Thu, Apr 28, 2011
Airplane Test Program To Focus On Interior Systems
The second Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental, RC021, successfully
made its first flight Tuesday. The airplane completes the
two-airplane test fleet for the 747-8 Intercontinental.
B747-8 RC021 First Flight
"This is another great milestone for our flight test program and
shows the progress we are making toward delivery of our passenger
airplane," said Elizabeth Lund, vice president and general manager,
747 program.
Piloted by Captains Keith Otsuka and Ron Johnston, with Ralph
Chaffin serving as system operator and Greg Lichneckert as flight
analyst, RC021 took off at 0926 PDT from Paine Field in
Everett, Wash. The airplane completed a three-hour, twenty-minute
flight landing at 1246 at Paine Field. During the flight, the
airplane reached an altitude of 28,000 feet and airspeed of 275
knots.
RC021 will be used primarily for testing the various interior
systems that will be on the Intercontinental, such as heating,
venting and air conditioning, smoke detection and galleys. In
addition, Boeing will conduct fuel consumption and function and
reliability tests on the airplane. The 747-8 Intercontinental
flight-test program will perform approximately 600 hours of flight
testing.
The passenger version of the new 747-8 will have the lowest
seat-mile cost of any large commercial jetliner, with 12 percent
lower costs than its predecessor, the 747-400. The airplane
provides 16 percent better fuel economy, 16 percent less carbon
emissions per passenger and generates a 30 percent smaller noise
footprint than the 747-400.
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