History was made this week when Boeing’s B787 took its first flight. The B787 is the first composite airliner to fly.
Boeing 787 Becomes The First Composite Airliner To Fly
After a few delays the test flight took place in Northwest Washington on a miserable wet day. Only the bare minimum of crew took to the skies but in its next flight the aircraft will be packed with test engineers.
The initial flight only lasted 3 hours because storms created too many deviations so the aircraft was unable to fly the way it was originally planned. The weather was so bad that a good deal of the flight involved IFR activity [flying by instrumentation]. A more punishing flight testing schedule is due after the Christmas holiday period.
