787 First Flight

I am privileged to have witnessed first-hand today a historic moment. Mind you it is a small one in the big scheme of things, but I had the chance to see it, and now I’m sharing it with you.

My office is very close to Boeing Field, and my window is host to all manner of interesting aircraft, as you have seen occasionally. The flight path of Sea-Tac is also behind our building, so there is always something flying by. Today though, was a historic day as something special was set to fly by. Boeing’s new passenger jet, the 787 “Dreamliner” took flight for the first time. I watched it take off from Paine Field in Everett live on the Internet and set my phone’s alarm to remind me to be ready to photograph it 5 hours later when it arrived at Boeing Field a bit before sundown.

The winds were from the south which meant it would land towards my window, not across it. I was preparing to make a run to the post office to mail a few things when Kevin, our Facilities Manager and Civil Air Patrol member informed me that the flight was now scheduled to land much earlier. As I grabbed my camera my phone rang and my friend John, who works on the 787 project at Boeing let me know exactly when it would touch down: 1:22 PM. This meant I had about 12 minutes to go find a spot near the runway to catch it. If it had been a clear day with wind to the north I would have gone to the south end of the runway and been right underneath it as it landed. It was coming from the north though and 12 minutes would be not long enough to get to the far side of the airport and found a spot to park, so I gave up on getting really close shots and drove as fast as I dared to the Museum of Flight, which has a good view of the runway and a large parking lot. Of course EVERY light between my office and the Museum was RED.

I arrived with about 3 minutes to spare, with a large crowd already gathering. I lucked into a parking spot and walked around trying to find a good spot for photos. The air was thick with cold rain (the weather was what cut the first flight short), hovering news helicopters and a pervasive sense of anticipation.

News choppers overhead, people wait for the 787's arrival under the warm friendly umbrella of a retired B-47 Stratojet Strategic Nuclear Bomber.

That white speck under the bomber's nose is the 787's lights as it emerged from the heavy overcast above Seattle.

Zoomed as far as my lens will go. The 787 & chase planes approach out of the gloomy sky. Note the upswept wings.

getting closer.

Just after touchdown. You can see the flexible wings have let down.

The landing was essentially perfect. The plane was smooth and undramatic. By this point it was pretty much taxiing.

Once the landing roll was done and the Dreamliner was essentially just parading, the chase planes flew over.

Does anyone other than me find it ironic that the chase planes for the world's newest jetliner are:…

… a Lockheed design dating from the 1940s?

taxiing down past the Museum of Flight.

The IMAX chopper does a low flyby around the nose as the 787 comes to the turn-around point.

The crowd waves, and the pilot waves back.

A closer look at the Rolls-Royce engine. Interesting cowl shape.

As the 787 heads toward the testing center at the north end of the field, everyone takes a last look at her before heading back to work and out of the rain.

You can see all of my photos, as they were dumped out of my camera, here.

3 thoughts on “787 First Flight”

  1. *jealous*

    I’m glad you made the time to get out there. I had some trouble watching the live feed, but am quite excited to be a passenger on one of these.

  2. Thanks, CG! It’s great to have friends like you, who through the miracle of the Internets, can share this kind of stuff with like-minded geeks! Great fotos and a truly historic moment.

    FWIW, almost all modern airliners (certainly from the 707, on) have flexy wings. When I fly and I can see the wings, I like to watch their deflection, from taxiing to full flight; it’s truly astonishing how flexy they are!

    Wonder who all got to fly on that flight?

    😀

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