Boeing Dreamliner to fly today

Boeing will stream the first flight of the 787 at 10am Pacific today.


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

Dave

 

More than likely she will not take flight today as the forecast is calling for rain today and tomorrow.

 

Rain? In Seattle?

 

Nah. That'd never happen.

Looks from the feed like they're going to fly.

 

And it's off!

Very cool stuff

 

+1

 

Pretty cool to see this morning.

I'm currently listening to the KBFI ATC stream, they all sound pretty excited about the flight, but they keep extending the landing for it... maybe it's like when you test drive that Ferrari for the first time

 

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

Looks like they are lost...

 

It's the only place they could safely conduct testing due to the heavy rain fall everywhere else.

Instruments only back to Seattle landing in minimum visibility.

 

Video, sorry about the commercials.
Take off from Everett, wa.
The rain started pouring down right after lift off.
Two T-33 chase planes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fucq5BoEfEI
CNN/The Auto Channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dogko3MkAis

 

After landing,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97WQqgXiCAQ

Still waiting for the approach video. All you can see are lights in the fog

 

Watched it live on CNN. So awesome.

 

bravo ! very cool!

 

Having worked as a structural designer on both the 767 and 777, it's good to see a new Boeing in the air, especially after all the delays. Now the trick is to try and cram the flight testing into as little time as manageable, so as to get the plane in service as soon as practicable. And to think that some of them are going to be assembled in.....South Carolina?

 

I don't mean to punch a hole in your boat, Jim, but I hope that the company realizes that they will be dealing with workers who have no idea of the skills required to produce the fault free details and assemblies of a jet airliner. I have been there and I know what and who the people are down there and unless the company installs an aggressive and well designed training program, the troubles will continue. I watch with baited breath because I think that they are turning their backs on the well trained and experienced work force in Puget Sound but the buck rules over the Boeing of Chicago, not the excellence of the core personnel. AND I think that the strike last year was a huge mistake.
Switches

 

I just watched the video, and the wings sure seem to deflect upwards quite a bit, almost as if they have some curvature built in to the wing design for stability, but it sure looks wierd to me. Anyone know?

 

As in the B-52, the wings of the 787 are flexible and start to fly long before the rest of the airplane. As the speed increases so does the lift from zero G to one G and above. A visible description of aerodynamics and flexible working wing structure. All wings flex to some degree but not as much as the new composites. I remember the surprise when I first flew in a B-24 ( at least 1000 years ago) and saw how much the wings flexed as compared to a B-17 that had no flex. It was an example of the " new technology" in aircraft design in 1940. The next time in a 767 or 777 look at the trailing edge while in cruise and you can detect a curvature.
Switches

 

Sorry for the political diatribe

The strike was indeed detrimental to everyone, on BOTH sides, including me..
A prominent misconception was that it was about money when in fact it about keeping the jobs here for the people that knew what they were doing.

The Puget Sound has a seasoned workforce with decades of experience with the idiosyncrasies of building these things but the Company feels that they can get the same results out of an inexperienced workforce making 10.00 an hour. Good luck!

It's a beautiful airplane and I am sure it will perform to expectations but I hesitate to fly on one knowing what I know about the over extended, out of control, world wide production model.

I really am glad to see that it is in the air though and I hope they can straighten out the production issues.

 

Approach and landing with air traffic talk,
from the local TV station.
http://tinyurl.com/yb4j2qj

 

It's a beautiful plane. It has 2 problems.

1) It's two years too late.

2) Althought it's perfect for American airlines, they are all so broke they can't get them.

 

80% of the orders are overseas so it must be a good fit there as well.

 

Okay, your point is well taken but I still believe that strikes are destructive to everyone and are not productive when they are over. There has got to be another way to solve differences. Each side looses . You are correct in the job retention issue but the company went ahead anyway with its misconception of " smart" business by outsourcing to incompetent " partners". It has backfired and will do so for a long time until the experience level comes up to that which exists in the Puget Sound cadre. I was a training specialist for 12 years at Boeing and developed courses in the manufacturing disciplines as well as the engineering and I will tell you now that you cannot simply turn over complicated and highly technical processes to untrained country folk. Been there, done that.
Switches

 

They are going to use the first 5 (flyable) airplanes to complete the flight testing on an abbreviated schedule, somewhere around 12 months (or less) if they want to make their first delivery on time to All Nippon Airlines. The first 6 are going to ANA, the 6th being the first to deliver..
Their motto, "The first to fly".

There is going to be a second 787 line in Washington before S.C. is up and running. It will be used to get the delivery numbers up. Sorely needed at this point.
All of the flight test airplanes will be refurbed in Washington as well.

 

I agree on all points. I for one did NOT gain anything from the last strike.

 

Bob, this is completely unrelated to this topic, but I'm amazed by your knowledge every time you post something