Wed, Dec 16, 2009
For anyone who loves the aviation business, this was a VERY good
day. After a number of delays and mis-steps that often accompany
those programs that are truly trying to raise the bar and
accomplish revolutionary progress, Boeing's B787 Dreamliner took to
the skies over a very soggy Northwest Washington state.
This first flight carried only the needed flight test crew...
though later flights will be accompanied by a virtual army of
flight test engineers. The first Boeing 787 is registered as N787BA
and will be under the command of Boeing's Chief Pilot Mike
Carriker, and Engineering Test Pilot Randy Neville. The aircraft
departed Paine Field's Rwy 34L and returned via a landing at Boeing
Field's Rwy 13R a little over three hours later.
While the initial weather forecast didn't look so hot, Boeing
went ahead with the flight in conditions that started out with a
scattered deck at about 1500 ft, and overcast at 2500 ft, calm to
light winds out of the southeast, and a temperature just under 40
degrees -- though rain was ever present as a possible and nearly
certain threat.
And eventually, lowering ceilings and roving storms created such
a workload and a number of deviations that Pilot Mike Carriker
finally called it off after three hours simply because they weren't
able to fly the airplane the way that their original plans called
for (and in fact, required a fair amount of IFR activity).
Both Carriker and Neville reported no major issues during the
flight and were ebullient in their praise for the aircraft and the
team that prepared it for flight. The next flight of N787BA will
come within a week or so (barring holiday issues... Christmas is
right around the corner, after all) after the installation of
additional test and telemetry equipment to start some 9 months of
AGGRESSIVE flight testing that will eventually involve six flight
test vehicles.
ANN extends its sincere Congrats to the team at Boeing for the
safe and exciting execution of a flawless first flight!
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