777F to the sky!
Boeing has narrowed its 777F first flight from June 27 to July 9. The heart of that window is this week and sources point to July 3 as the likely date for the new freighter to fly for the first time. This, of course, depends on the weather. Look for the first engine start, low and high sped taxi tests ahead of first flight this week. (You really don't want these to happen...after...first flight)

Also, I'll be doing a preview post running through the flight test program top to bottom later this week with a briefing from 777 Chief Test Pilot Suzanna Darcy-Henneman. In the meantime, take a look at Boeing Unveils Radical Flight Test Reorganization by Guy Norris and North Texans Helping to Build Aviation's Future by Bob Cox.

I'm using 777F as a test run for potential new techniques for covering 787 first flight, so keep an eye out for those.

A380 Number Five
Singapore Airlines collected MSN010 (9V-SKE), the fifth A380 delivered, this past weekend clearing the way for delivery of MSN011 to Emirates, the second A380 customer on July 28th. MSN010 will be tasked with flying Olympic traffic to Beijing during the first week of August leading up to the 08.08.08 start of the Summer games.

Oil, Oil, Oil
The entire industry is already on red alert about the price of oil and there's a distinct possibility we see a price for a barrel going north to $150. (shudder)

New Look
I hit on this a little bit last week, but the new design should be ready this week right as this blog cross the 1,000,000 page load mark since I first joined Flight. The new layout should bear a striking resemblance to David Learmount's new blog, cleverly titled Learmount.

And this...

The caption as it was sent to me:
The attached photo was taken at the UPS first flight ceremony at Nagoya for the start of their Anchorage to Nagoya and Nagoya to Shanghai routes. As chance would have it, the first-ever A380 flight to Japan, a Singapore Airlines flight from Changi to Narita, was diverted to Nagoya because of bad weather in Tokyo. A Boeing Large Cargo Freighter made its scheduled arrival to ferry out 787 components, just as the A380 was departing for Narita. The result is a picture of the largest passenger plane and largest freighter together.

Special thanks to NG for the photo

Read the complete post at http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/flightblogger/2008/06/june-30-the-week-ahead-open-th.html

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Posted Mon, Jun 30 2008 1:00 PM by FlightBlogger - Aviation News, Commentary and Analysis | Report Abuse

Filed under: Boeing, Open Thread, Airbus, A380, 777, Singapore Airlines, Emirates