FlightBlogger - Aviation News, Commentary and Analysis

Video: Boeing 747-8F returns home at sunset

2010-02-09T00:52:03Z

Getting on board RC521 - 747-8F Number Two

2010-02-08T23:16:39Z

Getting on board RC521 - 747-8F Number Two, originally uploaded by flightblogger.

About to board the 747-8F. More to follow.

Photos of Note: Boeing 747-8F is airborne!

2010-02-08T22:22:50Z

RC501 rotated on runway 34L at 12:39 PT as the skies cleared over Everett, Washington giving Mark Feuerstein and Tom Imrich blue sky to take the first 747-8F on its maiden sortie.

More photos to follow

Update: 747-8F weather hold continues

2010-02-08T19:28:09Z

Update: 747-8F weather hold continues, originally uploaded by flightblogger.

THE BERM, EVERETT -- RC501 is holding outside of Stall 207 waiting for
the weather to clear. Patches of blue sky are showing up, but there is
no word of the hold lifting. Boeing has until 2PM PT to fly before
today's windows closes. Mark Feuerstein and Tom Imrich need 1500 foot
ceilings to take off. Ceilings are holding at 700 feet at 11:26 AM.

Additionally, RC521 and RC522 will be initialed BW and JW,
respectively for Brien Wygle and Jess Wallick who joined Jack Waddell
on the first 747 flight on February 9, 1969.

Stay tuned. JO out.

FlightBlogger Live: First Flight of the Boeing 747-8F

2010-02-08T15:34:42Z

EVERETT -- Well, today's the day. I'll be streaming live here periodically throughout the day, but look for my up-to-the-second updates on twitter and tumblr. First flight is set for 10:10 AM PT (1:10 PM ET, 1810 GMT) from Paine Field. It's going to be an exciting day here in Everett. Also make sure to watch the live feed from Boeing at 747-8firstflight.com.

Come along for the ride.

747-8: "Seeing that struggle finally end in success, that's the fun of this business."

2010-02-08T11:47:59Z

EVERETT -- The youngest Queen of the Skies is resting at the moment, preparing for its first day in the sky. This day was a long time coming, and its arrival for a long time was anything by a certainty. Much of the 1990s and early 2000s were spent trying to establish what the future held for the global icon of commercial aviation.

Perhaps paradoxically, the aircraft that is the quintessential icon of Boeing, has throughout its life been asked to play second fiddle to the other commercial programs that always seemed to take precedence. Whether it was the supersonic transport, 757 and 767, 777 or 787, the 747 was rarely, if ever, Boeing's top commercial priority.

Joe Sutter, the 747's first chief engineer, now 88, says that getting to this point has been anything but easy:

"The 747-400 has been around for almost 20 years...[customers] wanted more than the 747, but trying to get the management to invest the billions it takes to do that, trying to get the engine manufacturers to do that has been a struggle for ten years.

"If the 747 disappeared, it wouldn't break the Boeing company, but with it there, Boeing's going to make more money, but if the 787 dissapeared, man that would a traumatic step. So you see why that happens," says Sutter.

In fact, the 747 is often believed to be the most profitable in The Boeing Company's history, however, that title goes to the 767-300ER which is being replaced by the 787.

"The fun of this game is convincing these guys up on the fifth floor, "hey keep spending money on the 47 so it will happen", he adds. "Then it finally happened. That's the name of the game."

The 747-8F owes its existence today (and subsequent delays) in large part to its composite stablemate, the 787 Dreamliner.

"You'll never convince the engine guys to build us an engine, but the 787 gave us an engine, so we lucked out. Seeing that struggle finally end in success, that's the fun of this business," says Sutter.

Saturday afternoon's taxi tests were the world's first chance to see the worlds longest mass-produced commercial aircraft moving under its own power and out of the aircraft and berm-obstructed view of the flight line.

RC501, the 1420th example of the 747, which will go by Boeing 501 Experimental for its flight test program and is expected to rotate around 145 knots from runway 34L, the same one used by RA001 in 1969. Sutter will be standing at the 4,000 foot marker at 34L as the -8F makes its takeoff roll.

February 8, 2010 is a date that should not go without note. In fact, the milestone comes one day shy of the forty-first and twenty-first anniversary of the first flight of the 747-100 and introduction into service of the 747-400 with Northwest Airlines, respectively. Boeing will pay homage to the first pilot of the 747, Jack Waddell, with the inscription of his initials - JW - on the nose landing gear door.

Though as much as the 747 requires a reflection of the road it took to get here, Boeing's attention is very much pointed toward the future. But will the 747-8 family be the last in the bloodline of the matriarchy?

"I think there's at least one more step," says Sutter. "If you look at the -400 version, it lasted about 15 years and I think the -8 will last about that long. The airplane can still be stretched and there will be even better engines available. To stretch it more though, probably needs a bigger wing, which is costly, but there's actually been wind tunnel tests, analysis on a bigger wing, it will not be a very big unknown as to how to re-treat the wing, but it's money. And so it's when the market wants it."

