During Tuesday's flight, 787-9 Senior Project
Pilot Mike Bryan and 787 Chief Pilot Randy
Neville departed to the north, reaching an
altitude of 20,400 feet and an airspeed of 288
miles per hour, customary for a first flight.
While Capts. Bryan and Neville tested the
airplane's systems and structures, onboard
equipment transmitted real-time data to a
flight-test team on the ground in Seattle. "We
accomplished a lot in this flight, and it went
really well," said Bryan. "The 787-9 is a great
jet and we wanted to just keep on flying."
Powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines,
the first 787-9 will be joined in flight test by
two additional airplanes, one of which will
feature General Electric GEnx engines. Those
airplanes are in the final stages of assembly in
Boeing's Everett factory. Over the coming
months, the fleet will be subjected to a variety
of tests and conditions to demonstrate the
safety and reliability of the airplane's design.
The 787-9 will complement and extend the 787
family, (Variants 787-8, 787-9 and the 787-10).
The 787-9 will offer airlines the ability to
grow routes first opened with the 787-8. With
the fuselage stretched by 20 feet over the
787-8, the 787-9 will carry 40 more passengers
an additional 300 nautical miles, with the same
exceptional environmental performance 20 percent
less fuel use and 20 percent fewer emissions
than similarly sized airplanes.
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