The first Boeing 747-8I being towed out of the Boeing Factory in Everett, WA
Get your camera (and umbrellas) ready. Boeing has announced that the first 747-8 Intercontinental is scheduled to fly on Sunday March 20th.
We hope this means it will take off on the 20th, but there are a number of different things that might get in the way to delay the first flight. I will be sure to keep you all updated.
Boeing stated in a press release today, “First flight of the 747-8 Intercontinental will occur after final flight readiness reviews, receipt of documentation from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and taxi testing. Both taxi testing and first flight are subject to weather conditions.”
Boeing did confirm that they will be providing a live feed of the first flight and of course you can expect people like Flight Blogger and myself providing lots of tweets.
Two Boeing 747-8's at Paine Field on Saturday.
This Saturday I was at KPAE (where the Boeing 747-8 is built) and saw one of the jets with its strobes on, doing testing.
To most, seeing two jets sit there and only one with strobes on might not be the most exciting thing, but to me it was awesome. It is a great sign for the things to come, hopefully very shortly.
Liz Matzelle was able to get quite a few great pics of the Boeing 747-8’s and Matt Cawby caught a video with the strobes going on his KPAE Paine Field Blog.
Matzelle also caught a picture of Boeing re-painting registration numbers on one of the Boeing 747-8’s. Boeing had accidentally painted the same registration number (N747EX) on both aircraft. Hey if that is the only thing that goes wrong — I am ok with that!
Flight Blogger points out the Boeing 747-8 to fly first (RC501) is the 1420th 747 that Boeing has built since 1966. Hopefully we will see RC501 completing taxi tests later this week and a having her first flight as early as January 31st.
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