Social media covers P-8A first flight

This was the first time I got scooped by Jagermeister -- or at least by one of the potent German spirit's more public fans.

Boeing didn't tip off reporters about the P-8A first flight event on Saturday morning in Seattle, but they didn't have to. The Tweet above alerted anyone paying attention on Twitter 10 hours before the T-1 test aircraft got airborne. The same Tweet-er also was the first person in any medium to post a picture of the first flight.

That was soon followed by video footage from multiple angles posted on You Tube. The example below is one of the better angles. The moment of lift-off was also well-chronicled with photos on Flickr, such as this one.