First Photo Credit Boeing

Travel Night and Day: Around the world the wrong way - SFO-SEA

2010-02-07T15:34:31Z

Travel Night and Day: Around the world the wrong way - SFO-SEA, originally uploaded by flightblogger.

The end is in sight. The last of three flights to Seattle is getting
ready to board shortly. This 757-200 (N586UA) will take me up the
Pacific coast to Seattle on United 89. I'm officially fried.

That being said, 747-8F has been running up and down Runway 16R & 34L
all day getting ready for first flight on Monday. RC501 will undergo
final pre-flight checkouts Sunday along with a full team pre-brief
before the big day Monday. Once I get to Seattle (and have a working
laptop again) I should be able to provide a better overview of what's
ahead for 747-8F, not to mention a wrap up of Singapore.

Travel Night and Day: Around the world the wrong way - LHR-SFO

2010-02-07T03:07:58Z

Travel Night and Day: Around the world the wrong way - LHR-SEA, originally uploaded by flightblogger.

Booking a last minute flight to Seattle has landed me in seat 24D on
board this United 777-200ER (N294UA) to Seattle on flight 955. Going
to be 11 hours to the west coast from here and the Grassy Knoll in
Everett cannot come soon enough. Catch you Stateside. FlightBlogger out.

Travel Night and Day: Around the world the wrong way - SIN-LHR

2010-02-06T07:51:33Z

Travel Night and Day: Around the world the wrong way - SIN-LHR, originally uploaded by flightblogger.

Greetings from seat 75K on the upper deck of Singapore Airlines A380
9V-SKC! With the massive disruption about to befall Washington, DC
with the arrival of two feet of snow, my route back to the US has
changed considerably. More importantly, with 747-8F first flight as
little as four days away, I'm bound for Seattle! My routing takes me
to London first (as was part of my original itinerary) and then to San
Francisco aboard a United 777-200ER, followed by a final leg to
Seattle on a 757-200. Yes, I know that's 12,000 miles of flying the
wrong way to the west coast from southeast Asia, but the disruption
caused by the weather in DC only allowed me to alter my UA flight as
my SQ leg was booked separately and there was no change
fee...etc...etc. Either way, I should be in Seattle by Saturday
evening. It's going to be a long ride. Next stop London...in 15 hours
and 30 min.

#SIN10: Flightglobal brings you day two with iFDN

2010-02-05T02:51:47Z

The Flightglobal iFDN team has the Singapore air show covered with the second edition of our interactive daily. Also, check out a video wrap up Siva Govindasamy and I did a the end of day two (below the fold). There were no commercial orders through day two in Singapore, as the discussion turned once again to the re-engining of the A320 and 737, while on the defense side, Joint Strike Fighter was making headlines.

GE continues tests of open rotor blades
GEnx-2B starts icing certification tests
Boeing postpones canted tails for F-15 Silent Eagle
757 replacement gets new focus as 787-3 dwindles
Bell in discussions to export V-22 tiltrotor
Boeing looks to capitalise on F-35 woes
Airbus and Lockheed push airlift capabilities
Leadership turmoil hits F-35 programme
Bombardier says 'watch this space' on Global Express successor
Tiger advances delivery of four A320s
Airbus aiming for A320 re-engining decision by Farnborough air show

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IT'S OFFICIAL: 747-8F First Flight window opens Feb. 8, 10 AM

2010-02-04T16:10:01Z

One day before the forty-first anniversary of the first flight of the 747-100, the latest iteration of Boeing's jumbo jet is set to take to the skies for the first time on its maiden sortie.

The first flight window opens on February 8, 2009 at 1000 AM PT (1800 GMT) and will see the aircraft - designated RC501 - take off from runway 34L at Paine Field at Boeing's Everett, Washington facility.

The flight, unlike the 787, will return to Everett after Mark Feuerstein and Tom Imrich spend three to five hours flying over Washington. During the initial airworthiness trials, the aircraft will be based at Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake, then will transfer to Palmdale, California when RC521 and RC522 start flying.

That being said, as I write this I'm still in Southeast Asia due to be back in Washington, DC (via London) on Saturday afternoon. Though Mother Nature could not care less about my travel arrangements and plans to deliver 12-20 inches of snow to the DC area on Friday and Saturday making my East Coast return a pretty big open question. I'm currently trying to establish the best (time and cost effective) route to Seattle that may have to bypass DC altogether. Needless to say, it's a question that needs to be answered shortly.

Bombardier says "watch this space" on future G650 competitor

2010-02-04T00:04:42Z

At the Dubai air show in November we got a first glimpse at Bombardier's M170 product, its answer to the Gulfstream G650 in the long-range large-cabin business jet market. The aircraft is widely rumored to be set for its public debut at EBACE in Geneva in May. During Bombardier's briefing today I had an opportunity to ask David Dixon, head of Asia-Pacific for Bombardier business aircraft about what the future holds for this mystery aircraft. Mr. Dixon didn't show his company's hand, but certainly stirred the pot.

Jon Ostrower: Can you talk about the future potential for the M170 product you're looking at to take on the G650 as a clean sheet design and where that stands and when we can hope to hear more about it?

