Boeing has been rocking creating their own videos and sharing them with the public on the 747-8 Intercontinental. Yesterday the 747-8I successfully completed high speed taxi tests at Paine Field. During the tests, the 747-8I reached a speed of 90 knots and lifted its front gear off the ground. She could have lifted off, but that will be saved until tomorrow.
The first Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental coming out of the Boeing hangar.
Are you ready? The first Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental is scheduled to fly tomorrow, Sunday March 20th at 10am PST.
Yesterday the 747-8I completed its high-speed taxi tests and according to Boeing, it “performed well” and they are confident the aircraft is ready for first flight on Sunday.
The 747-8I is scheduled to take off at 10am PST from Paine Field (KPAE). It will then have a five hour flight before landing at Boeing Field (KBFI) at about 3pm PST. Again, all these times are subject to change due to weather and delays.
If you are in the local area, I hope you can make it out to see this orange beauty either take off or land. If you are unable to, you have quite a few options for watching the events:
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.
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.
