Aircraft Model

Boeing’s newest aircraft, the 787 Dreamliner finally took its first flight on December 15 at the company’s Everett Paine airstrip in Washington State. The 787 was created in replacement of the aging and deteriorating 767 and 757 models. During its first flight there were about 25,000 spectators who gathered in Everett just to witnessed such historic event, when an airliner made out of composite materials and plastics have finally be airborne.

Excitement fills the air, the same way when Concorde took its final flight some years ago. Fire trucks and emergency response units stand by on both sides of the runway. The crew, spearheaded by two pilots, taxied the huge aircraft out to one end of the runway and from there it paused for a moment and wait for the engines to heat up while the engineers anxiously move from one foot to another. The terrible roar was expected as the aircraft lifted off but it was one of the latest breed of engines and noise levels are pretty muted.

In a press release, Boeing announced that the test flight was intended to test basic system performance. Obviously, it worked exactly as projected. It was supposed to be a four hour test flight, but it ended up to three due to the bad weather condition that day. Read the rest of this entry »