David Dixon: There isn't a new program launched at this point. That said, Bombardier has launched 25 airplanes since 1989, so we're always watching the market and responding to what the market needs.

I put it to you this way, take a look at what that product is [G650] it's actually playing catch up, it's not a bigger fuselage cabin, it has other features, it goes a bit further but it is just coming up to the Global Express so I think they're [Gulfstream] is trying to come along side, rather than overtake.

But watch this space, we're always looking at the market and we've maintained our investments historically, so I would say there will be new airplanes whether it's going to be competing with the 650 or any others, I don't know.

#SIN10: Flightglobal covers day one with the premier of iFDN

2010-02-03T20:20:41Z

Never content to rest on our laurels, the Flightglobal team has stepped out on the edge of digital publishing once again bringing you a perspective of the Singapore air show never before seen. Our first issue of iFDN, or interactive Flight Daily News, is the collaboration of a small team here in Singapore and in London at the Flightglobal headquarters. Our premier issue has just been published and I invite you to explore its interactive pages seeing all the multimedia resources we've brought to bear. We'd love to get your feedback on the final product.

IAI unveils plans to convert used 767s into tanker-transports
MRJ airframe delivers 'half of fuel-burn advantage': Mitsubishi
Piper open to manufacturing in Asia
IAE open to developing new A320 engine
BOC Aviation and ANZ sign lease for A320s
Sichuan chooses V2500 to power new A320s
Lockheed may deliver more F-35s than DoD buys
CFM and Comac in joint definition phase for C919's engine

Boeing places 757 replacement under purview of future 737 planning

2010-02-03T17:39:58Z

Share Create Apture™

by flightblogger

SINGAPORE -- During his Asia Pacific market briefing, I asked Boeing vice president of marketing, Randy Tinseth, about the future of an oft-discussed mid-range 787 and it's potential for the future. The exchange yielded an interesting answer:

Jon Ostrower: Looking beyond the 787-3, your customers have indicated a need for a medium range 787, somewhere in the trans-continetnal 3,000 to 4,000 mile range, do you see an opportunity now take the 787 to adapt it to that market?

Randy Tinseth: So the question is are we going to design a 787 with the range of a 757?I'll tell you, it's not in the plans today, but over the last week we did some changes at Boeing and one of those changes is we brought Mike Bair, who was my boss, to now lead our single aisle development efforts.

That type of airplane, whatever it might be, would fall under the Mike Bair regime as we go forward. No plans at this date, do we have customers that our interested in an airplane that has the same capacity and range as a 757? Yes. We sold 1000 of them. There is some need out there, the question is when do we build that, can we build that, does it make economic sense for us and for our customers?

The last 757 rolled off the Renton line in 2004 and was "replaced" by the 737-900ER which has a 700nm and 21 seat shortfall in a two class configuration compared to the 757-200. Boeing classifies the single aisle 757 nominally as a 201-seat aircraft in a two class configuration with a range of 3,900nm.

Will the replacement for the venerable narrow-bodies take the form of a two model solution spanning the 125 to 200 seat range? Or will Boeing surrender the sub-150-seat market to its Canadian, Brazilian, Japanese and Russian competitors, building a single type optimized to ~180-seats stretched to meet the demands of today's 737-800 through to the 757-200?

The game just got interesting.

Video & Photos: Airbus A330-200F makes air show debut in Singapore

2010-02-02T20:35:39Z

SINGAPORE -- On Monday morning, Airbus invited journalists on-board the A330-200F here in Singapore. The aircraft on display here at the show is one of two -200Fs taking part in the flight test campaign that will culminate in first delivery to Etihad Crystal Cargo around July. Didier Lenormand, head of freighter marketing for Airbus, took us through the Pratt & Whitney powered aircraft.

I had a chance to talk to him about the prospects for an A330-300F and its market potential. He shared with me that a launch decision on the -330F would come later this year and would see retiring A330-300 passenger aircraft converted to medium-haul freighters around 2013 or 2014. Lenormand says that a cargo integrator has already expressed great interest in a conversion program. That quickly narrows down the possibilities for a customer: UPS, FedEx, TNT and/or DLH.

We also discussed the prospects of an A350 freighter, which he said is currently in the concept phase for a 2017/2018 entry into service, but made a specific point of discussing the challenges of mounting a cargo door on a composite fuselage compared to an aluminum fuselage. He was unsure whether or not both 787 or A350 has the potential of becoming a new-build or a converted freighter later in its life. He specifically cited managing the load paths of the composite material as the primary challenge for designing a new-build freighter out of a composite fuselage.

"It will be interesting to see how 787 gets a door on a purely composite structure. Because first, it's a major change to an airplane even to design a door on a new build airplane. It's a big change because you have all these openings there where you need to reallocate all the stress to the structure, because you generate in the structure of the plane, and in the integrity of the aircraft, a weakness. So, we have see how those are going to do for new build."

Boeing said in May 2008 that it is "ready for a 787 freighter" and requirements for such an aircraft were placed into the initial design of the aircraft. Lenormand's comment certainly illuminates what Airbus believes its own challenges are for developing an composite fuselage freighter sometime in the next decade.

MANY PHOTOS BELOW THE FOLD

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