Boeing’s second 747-8 passenger jet takes flight

Published 10:04 am Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Boeing’s second 747-8 passenger plane has completed its first flight, the company said Tuesday.

“This is another great milestone for our flight test program and shows the progress we are making toward delivery of our passenger airplane,” said Elizabeth Lund, vice president and general manager, 747 program.

The jumbo jet left Everett’s Paine Field at 9:2 a.m. and made a three-hour, 20-minute flight before landing again at Paine Field at 12:46 p.m. During the flight, the 747-8 reached an altitude of 28,000 feet and airspeed of about 316 miles per hour. The flight was piloted by Captains Keith Otsuka and Ron Johnston, with Ralph Chaffin serving as system operator and Greg Lichneckert as flight analyst.

The flight comes after the 747-8 finished high speed taxi testing yesterday.

Boeing plans to deliver its first 747-8 passenger plane, called the Intercontinental, later this year. The company’s first 747-8 Intercontinental made its maiden flight in March.

The company will use this second Intercontinental for testing various interior systems, such as heating, venting and air conditioning, smoke detection and galleys

Boeing has been flight testing the 747-8 freighter, which it introduced before the passenger version, since February 2010.

The 747-8 Intercontinental flight-test program will perform approximately 600 hours of flight testing.