Pretty exciting, since I could see the test flight from my work.

Unfortunately my camera is a POS:

My town's claim to faim: the largest freestanding building in the world and Boeing.

If you haven't heard about the 787 before, it is the first major airliner to use mostly composites for its construction, resulting in improved fuel economy and range. It has been delayed for nearly 2 years now, but just had its first successful test flight this morning (like 30 minutes ago).

Watched the flight a little while ago. Amazing to watch the wings change shape as it built up speed for takeoff.

On a separate note, I can't believe they still use T-33's.

Video here:

http://www.kirotv.com/video/21964704/index.html

Very cool.

Nice to see this getting coverage.

Very cool.

Nice to see this getting coverage.

It is a national pride.

Sweet... I remember the delays and public rollout back in '07 when I was working for a Boeing subsidiary. Been following the development of this one for years.

There is still real reason to take pride in being American!

Chris

...and glad to see this thing in the air. Brother of a guy from my wife's church was part of the development team...he was under some undgodly stress to get this thing flying....

Saw it live but I still get vibes from this plane that it could have DC-10 like issues just based on the revolutionary nature of the product.

Thanks, Siegen, for starting this post.

One other person at work also loves planes/ships, so we were glued to the webcast on Boeing's site this morning from about 9:55 to 10:35 am Pacific time. As the 787 approached its designated runway and paused before take-off, my pulse was racing. The take-off was flawless. What a beautiful aircraft...the raked wings give it an incredible presence.

It ought to succeed as a versatile plane, since it can easily adapt to a run like LA-Denver or New York-Atlanta...or from LA all the way to Australia or from New York all the way to Argentina. I look forward to being a passenger.

And it is close enough to my birthday for me to mark the date this historic event occurred.

Very cool.

Excellent !!!

If it ain't Boeing, I ain't going.

I went on a tour of the Boeing factory in Mukilteo this summer. They were agog over the Dreamliner--it has the promise to significantly improve air travel. Bigger windows, better lighting, higher cabin pressure, higher humidity, quieter engines, shorter takeoff length, and more! I can't wait to ride in one.

Composites are easily the way to go, I'm sort of surprised it has taken this long for a mostly-composite plane to be developed. Composites have much, much higher strength-to-weight ratios than steel or aluminum and have better fatigue properties as well. Most metal fracture is caused by fatigue, not simply too much strain or stress on the metal, and composites can give you the strength of metals without having to worry about fatigue life.