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 That's me before boarding ANA's second 787 Dreamliner for my excursion flight. As previously posted, I recently was lucky enough to be able to make a trip over to Tokyo, Japan to fly on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner for the first time. I was asked by APEX (Airline Passenger Experience Association) to write about my experience. Since the story is quite a bit different from the story I posted on the blog I wanted to share… TAKE A LOOK AT MY BOEING 787 DREAMLINER FLIGHT STORY ON APEX  ANA's first 787 Dreamliner (JA801A) sits in the background at their second (JA802A) waits to take us for a ride. When I first started this blog a little over three years ago, I never thought I would be one of the first people to ever fly on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. This truly is a dream (liner) come true.  A nice little rainbow surprise when boarding the ANA 787 Dreamliner. This is not a standard lighting configuration, but it sure is groovy. Over the years, I have closely followed the 787, through its many ups and downs and I was honored to be invited to Tokyo to take an excursion flight around Japan. The night before the flight I received little sleep and was up at 4 am, like a kid on Christmas.  JA802A is begging to go for a ride. On Wednesday, October 27th, the 787 Dreamliner (JA801A) had its first revenue flight from Narita International Airport (NRT) to Hong Kong International Airport (HGK), but my experience was a bit different. Our flight was on JA802A, ANA’s second 787, which took off from NRT and experienced a 90 minute excursion, including flying over Mount Fuji — pretty rad.  We are on our way. Even though I did not have a window seat, I could see outside quite well. A Delta Air Lines Boeing 747-400 at Narita can be seen. I had been on JA802A just a few weeks prior, while it sat at Paine Field, but this was much different. The energy being on JA802A with “real” passengers, when we are about ready to lift off was palatable. The flight contained some ANA VIP customers, representatives that ANA works closely with, the winners of ANA’s 787 photo contest and only four media representatives. I was sitting in 9D, which is the inner aisle seat on the left side (SeatGuru.com already has its ANA 787 seating chart up), but I still had ample opportunity to look out the 787′s larger windows.  The plane was filled with a mixture of different people. I had seat 9D, which was the left side aisle seat. “Please be seated, we are about to take off,” never sounded so good. After a short taxi, the Rolls Royce Trent 1000 engines started to spool up and what a glorious sound. Do not worry, it stayed very quiet in the cabin, but you could still enjoy the unique sound that the Dreamliner engines provide. The 787′s take off was a smooth experience and I didn’t feel pinned to my seat, like on many other aircraft. The sound and ease of take off, felt very similar to the A380 (but the 787 was a bit quicker). As we lifted off, the passengers clapped and cheered — we were off!  This photo does not do the wing justice. The bend is MUCH more impressive in person. I was really looking forward to seeing how the 787′s wing looked from inside the cabin while flying. The good news is it looked as cool as I was hoping; the bad news was the photo does not do it justice. The wing had an unbelievable bow, like I have never seen before. Airlines really should put a sign at the windows over the wings that state, “The wings are supposed to do that.” I can’t wait to see what they look like in turbulence.  I should have drunk more water before the flight so I could have tried out the bathroom with a window. Just took photos instead. The flight was only 90 minutes and that didn’t leave a heck of a lot of time. I was up and down the aisles taking photos and videos, checking the views outside, the lavatory with a view and playing around with the in-flight entertainment system. I could have been on the plane for ten hours and still wanted more.  Mount Fuji as seen from ANA's second 787 Dreamliner (JA802A) So, the big question is, “Was it what you thought it was going to be?” Yes — the Dreamliner is an incredible aircraft that will evolutionize air travel for many passengers. On paper, I think the Dreamliner will help to revolutionize airline transport due to a large leap in technology, efficiency and cabin comfort, but for most passengers they aren’t going to notice all the changes — but that is not a bad thing.  Check the AirlineReporter.com sticker on the Dreamliner! Don't worry ANA, I took it down. For me and probably for most of you airline fans, the changes will easily be noticed. However, for the average passenger, they will feel the 787 just provided them with a great flight, but might not realize why. When airlines moved from props to jets, it was quite obvious of large change, but it is not as obvious with the 787 Dreamliner.  