The first Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental after landing at Boeing Field after her first flight.
Some media outlets are reporting that the FAA partial shutdown could affect the certification of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the 747-8 Freighter and 747-8 Intercontinental. According to Boeing, as of now, the partial shut down will not affect the certification of the aircraft, but could affect airports looking to be certified to operate the new 747-8.
“The FAA says airplane certification activities will continue– so we don’t expect any impact there,” Boeing spokesperson Doug Alder Jr explained to AirlineReporter.com. “As for airport certification, if furloughed FAA personnel don’t return to work in time to finish the remaining airport approvals for the 747-8, customers wouldn’t be able to fly the airplane into certain airports until that work is complete (SFO, Newark, O’Hare and Houston are the major ones).”
This is just another reason to be angry at the partial FAA shutdown.
787 Chief Pilot Mike Carriker looks out at the 747-8 Intercontinental. Click for larger. Photo by Boeing.
Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, recently posted this photo on his blog to help promote which Boeing aircraft will be showing up at the Paris Air Show later this month. Tinseth announced that the 747-8 Intercontinental, the 747-8 Freighter, the first 787 flight-test airplane ZA001, an Air Berlin 737-700 with the new Boeing Sky Interior, and a Qatar Airways Boeing 777-200LR will be present at the air show.
The second Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental (named RC021) took to the skies on April 26th and Boeing has just release their official video.
This 747-8I is special, since it will be the first Intercontinental to actually enter passenger service and will be delivered to Lufthansa Airlines. The first (RC001), which first took off on March 20th, will be going to a private buyer.
As reported earlier, even though this Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental will be going to Lufthansa, it does not have the full livery since the aircraft is going through flight testing. However, I have heard rumors that a full liveried Lufthansa Boeing 747-8I might be coming out of the paint hangar sometime this summer.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner (ZA001) and Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental (RC020) flying side-by-side. Photo by Boeing. Click for much larger.
If a picture is worth a 1000 words, this is worth probably around a million. This is the eye candy of eye candy for airline nerds, so please enjoy the 747-8 Intercontinental (RC001) and the 787 Dreamliner (ZA001) flying next to each other during flight tests. The photo was taken April 16 by flight test photographer Leo Dejillas over Washington state. Yea, he has a rough job huh? Click the photo for a larger version.
UPDATE: Boeing has a great link to make this image your desktop background. It is now mine!
Lufthansa's first Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental at Paine Field on March 22nd.
Last week I posted an aerial photo of Lufthansa’s first Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental at Paine Field. Many have been asking “what’s up with the livery?” It hast he blue tail and gray bottom, but no Lufthansa lettering or logo. Here’s your answer:
“This aircraft is carrying a “partial” Lufthansa livery, because it will be used for test flight purposes, during which it is still owned and operated by Boeing,” Martin Riecken, Director of Corporate Communications in the Americas for Lufthansa explains. “After the test program (approx. 300 flight hrs) is completed, it will get the missing Lufthansa livery (logotype, crane etc.) in October.”
So there we go, mystery solved. Can’t wait to see the plane in full livery.
Image: moonm
