[Greg McDonald]

A BOEING 787 on a test flight was forced down after one of its engines lost thrust.
A spokesman for the company said the plane landed safely at a Washington airport after an "uncommanded loss of thrust'' in one of its two engines.

They said the 787 Dreamliner can fly on one engine but common procedure is to land when there's an engine problem.

[Grahame Hutchison]

The problem was a faulty sensor in one of the engines.

[Michael Arentz]

Wing load test was just completed, a pretty awesome photo is available at:

http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=13&item=1072

[Geoff W]

Video of the previous post.

Source News Ltd

http://787flighttest.com/boeing-confirms-success-on-ultimate-load-test/

Kind regards,
Geoff