Haneda Airport, as seen from the 787 Dreamliner. All that being said, I firmly believe the 787 Dreamliner will be the new standard in world travel. It is comfortable, quiet and beautiful. I feel that this aircraft will make many frequent fliers change their top airline choices based on the Dreamliner product. My first flight on the Dreamliner was unreal, but I can’t wait to try one of a real, “normal,” scheduled flight to put it to the real test. It is great to think that in only a few short years, these Dreamliners will be flying all over the world — a world that I am excited to experience.  After landing back at Narita, I really did not want to get off the 787, but they made me. SEE ALL 44 PHOTOS FROM MY FIRST BOEING 787 DREAMLINER FLIGHT More Boeing 787 Dreamliner Stuff:  First Malaysian Airlines Airbus A380 takes off from Toulouse for its maiden flight. Photo by Airbus. Click for larger. The first Airbus A380 for Malaysia Airlines successfully completed its maiden flight on 20th October after completion of the final assembly and system tests in Toulouse, France. After a successful flight of five hours, the aircraft returned to Toulouse to be prepared for its next journey to the Airbus facilities in Hamburg, Germany for cabin installation and painting. Powered by four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines, the aircraft is the first of six A380s ordered by Malaysia Airlines, scheduled for delivery in the second quarter of 2012. Malaysia Airlines will be the 8th airline to operate the A380.  First Malaysian Airlines Airbus A380 landing in Toulouse after successfully completing its maiden flight. Photo by Airbus. Click for larger.  Boeing 787 Dreamliner in the factory, to fly for ANA. In a press release sent out today, All Nippon Airways (ANA) has announced they will, “that it will operate its first revenue flight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner as a charter international flight from Tokyo, Narita to Hong Kong.” ANA stated that they expect the first revenue flight to occur about one month after they accept delivery of their initial Boeing 787 Dreamliner in September. Previously, Boeing has announced they plan to deliver the first 787 sometime in August or September. The airline planes to also operate two domestic excursion flights departing and landing in Narita and lasting about an hour to allow more people to experience what it is like to fly on a Boeing 787. The excursion flights will be made available to frequent flyers and ANA Mileage Card members (lucky folks). More information on the flights and how to try to secure your own tickets will be announced at a later date on ANA’s 787 Dreamliner website.  The Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental during it's first flight yesterday. Photo by Boeing - click for larger. Over the past few months, there has been a lot of attention around the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental. I wanted to wrap it all up with a conclusion of the first flight and links to all the interesting events since the start of assembling the first 747-8I in May 2010. Yesterday, the 747-8I took off for the first time just before 10am from Paine Field with chief 747-8 test pilot Captain Mark Feuerstein at the controls and Captain Paul Stemer to his side. During the flight, the airplane reached about 19,000 feet and flew up to 250kts (288mph). After almost four and a half hours, the 747-8I successfully landed at Boeing Field to a cheering crowd. Once landed, the plane taxied and waited for all the media to move to a white tent before being towed up closer. Stairs were brought out and the two smiling pilots were greeted by their families and Boeing executives. “What a great privilege to be at the controls of such a great airplane on its first flight,” said Feuerstein. “And what an honor to share this day with the thousands of men and women who designed and built this airplane.” While parked right outside the media tent, the blue initials “JFS” became quite noticeable. These initials are for Joe Frederick Sutter who is considered by many to be the father of the original Boeing 747 program. He was present for the event and today is actually celebrating his 90th birthday (Happy Birthday Joe!). There will be two Boeing 747-8I’s completing 600 test hours before being certified for delivery. Boeing is expecting to deliver their first Boeing 747-8 Freighter by the end of the summer and the first Intercontinental by the end of 2011. The excitement of the first flights for the 787 Dreamliner, 747-8 Freighter and Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental is now completed. Now we wait for the first deliveries and watch closely as Bombardier works on their new C-series and Airbus completes the A350. In this business, the excitement never seems to end! A look back at my blogs on the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental (dates are when the stories were posted): |
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