Engines roaring, wings gracefully flexing upward at the tips, Boeing’s twin-engine 787 Dreamliner was airborne from Paine Field at 10:25 a.m. Tuesday morning, applauded by thousands of employees and people filling the airport offices, the grassy knoll overlooking the north end of the runway and people gathering on top of the Future of Flight Aviation Center and Boeing Tour faciity.
The plane’s takeoff for its five-hour test flight swept away memories of two years of production delays, focusing attention on the plane’s future and the hope of brighter days ahead for the Boeing Co. Some 840 Dreamliners have been sold to 47 airlines.The mostly composite, high fuel efficient airliner is expected to save 20 percent in fuel costs and reduce maintenance expenses by another 10 percent.
Today’s flight of three-to-five hours will include airspace over Puget Sound and Eastern Washington, with a 3 p.m. touchdown planned at Boeing Field, where KIRO-TV cameras will broadcast that event as they did the takeoff at Paine Field. Boeing has announced it plans for a second 787 to be flying before the end of the year. Altogether, there will be six 787s in the accelerated flight test program. First delivery of a 787 for commercial service is expected in the fourth quarter of 2010, after which Boeing will be ramped up production at both its Everett and South Carolina production plants.
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