She's up! At 10:27 a.m. PT, Boeing's 787 Dreamliner took off on its first flight
Photo: Seattle Times (captured from live feed)
In the old days-that is, about 40 years ago-the first flight of a new airliner could be a white knuckle moment. You never knew what to expect. Today, as in the case of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s debut, the flight crew had already “flown” the machine for many hours in a very realistic simulator. The 787 simulator is loaded with the same software as the airplane itself, which is a lot, so it can replicate and anticipate every facet of the performance in the air. Well, almost…you can’t actually reproduce that unique moment when the rubber leaves the ground and you’re in the real sky, getting the rush.
There is an irony here, though. Back in those old days before software,
when the best computer on the flight deck was the brain of the test
pilot, there were a lot fewer constraints on how the flight testing was
conducted. A pilot could, for example, push to the edge of the envelope
and then feel in his bones things that were not quite right and report
them verbally over the radio. The most famous Boeing test pilot, Tex Johnston,
was no respecter of decorum. He did something unthinkable today-showing
off the company’s first great airliner, the 707, to a large crowd, he
pulled up the nose, and did a maneuver normally reserved for
fighters-rolled it on its back and, with ease, recovered.
The Dreamliner will never be seen doing that. And if the Dreamliner proves anything, it is that today’s highly complex machines are not easy to get right. After all, this first flight comes more than two years later than the initial date set for it. And that means that Airbus, Boeing’s head-to-head rival, has been able to take heed of Boeing’s painful learning curve. Their next generation airliner, the A350, is still in development, well short of beginning production. The 787 delay has been a gift to them, in theory, at least, allowing them a significant catch-up.
If the 787 test program now proceeds without a major hitch (and that’s an open question) the first airplane should be delivered to the Japanese carrier ANA in 2011. Airbus is promising that the A350 will reach airlines by 2013. I doubt that. But you just can’t stop these people from over-promising. Airbus might well get the design work for the A350 frozen in a month or so, but the company has serious funding problems. Even if there are no 787-like technical delays ahead of the A350, I would bet that the delivery date will slip back until 2014 or even 2015.
In any event, today’s first flight is just the beginning of a long contest between the two airplanes that promise travelers far more sophisticated cabins and, maybe, an experience worthy of the 21st century.
Related Stories
Dreamliner Fight Flight Coverage from the Seattle Times
Flightblogger: Tweeting the Test Flight
The Dreamliner At Last? 787 Flight Imminent-With Big Historical Echoes
The Dreamliner will never be seen doing that. And if the Dreamliner proves anything, it is that today’s highly complex machines are not easy to get right. After all, this first flight comes more than two years later than the initial date set for it. And that means that Airbus, Boeing’s head-to-head rival, has been able to take heed of Boeing’s painful learning curve. Their next generation airliner, the A350, is still in development, well short of beginning production. The 787 delay has been a gift to them, in theory, at least, allowing them a significant catch-up.
If the 787 test program now proceeds without a major hitch (and that’s an open question) the first airplane should be delivered to the Japanese carrier ANA in 2011. Airbus is promising that the A350 will reach airlines by 2013. I doubt that. But you just can’t stop these people from over-promising. Airbus might well get the design work for the A350 frozen in a month or so, but the company has serious funding problems. Even if there are no 787-like technical delays ahead of the A350, I would bet that the delivery date will slip back until 2014 or even 2015.
In any event, today’s first flight is just the beginning of a long contest between the two airplanes that promise travelers far more sophisticated cabins and, maybe, an experience worthy of the 21st century.
Related Stories
Dreamliner Fight Flight Coverage from the Seattle Times
Flightblogger: Tweeting the Test Flight
The Dreamliner At Last? 787 Flight Imminent-With Big Historical Echoes
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