GEnx Powered Boeing 787 Takes First Flight

Today the Boeing 787 took another step in the right direction with the 5th plane to take flight. This is the first to be powered by the General Electric GEnx 1B engine as opposed to the Rolls Royce Trent engines that powered the first four into the skies. A good crowd was on hand at the future of flight to watch the liftoff and it was beamed to the world live via an iphone courtesy of David Parker Brown of airlinereporter.com. If you enjoy airline blogs I highly recommend that one as it written from an enthusiasts point of view and it always tells the complete story rather than assuming you know already. While I share a name with this blogger its truly the writing I enjoy and not the benefits HAHAHA
WINNER
Here is another view courtesy of KING5 in Seattle.

First Flight of the 747-8F Today

Today Boeing sent its newest creation to the sky for its first flight. While it may look like a normal 747, this one is all new and the future of super jumbo flight. Like its stablemate the 787 this plane is cutting edge technology. The engines are the GE GenX and are the most powerful in the world for the type. They were originally designed for the 787, but were adapted for this monster.

In the background of a couple of these photos you can see the modified Boeing 747-400 Dreamlifter which is used to transport the pieces of the 787 from plants around the world to Seattle for final assembly. Currently there are 4 Dreamlifters in the fleet. Boeing will also have a second assembly site in Charleston South Carolina to assemble the 787 to meet the huge backlog of orders.


Airbus did not want to see this plane built as their A380 has been slow selling and has had lots of small development issues. While Boeing has numerous orders for this as a freighter Airbus killed off the A380F variant due to lack of interest. Boeing has about 32 orders for the passenger version of this 747-8I for Intercontinental. The next 9 month will see 2 others join this one for flight testing with deliveries due to begin in late December. Congratulations to Boeing!

Boeing 787 Takes Flight

After countless delays the Boeing 787 Dreamliner took to the air today. As I write this its still slowly circling the Puget Sound doing a litany of tests. What a great day. Enjoy this shot of the moment it lifted off with the T33 chase plane alongside. Photo from the Seattle Times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlmkAdimq4c

Boeing 787 Animation for American Airlines