At 38,000 feet over Japan on the inaugural 787, photo by Jon Ostrower
The first paying passenger flight by the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner took place yesterday between Tokyo Narita and Hong Kong and spectacular photos are being posted by many of those on board, especially by ‘FlightBlogger‘ Jon Ostrower.
Jon’s photos, almost 300 in total, can be seen here.
There are also two YouTubes on the internet, the first below identified as coming from the same seat number 12C as Jon’s.
The external YouTube of the take off confirms that this was a rather leisurely but very quiet takeoff, a much smoother and far less noisy experience than is normal on a 777 in particular.
The arrival photo below in the usual choking atmosphere of Hong Kong is from Daniel Tsang at Aspire Aviation, which also publishes some sobering analysis of the production and cost challenges that are ahead for the 787.
Hong Kong arrival photo by Daniel Tsang, Aspire Aviation
The 787 flown by All Nippon yesterday is configured with 264 seats for domestic services and uses the spacious 8 across format as shown in the view from Ostrower below. Unfortunately most 787s including the majority of All Nippon’s are being configured with 9 across economy seating, which is as tight as those on a 6 across Boeing 737.
Dream on. Inside a truly spacious Y class 787 cabin. Jon Ostrower
3 Comments
It’s a very good news for a troubled programme! But I do hope Boeing (as well as Airbus and other commercial plane manufacturers) learn some valuable lessons out of Dreamliners development programme, so that they won’t run into “over-promise, under-delivered” situations again.
Ben,
Is there a good summary somewhere of what happened to all the engineering issues surrounding the 787?
I’m interested in particular in what changes they made, what compromises there were and what the engineers think about whether the modifications are robust. It just feels like to me that adding more complexity inevitably breeds more “oops we never thought about that” moments later.
Also, how did they address the issues of added weight and so on?
OO.. I love the applause on that video when it gets off the runway.. Its like “wow.. so this thing actually _can_ fly!”