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Boeing's chief test pilot pushed the throttles forward on the 787 Dreamliner for a high-speed sprint down the runway during taxi tests that went off without a hitch Saturday. Boeing says all systems are go for the plane's inaugural flight Tuesday as long as the weather cooperates.
Boeing worked hard over the weekend with two days of tests, including a taxi run at speeds that got the front wheel to lift. Boeing's Randy Tinseth noted on his blog that test pilot Mike Carriker completed the taxi testing with the two high-speed passes exceeding 130 knots.
With taxi testing checked off the to-do list, weather is the only thing standing in the way of the Dreamliner's first flight. Tinseth says Boeing’s policy requires good visibility, no standing water on the runway and gentle to no wind. The current weather forecast says there's a possibility of rain and low clouds.
We were at Paine Field over the weekend and caught up with Liz Matzelle, one of the many fanatics who's spent countless hours following the 787 since it rolled out of the factory on July 8, 2007 -- 7/8/07. She's one of the many, many airplane geeks -- a term we use affectionately -- who stand before the massive hangar doors at the Boeing factory hoping for a glimpse of the planes within. The 27-year-old has made a name for herself snapping photos and shooting video of the 787 during its development. Her stuff's appeared on numerous websites as well as in magazines. But Matzelle, who works in IT support, says it’s just a hobby
“Sometimes you just get the hankering to come and see the airplane.”
Matzelle says she only makes the trip to Paine Field when she knows there’s likely to be some action. The various 787 airframes completed so far have been towed out of the factory, into the paint shop, out of the paint shop, into/out of the repair shop and so on. Watching the final gauntlet testing was particularly fun. She captured the smoky engine starts featured on Autopia last week. She, like us, can't wait to see it fly.
“It’s a beautiful airplane and I’m excited to see it fly after so many months of watching it on the ground,” she said.
There's a lot of downtime waiting for the cool hardware to roll by at Paine Field, so Matzelle breaks out her laptop to do some coding or other work when it's slow.
“Everybody has their Zen spots, a place where they can focus and enjoy things," she said. "Airports are my Zen spot.”
On Saturday Matzelle captured great video of the high speed taxi tests from the Stratodeck of the Future of Flight, which offers a great view of the main runway at Paine Field. The view is so nice it will be the VIP area during the 787's first flight. Matzelle and many of the other 787 watchers will watch from one of the grassy knolls near the Future of Flight. They're just tall enough to see over the fence, almost as if someone planned it that way.
We'll be front and center blogging and tweeting the Dreamliner's first flight. Follow here and @jasonpaur. Boeing also will webcasting everything starting at 9:45 a.m.
Main photo: Boeing. All others: Jason Paur/Wired.com
