Dreamliner Makes First Flight

By Nancy Atkinson - December 15, 2009 12:23 PM UTC | Site News

The next big thing for airliners made its maiden flight today. Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner jet took off at 10:27 am (1827 GMT) from Paine Field near Boeing's plant in Washington state in the US. As Boeing's first new design model in over a decade, it takes advantage of advances in aviation technology and is capable of flying long-haul routes using up to 20 percent less fuel. At two year overdue, the milestone is critical for Boeing at the key to the future of the US aerospace company.

Billed as a "green" passenger jet, up to 50 percent of the mid-size, twin-aisle 787 Dreamliner is made of lightweight composite materials, such as carbon fiber-reinforced resin, compared with 12 percent on the Boeing 777, contributing to fuel efficiency, the company said.

The test flight was expected to last more than five-and-a-half hours -- over Puget Sound and Washington state.

The biggest competition for the Dreamliner will be a new long-haul A350 built by Airbus, a unit of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, which is expected to fly in 2013.

Boeing says it has 840 orders from 55 customers for its new the cutting-edge plane, which it claims is the "fastest-selling all-new jetliner in aviation history."

Sources:

Airline Reporter

, Raw Story

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com