I arrived at the Future of Flight at about 9am to get ready for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner ZA005 to take flight. The weather wasn’t doing so great with mist, fog, and a low ceiling. There was no official time, but I was guessing 10am based on previous first flights. I thought the plan would be for ZA005 to complete high-speed taxi tests and then take off. However, time kept going and ZA005 just sat there. I heard a few different rumors of the reason, from a low ceiling to the chase plane not being ready. At least we got to watch a brand new Cathay Pacific Boeing 777 take off and land.
I had worked hard (took me three different ways) to get my iPhone hooked up to my tri-pod, so I could do a live feed while recording in HD, but I ended up having to tear it apart anyhow.
At 12:20pm I had to leave for an appointment I couldn’t miss. Since I promised a live feed, I left my iPhone with Sandy at the Future of Flight to do the live feed for me (THANK YOU SO MUCH SANDY)! However at about 2pm I got done with my appointment and made my way to a computer and saw the ZA005 had not taken off. BOO YA!
I hurried back and as I pull in I could see people along the fence still watching, so I knew I hadn’t missed anything. I grabbed my video camera and ran. Just as I got to the top of the hill and video camera turned on, ZA005 started rolling. For just running up a hill and not having a tri-pod ready, I don’t think the video turned out half bad.
I am never going to get sick of watching the 787 Dreamliner take off. They are so graceful, queit and oh man watching those wings bend is amazing. I am going to write up a blog with a little more information on these new GEnx engines being tested out today.
Over all I think the live feed function went well. By the time ZA005 took off there were 250 people watching the feed. I am excited to use that feature in future events.
Boeing 787 Dreamliner ZA005 at Paine Field. I took this photo earlier today from the Future of Flight
I have received word that the fifth Boeing 787 Dreamliner (ZA005) will be conducting taxi tests early next week and hearing first flight maybe mid-week. Being the fifth 787 to take flight, it might just seem like another day for most people, but the ZA005 is significant. It will be the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner to lift off using General Electric GEnx engines. The first four (ZA001, ZA002, ZA003, ZA004) have all flow with Rolls Royce Trent 1000 engines.
You can be sure I will be there to cover the lift off. I am interested to see how the GEnx engines sound versus the RR ones.
I was looking around for some photos of ZA005 with the GEnx engines, but wasn’t finding any. It is such a beautiful day, I decided to head to Paine Field and get some of my own. While getting ZA005 photos, I also got quite a few other ones. One of the benefits of living in the Seattle area!
I was also playing with streaming live video and got it to work, so I am hoping to offer this during first flight of ZA005 as well. If you want to be notified anytime I am doing a live feed, make sure to create a QIK account and add me as a friend.
A few Boeing 787's among other Boeing products from the sky. That is the Future of Flight in the background. Photo by Liz Matzelle
Saturday was the first sunny day in the Seattle area in a long time. The whole thing about Seattle always being rainy is normally not all true…however the past week and a half it sure has felt like it.
On Saturday Liz Matzelle (@ImperfectSense) was able to get a flight above Paine Field (KPAE) and she took some pretty sweet photos. Can you identify the planes in all her photos?
What a beautiful and sunny day to be hanging around a bunch of airplanes and aviation enthusiast. This Saturday I was able to spend a few hours at Paine Field for the General Aviation Day put on by the Washington Pilots Association and Snohomish County’s Paine Field.
Not only were there amazing historical aircraft, but people from all around flew their personal planes and also had them on display (I was sad I had to drive). Even though there were lots of impressive aircraft, seeing pilots donate their time and fuel to fly 8 to 17 year olds for free really put a smile to my face. The Young Eagles allows kids the chance to try out aviation and get the motivated to fly. Two rows of personal planes (ranging from Cessnas to Bonanzas) were lined up ferrying over 220 kids up into the blue sky. Every child coming off those planes had a smile from ear to ear. What a great program! If you have an airplane and want to share the experience of flight to children, join on up (If you have an airplane [or helicopter] and want to fly an almost 30yr old blogger, email me :)).
Unfortunately I had to leave after a few hours because of other engagements, but Liz Matzelle (@ImperfectSense) was there to take wonderful photos of the aircraft in flight [which is great, because Liz has a wonderful eye when it comes to photography and took better photos than I could have :)]
If you missed out this year, don’t worry, I am sure it will be back next year. It is definitely worth the drive and the free admission! Until then, if you are a pilot or have an interest in general aviation, looked at joining the Washington Pilots Association — they work hard to keep the spirit of general aviation alive in Washington state!
Sigh. I really should have my own photos and video of today’s two flights. But my car had other plans. I was on a camping trip this weekend, with every intention to make it back to the Future of Flight in time for ZA003 Boeing 787 Dreamliner to take flight and then watch the second Boeing 747-8 to take off. However my car broke down and had to be towed 75 miles back to civilization. If this would have happened on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s first flight, I would have ditched the car and taken a taxi! Luckily some other great people were there to cover the action.
Above is a video of ZA003 taking off for the first time today, taken by Liz Matzelle (@ImperfectSense). This is the third Boeing 787 built, but the fourth to take the skies. ZA004 took to the skies beforehand on February 24th. ZA003 is being used to test the interiors,which I was able to tour of back in early February.
If seeing a Dreamliner taking off wasn’t enough, the second Boeing 747-8 also took the sky today after a few delays. The first 747-8 took flight on February 8th. I am currently trying to track down any video or photos taken of the flight, but I did find a photo from Kevin (@TxAgFlyer) showing RC22 waiting to fly.
Boeing recently announced before today’s flight, the Boeing 747-8 has completed 13 flights and 33 hours of flight time. The tests are going as planned — which is a good thing. Five pilots have flown the airplane taking it up to 30,000 feet and up to Mach .65. Boeing has completed initial stall tests and other dynamic maneuvers, and performed an extensive checkout of systems on the airplane. They are hoping to get the third Boeing 747-8 in the sky soon.
