Sixth Dreamliner finally flies

The sixth Boeing 787 has made its first flight, while Boeing also notes that the flight testing program for the aircraft has been progressing well.

ZA006, which is the second 787 powered by General Electric GEnx engines to fly, completed its maiden flight in one hour and four minutes on October 4, landing at Boeing Field near Seattle at 1245 local time.

“It’s great to have our last flight test airplane join the fleet,” said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 program. “We have been focused on completing the testing required for certification of the 787 with Rolls-Royce engines, because that is the first model we deliver. A great deal of the testing that we’ve done also applies to the 787s with GE engines and won’t need to be repeated.”

With the announcement, Boeing also provided an update on the flight testing program. Icing and high energy tests have successfully been completed while flight load survey testing had been completed and analysis of the data is continuing. Fatigue testing on the static rig at Everett has also commenced, with the static test aircraft to be subjected to 10,000 flight cycles as part of its certification requirements.