The oft-delayed company-saving Boeing 787 “Dreamliner” flew for the first time this morning, and at last report, it’s still flying. It’s the company’s first new plane since 1995.

UPDATE: Here’s a nice aerial video of the takeoff. Looks like they’re going to fly with the landing gear down the whole way. Gordon Werner points out in the comments that you can track the flight on Flight Aware.

Anthony Hecht is The Stranger's Chief Technology Officer. He owns no monkeys.

27 replies on “It Flies!”

  3. I’m always excited by a new first flight. How old am I? I attended the rollout of the 747 as a child. I still remember how huge the nose looked from underneath.

  5. Wow, I now have a huge boner for Flight Aware. Thanks, @1!

    Holy crap, did that thing really slow to 47 MPH at one point? Doesn’t it ever stall? I’ve gone faster than that on Stone Way.

  9. “Dreamliner” would also be a good name for a sanitary napkin. I’m only saying, because the same trademark can be used in different industries that aren’t in competition.

  10. In the video it looks like there is some dark object dangling on a cord from the back of the vertical stabilizer. You can see it being buffeted by the air stream as the plane flies away from the camera. Anyone know what that is?

  11. I’ve never liked the idea for this plane. Instead of getting people where they want to go faster, instead you’ll be packed in even more like a sardine, and probably going slower to boot.

    I don’t want a flight that offers lots of extra amenities (for an extra sky high expense), I just want to get to my destination as fast as possible and get as far away from the airport as I can.

    Rant over.

  13. Saw it buzzing elliot bay too, went right over my office, landed at Boeing field at approximately 1:35. No explosions or appendage loss thus far.

  17. @12, America doesn’t build jets you’d WANT to barrell roll anymore.

    Though that stunt in 1955 with the 707 made customers want that jet.

  19. “every other first world nation ….”

    Don’t you mean those countries that fit into the state of California and have 10 times the population density?

  21. @19: California has almost the same population, size, and thus population density as Spain. Spain has an extremely successful high-speed rail system between Madrid and Barcelona that is on par with the high-speed rail planned for California. It has taken a huge chunk of market share from short-haul flights.

    Other areas in the US are even denser. There are a lot of places that are dense enough for high-speed rail–including Vancouver-Seattle-Portland (though we’re well down the list in terms of bang for the buck.)

  23. Congrats, Boeing (and Seattle). Is it just me or does the 787 seem to have an unusually pronounced, um, is the word dihedral angle, by the standards of modern airliners? I mean that the wings seem to be bent upwards, as if it were a bird at the peak of its flap.

  24. @23, that’s about a billion dollars of engineering you’re looking at, finding that perfect lilt for the wings, which are made of composites for the first time. Muy fuel efficient.

    Fun fact: due to composites, the 787 has only 10,000 drilled holes in the entire aircraft, compared to over 1,000,000 for a 747.

  25. @24, I’ll take “lilt”, sure, at least metaphorically. Upturn across a spoken phrase vs. upturn along the length of a wing. I’d rather my wing have a lilt than a full-on brogue, in any case.

    Even after the billions worth of design work, it must take a certain amount of guts to be on board the maiden flight of something that complicated.

  27. How irresponsible can they be, holding the test flight so close to a major city??? What if Stringfellow Hawke stole it, renamed it “Dreamwolf”, hid it at his secret mountain facility, and used it to fight crime???

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