777 Freighter first flight

The newest member to the Boeing 777 lineup made its inaugural flight yesterday when world's first 777 Freighter took off for the first time at Paine Field in Everett, WA. The 777F, dubbed "the world's most capable twin-engine cargo airplane" by Boeing, completed a three and a half hour test flight with only one minor issue of transmitting telemetry data back to engineers on the ground. Some of the flight tests therefore had to be cut short but Boeing is already working on the issue to get her back up in the air soon. Based on the 777-200LR, the 777F "will be capable of flying 4,885 nautical miles (9,047 km) with a full payload, making it the world's longest-range twin-engine freighter." With 78 firm orders on the books, Boeing is anticipating certification by Q4 with delivery to launch customer Air France shortly thereafter. One of the most interesting features of the 777F is its main deck cargo door is actually located aft of the wing instead of aft of the cockpit like many cargo aircraft. I'm not sure the intent, but it should help with CG while loading I would suspect. When I finally see FedEx colors on one of these, I'll be a happy man.

(Boeing Press Release)

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New 787 cockpit shots from Flightblogger

Can I have this guy's job? Flightblogger has posted up some brand new 787 shots from the Spirit Aerosystems plant in Wichita. These show an entirely complete 787 flight deck. Do the airlines get excited to remove all the plastic coverings from their planes, like I get excited to do with my new toys? The bottom shot shows Dreamliner 4, 5, 6, and 7 forward fuselage sections lined up being prepped for the trip to Everett, WA. Now if he can somehow get a shot of the flight deck after the power on tests of Dreamliner 1 at Boeing. I'd love to see one of these babies all lit up.






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First 777 Freighter gets painted

The world got a sneak peak of the first 777 Freighter's paint job yesterday when the aircraft was moved from the Boeing paint shop over to Paine Field in Everett, WA. The 777F is based off the newest variant to the 777 family, the 777LR, and according to Boeing "will fly farther and provide more capacity than any other twin-engine cargo airplane." Official roll out will take place on Wednesday. Air France/KLM is the launch customer, but I'm more excited to see this thing in FedEx colors in the near future. This baby looks sweet without any windows.

Photo: Boeing

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