first flight
Boeing completes the first flight of GE-Powered 787 Dreamliner
The first Boeing 787 Dreamliner with General Electric (GE) engines, the airplane referred to as ZA005, completed its first flight at 6:29 p.m. (Pacific time) yesterday, following a 3-hour-and-48-minute flight over the state of Washington.
GE executives and Boeing employees were on hand to welcome Captains Mike Bryan and Mike Carriker to Boeing Field in Seattle following completion of the flight.
“The airplane handled just like I expected,” said Bryan, who captained the flight. “It was just like every other 787 flight that I’ve flown in the last several months – smooth, per plan and excellent.”
The first Boeing 787 Dreamliner to be powered by General Electric GEnx engines took off from Paine Field in Everett, Wash., at 2:41 p.m. (Pacific time) today. It completed a 3 hour 48 minute flight, landing at Boeing Field in Seattle at 6:29 p.m.
“We’re pleased to introduce the fifth Dreamliner to the flight-test fleet and to start flight testing with GE engines,” said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 program for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “It’s taken the collective resources and dedication of our teams to get to this day. There’s just nothing like a first flight to validate that it has been worth the sacrifices we have all seen our teams make in the past several years.”
ZA005 will be used to test the General Electric engine package and demonstrate that the changes made with the new engine do not change the airplane’s handling characteristics.
The sixth, and final, 787 to join the flight test program is expected to fly before the end of July.
Virgin Galactic’s VSS Enterprise completes first flight
Virgin Galactic announced today that its commercial manned spaceship, VSS Enterprise, this morning successfully completed its first “captive carry” test flight, taking off at 07.05 am (PST) from Mojave Air and Spaceport, California.
The spaceship was unveiled to the public for the first time on December 7th 2009 and named by Governors Schwarzenegger and Richardson. VSS Enterprise remained attached to its unique WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft, VMS Eve, for the duration of the 2 hours 54 minutes flight, achieving an altitude of 45,000ft (13716 metres). Read more
Second Boeing 747-8 Freighter completes first flight
A second Boeing 747-8 Freighter, RC 522, successfully completed its first flight Sunday evening. The aircraft took off from Paine Field in Everett, Washington, for a two-and-a-half-hour flight and landed at Boeing Field in Seattle.
Captain Kirk Vining was at the controls for the flight, with Rick Braun operating as co-pilot and Joel Conard serving as systems operator. The aircraft reached an altitude of 27,000 feet (8,230 m) and an airspeed of 240 knots, or about 276 miles (444 km) per hour. It took off at 3:57 p.m. PDT and landed at 6:25 p.m.
“The airplane performed well on its first flight,” said Andy Hammer, test program manager for the Boeing 747-8. “It was a good start to a demanding flight-test program for this airplane.”
This is the second of three 747-8 Freighters being used in the flight-test program. Each aircraft will be used for a specific set of tests, with this aircraft focusing on community noise, environmental control systems and extended operation performance standards.
The aircraft will begin its flight-test program at Boeing Field before transitioning to Palmdale, California.
