Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner (VT-ANA) now out of the paint hangar at Paine Field. Photo from MoonM.
The newest livery on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner belongs to Air India and their first Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Found this fine photo (and there are a few others of this 787) on Jon Ostrower’s Flight Blogger website. Heck, this is a good time to take a look at all the current liveries seen on Boeing 787’s to date:
Royal Air Maroc Boeing 787 Dreamliner being stored next to the Future of Flight.
There are currently two JAL Boeing 787's also parked next to the Future of Flight.
This Boeing 787 has the ANA tail, but the rest is all white. People are guessing ANA might have a special livery planned.
This is ZA002 which has been in the news recently. It was the first in ANA livery, but there are quite a few now lined up at Paine Field.
ZA005 was the first to have GE engines, but the third to sport Boeing's livery-lite. Photo from Liz Matzelle
Ah, good 'ol ZA001 in full Boeing livery -- probably my favorite.
More should be on their way soon. If you cannot wait until then, check out Boeing’s website where you can preview what different liveries will look like on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. So looking at the liveries in the real and those on Boeing’s website, which one is our favorite? Which one is your least favorite? Mine? Well I have to say that Boeing’s full liver is my favorite and man, it is not easy to pick a least favorite, hmm…
Boeing 787 Dreamliner ZA002 at Paine Field on January 27, 2010 before its first flight.
For the last day there are been bits and pieces of information coming from Boeing, inside sources and different media outlets on ZA002’s sudden landing due to reported smoke in the cabin. Boeing has just released an official statement putting some of the rumors to rest and explaining what they know of ZA002’s recent emergency landing in Laredo, TX.
Boeing confirms that ZA002 did lose primary electrical power that was related to an on board electrical fire. Due to the loss, the Ram Air Turbine (RAT), which provides back up power (photo of RAT from ZA003) was deployed and allowed the flight crew to land safely. The pilots had complete control of ZA002 during the entire incident.
After their initial inspection, it appears that a power control panel in the rear of the electronics bay will need to be replaced. They are checking the surrounding areas for any additional damages. At this time, the cause of the fire is still being investigated and might take a few days until we have more answers.
At the time of the incident, ZA002 was completing tests of the Nitrogen Generation System, but Boeing does not feel that test was related to the fire. Until Boeing determines the cause, they have postponed all flight tests on the other 787 aircraft. Boeing does not know if this incident will cause the first delivery of the Dreamliner to be pushed back to a later date.
In the past year or so, I have been on quite a few adventures where I was covering an event with legacy media there also. These are the fine folks that you see with big cameras and fancy video trucks. Most of them do an outstanding job reporting the news in an interesting and effective way. But what they have in training, experience, talent, a mass audience and equipment, most lack the passion for aviation.
Don’t get me wrong, that is alright. They have a job to do. Many will report on many different types of stories, not just on aviation. They have a story to get, a deadline to meet. They deliver or print their story and move on to the next. They are trained in journalism or communications and love finding the story and sharing it, no matter what the topic might be. There is nothing wrong with how this works, but a blogger looks at a story in a very different way.
Most bloggers don’t have training in journalism. Heck the king of aviation blogging, Jon Ostrower (aka FlightBlogger) and I have degrees in Political Science. We picked a subject because we love the subject, want to learn more and want to share that passion with others. I know in my case, the passion came first, followed by honing my skills in writing, editing, photography, videography and networking.
So what does this photo represent? To me it represents the difference between bloggers and the legacy media. The photo is of me touching the Boeing 787 Dreamliner for the first time, as I was taking my interior tour. I just couldn’t help it. I felt like a sugar-deficient kid in a candy store. I was so excited to not only get inside the Dreamliner, but to touch it for the first time. Yes, I was a nerd touching the side of the plane, but it is something that none of the legacy media folks did and it put a huge smile on my face.
They were more concerned about the proper angles, getting the sound bites, then off to edit to get it on the news. I took my own photos and video, but I made sure to slow down and realize I was frek’n inside a Dreamliner. At that time, very few people had been inside a Dreamliner and I enjoyed every moment, knowing it was something special.
I freely admit that I am not a professional journalist or even an airline expert. However, I have a huge passion for aviation and learning about new things. I think (and really hope) that passion comes through on my blogs and you sometimes get to learn something new.
All my blogs might not resonate with a wider audience, like legacy media has to shoot for, but I am happy most blogs can resonate with an audience that shares my interest in aviation and the airline business.
What’s better than a Boeing 787 Dreamliner first flight video? One with commentary from Boeing employees, including the lead pilot Christine Walsh. The sixth 787 Dreamliner took to the skies on October 4th and had a successful (yet shortened) first flight.
Boeing 787 Dreamliner ZA006 takes off earlier today from Paine Field. Photo by simpilot459 via Flickr
The sixth Boeing 787 Dreamliner (ZA006) successfully took off from Paine Field (KPAE) at 11:43am. It was scheduled to fly for a about three hours, but cut its flight short after about an hour, landing at Boeing Field (KBFI).
Boeing tells Aubrey Cohen with the Seattle PI that the flight was cut short due to a “maintenance issue,” but they are still counting it as a success. “The air crew experienced a maintenance issue during flight and as a precautionary note decided to land at Boeing Field,” Boeing 787 spokeswoman Yvonne Leach said. “A flight of this length is still considered a success first flight and we are proud to have the sixth and final flight test airplane enter the program today.”
Unfortunately, I was not able to make it for the take off or landing, but Boeing stated they will be posting video of the take off in the near future. I will be updating this blog with more information as it is received.
