787 Dreamliner lands after 1st test flight

Published 3:05 pm Tuesday, December 15, 2009

SEATTLE — The Boeing Co.’s 787 landed safely at Boeing Field in Seattle at 1:34 p.m today, a little earlier than originally planned.

The pilots, Mike Carriker and Randy Neville said the test was cut short because of weather. They said they expected clearer skies.

“There were no surprises,” Neville said. “The airplane did exactly as we were expecting.”

Carriker said the pilots eliminated the risk factors with early tests and determined “everything was fuctioning.”

He said the three-hour flight was a busy one.

“We tested more aggressively than we expected,” he said, noting that was because of the worsening weather.

The flight, he added, was beautiful, noting that as he flew into to the air from Paine Field, he saw the Cascade Range and Puget Sound.

“That image will be in my mind for the rest of my life,” he said.

Outside the Future of Flight when the 787 took off were Herb Brayton, 60, and James Timyan, 23. The two men left the Tri-Cities at 3 a.m. and arrived in Everett by 9 a.m. “We fought the snow just for this moment. It’s pretty cool,” said Brayton, of Pasco, who had tears in his eyes as the plane took off. Both are self-described airplane enthusiasts.

“The whole country should be excited over this,” Brayton said.

Jana Runnels, 27, and her husband decided after seeing early news today to drive to the Future of Flight from Sedro-Woolley with their two children and their dog, Isaac. “We just wanted to be part of something,” Runnels said.

“It’s actually in the air. It’s so exciting, beyond words,” said Mary From, 44, of Bothell, whose husband is chief engineer for flight test engineering on the 787.

“I’m just so thrilled,” said Boeing worker Nicole Johnson, 39, of Stanwood. “Now we can start rolling them out and start selling them to customers and get more paychecks. Both From and Johnson said the 787 made little noise on takeoff. “It was quiet, it was dead quiet,” From said. “That’s going to open up whole new markets for us,” said Johnson, a 787 worker.

– Bill Sheets, Herald writer

At Paine Field the 787 lifted off the ground, 10-year-old Glenn Wysen, of Seattle, proclaimed it “awesome.”

“It was worth standing in the cold for two hours,” Glenn said. “We’ll talke about it when we’re old — ‘I saw the first plastic plane fly.’ “

Glenn’s friend Nathan Davis, 11, added to his buddy’s thought, “just as those levitating UFOs spin around.”

Everyone held cameras high in the air to see over the crowd, which was three to four people thick. A giant hurrah could be heard, and applause lasted about 10 seconds.

Floyd Johnson, a 72-year-old retired pilot who traveled from Illinois to see the 787’s flight said after the Dreamliner took off that the trip was worth it. “I’m just so sick of politics and loose golf stars. It’s nice to see something positive,” said Johnson, who has flown the 727, 707, 757 and 767 for American Airlines.

– Andy Rathbun, Herald writer

See more videos from our 787 playlist on YouTube.