Successful taxi tests this weekend have cleared the way for us to establish a takeoff time for the first flight of the 787 Dreamliner.
Weather permitting, ZA001 will take to the air at 10 a.m. Seattle time on December 15.
The 787 reached speeds in excess of 130 knots during taxi testing.
Clearly, this weekend’s testing gave us a glimpse of things to come with the Dreamliner, as you can see in these photos.
Flight test personnel hold the airplane on the taxiway between test runs.
On the 787’s final two passes down the runway, the airplane exceeded speeds of 130 knots (150 mph, 240 kph).
Our chief pilot, Captain Mike Carriker (along with 787 project pilot Randy Neville) lifted the nose gear off the pavement for the first time during the high-speed taxi tests. These were the final functional tests planned before first flight.
The high-speed taxi testing included lifting the nose gear off the ground to test for steering response.
The next big milestone to go is first flight. As Captain Carriker said Saturday, “Now we just need the weather to cooperate.”
Keep in mind that in general, Boeing policy for first flight weather conditions calls for good visibility, no standing water on the runway and gentle or no winds. Provided these criteria are met, other factors such as rain or snow fall under the pilot’s discretion.
Captain Mike Carriker was at the controls for a series of taxi tests at Paine Field - the last tests scheduled before first flight.
We’ll be Webcasting the flight, and you can experience it all, starting around 9:45 Tuesday morning Seattle time. The Webcast will be accessible at boeing.com and newairplane.com.
In the meantime, we plan to provide some video highlights of the taxi tests online, so keep checking back.
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Comments (12)
The first picture on top looks as if the 787 has just landed after a successful flight (minus of course the flap positions). Hope the weather cooperates so that the dream finally becomes reality on Tuesday.
Posted on December 12, 2009 21:11
I came here after seeing the 787's high speed taxi and nose wheel lift off on the news tonight, hope to see it fly on Tuesday!
Posted on December 12, 2009 21:56
Excellent! Congratulations to our Everett people!
All our best wishes for First Flight from down here!
Posted on December 12, 2009 22:41
Beautiful!! Good luck, I can,t see it on the internet because I have to work but I hope it will be a great success.
All the best to you Boeing people!!!
Posted on December 13, 2009 01:25
Wonderful and amazing just by lifting the nose gear. The beautiful 787 will just look elegant went it takes to the skies. Wish I could see it live.
Once again congratulations to Boeing and every individual to make this programme a success.
Posted on December 13, 2009 03:17
I hope the B787's first long haul flight test is from Paine Field to Hong Kong.
Posted on December 13, 2009 05:27
This is great news!!! The Dreamliner fans have been waiting a long while for the first flight and we are definitely delighted to see it is finally happening. It is a great idea of Boeing to broadcast it live on the web so everybody around the world can see it. Kudos to the team!!
Posted on December 13, 2009 06:13
Beautiful.
Posted on December 13, 2009 07:22
Thanks for those great photos.
As one who loves the idea that Boeing is a major contributor to the economic welfare of the NW, and also one who has always admired the engineering talent of Boeing, I was dismayed at a recent thread in the PI which implied very bad relations between management and labor.
My question to you, ( I do not expect you to publish this) is what we, the citizens of the Puget Sound area, can do to change this atmosphere? With the attitude expressed by some ( purported employees) I am not surprised that Boeing is clearly moving elsewhere, but my (perhaps naive) feeling is that I cannot believe we have such a disgruntled workforce here in the Puget Sound.
My belief is that it helps no-one having these very militant views and I would like to see harmony return to this area....but I think it really does require us, citizens, to get more involved.
Posted on December 13, 2009 07:58
Bravo Zulu Boeing!
Great work and congrats to all of the Boeing employees, contractors, suppliers and all involved in the program getting focused and working night and day to get the 787 program back on track (minor hiccups!). Lets get her checked out, certified and then let's work round the clock churning them out!
Posted on December 13, 2009 14:29
Amazing pictures of a great plane.
Now, waiting for weather conditions allow the Dreamliner to the skies on Tuesday, A day that will live in history of aviation.
Good luck Dreamliner, and congratulations to all the people of Boeing...
Cheers!
Posted on December 13, 2009 14:34
Re: Aviation Enthusiast (Seattle)
Do not take into account comments from purported disgruntled employee, especially when those comments are posted anonymously.
First, you can't verify the identity of the poster and then you do not know the veracity of his/her message.
Second, you do not know the real intention of the person who posts the messages.
Third, a very small minority is often very vocal. This is also true in Internet forums or blogs.
Recently, a good friend explained to me the "1% Rule" in Internet culture. Only about 1% of the readers posts most of the messages. Out of that 1% population, only about 20% of them post messages which are about sane, the remaining posts are pure rubbish. The arithmetic gives you a stunning result: only about 0.2% of the readers of a blog posts sane comments. That means out of 1,000 blog readers, only about 2 of them would post sane comments.
The final conclusion is that you have to be very careful about comments in a blog (including this comment).
Back to the topic.
It is about time to see the 787 fly. Hope everything is ready for a smooth production ramp up. After all, it's the deliveries that count most.
My (personal) blog: http: // Vero Venia
Posted on December 14, 2009 00:07
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