The second Boeing 747-8I took to the skies on Tuesday for its first test flight. This will be the first 747-8I to be delivered to Lufthansa by the end of this year.
Second Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental (N6067U) takes off from Paine Field in Washington. (Photo courtesy of Boeing)
Boeing Flight 21 (N6067U) took off from Washington’s Paine Field at 9:27 am on a 2 hour and 12 minute flight to Moses Lake. There, the crew took a half hour break before continuing on a straight line flight back to Paine that only took 37 minutes. The pilots, Captain Keith Otsuku and Captain Ron Johnston, took the bird up to an altitude of 28,000 feet and speeds of 545 mph.
The aircraft is painted in Lufthansa white with a navy blue tail, but does not yet have titles or logos applied.
This is the second of the two aircraft test fleet that Boeing will use for certification. The flight test campaign is expected to include 600 hours of flight time, which should be wrapped up by year’s end. Testing will not take as long as other aircraft as much of the systems testing has been or will be completed by the 747-8 Freighter, which has been undergoing flight testing since February 2010.
“This is another great milestone for our flight test program and shows the progress we are making towards (certification and) delivery of our passenger planes,” said Elizabeth Lund, Boeing vice president and general manager of the 747 program.
This 747-8I will mainly be focusing on the testing of the interior specifications from the heating of the cabin to the air conditioning and making sure that the flows all are working, along with the galleys and smoke detection. Boeing will also be working on fuel consumption and reliability of the aircraft.
