Dreamliner N787BX visits Shannon after Farnborough debut
Throughout it’s 70 years plus history, Shannon Airport has witnessed many significant milestones and one such event occurred this evening with the arrival of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner. The much hyped aircraft which has taken in the region of $700m to develop was scheduled to be the last performer in this afternoon’s flying display at the Farnborough Airshow. Almost bang on cue, N787BX was airborne at 16.40 and performed a flypast at the Hampshire airport before departing northwards for Derby where a flypast was performed to recognise Rolls Royce’s Trent 1000 contribution to the aircraft development program. Next stop was Shannon where the aircraft was due to refuel before commencing the non stop leg to Seattle and back to testing after the brief visit to Farnborough.
At 18.11 local time the aircraft touched down on Shannon’s Runway 24 as a thunderstorm brewed on the southern side of the estuary. Although few will have seen the aircraft in the flesh before it arrived in Shannon, many will have been familiar with the characteristic wing curvature which marked the aircraft’s approach.
The requirements of airshow performance demand minimum fuel and weight to display aircraft flight envelopes to the maximum impact. With no passenger payload N787BX had no problem pulling up for Taxiway Alpha.
N787BX pictured above and below, on Alpha for Taxiway 11.
Being a first visit, there was no chance of a Dreamliner towbar knocking around the ramp in Shannon so N787BX was parked on Taxiway 11 )below). Initially planned for a 19.30 local departure flight BOE 787 didn’t get airborne until 21.38, departing for oceanic entry point SUNOT where the aircraft was noted at 22:22 local. One wonders how long before this 21st century aircraft will be seen on Irish soil again ?
