777x First Flight Live
The 777X made its first flight over Washington state at 10:09 am local time and landed at 2:00 pm outside Seattle. Previously, the company had to put off two earlier attempts due to high winds.
The company published several tweets on the details of the flight.
Once airborne on Saturday, the first 777X was swallowed quickly into the clouds as it headed north out of unpopulated areas and the Washington Coast on a flight path chosen for safety reasons. 777X First Flight Join us as the new Boeing 777X enters the next phase of its rigorous test program. Based on the most successful twin-aisle airplane ever, the Boeing 777, and with advanced technologies from the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the 777X will be the largest and most fuel efficient twin-engine jet in the world, with an exceptional. The 777X test flight comes after Boeing's 737 Max plane was grounded following two fatal crashes. Boeing has successfully completed the first test flight of the world's largest twin-engined.
The first Boeing #777X is in flight. After a few hours of flying, the jet will land at Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington.
Track the flight here: https://t.co/ekfjglCcb7pic.twitter.com/XRTetREL4M
The #777X is en route and currently flying over eastern Washington. Visit our 777X event webpage to continue to track the flight: https://t.co/vORmt9mQ67pic.twitter.com/uSfN2CvCmD
— Boeing Airplanes (@BoeingAirplanes) January 25, 2020Preparing for landing. The new #777X is on final approach to Seattle’s Boeing Field after hours of testing over Washington state.
Join us #live soon to watch the airplane touch down: https://t.co/5Gu2KtsMJzpic.twitter.com/h7x1Vs3DWR
Congratulations to our customers and #777X team on today’s safe and successful flight, the first of many for the 777X as we continue our rigorous test program.
Continue the journey with us, signup for updates here: https://t.co/n7t9Os5Q6Ypic.twitter.com/rawf73V6x5
777x First Flight Live Stream
— Boeing Airplanes (@BoeingAirplanes) January 25, 2020777x First Flight Live Stream Today
Earlier in the day, Boeing officials said, as quoted by Reuters, that the maiden flight would continue 3-5 hours and then the model would be tested for months before the jetliner enters service with Emirates in 2021.
“To me, this is the flagship for the big airlines around the world ... it represents the great things we can do as a company”, 777X marketing director Wendy Sowers added.
According to information on the company's website, the new Boeing 777X is expected to be the world’s largest and most efficient twin-engine jet, which will deliver 10 percent lower fuel use and emissions and 10 percent lower operating costs than the competition.
The Boeing 777X has new GE9X engines, as well as greater cabin width and new composite wings. The aircraft was designed to hold 400 people, on average.
The company has said that 309 of the aircraft, worth more than $442 million each, were already purchased.
Boeing Co.’s newest plane is preparing to spread its gargantuan wings—so long the tips are hinged—and rumble into the skies over the Washington factory complex constructed a half century ago for the original jumbo jet.
First flights typically mark a crowning technological achievement for planemakers, capping years of invention and problem-solving. This flight, however, will be clouded with uncertainty for Boeing.
The 777-9 is the planemaker’s first new model since two fatal crashes led to the global grounding of its 737 Max. As the company works to restore its reputation for safety and technical prowess, the new aircraft will face heightened scrutiny from regulators, airlines and investors.
Safety aside, there’s concern that the jetliner is simply too big for today’s airlines. The -9 is longer than Boeing’s iconic humpbacked 747 and is the first twin-engine jet built to haul a similar load of travelers—426 people in a typical two-cabin layout. It’s also the company’s priciest airplane, available for a cool $442.2 million before customary discounts.
But sales have stalled since an initial order flurry when the 777X was unveiled at the Dubai Airshow in 2013, and long-expected orders from China haven’t materialized amid trade tensions. “It is feeling like the plane is too big for most markets, for most airlines,” said George Ferguson, an aviation analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence.
The 777-9—the first model of the 777X family—is taking off into a turbulent market for aviation’s behemoths as the four-engine jets it was designed to replace fade into the sunset. Airbus SE is building the last of its A380 double-decker jets, while the future of Boeing’s 747 is very much in question with just 17 orders unfilled and a critical supplier shutting down production.
With 115 of the 777X still on order, Emirates accounts for more than half of Boeing’s total backlog. The long-haul carrier is also the largest customer for Airbus’s superjumbo. But as the A380 fades out of the global fleet over the next decade or so, it’s not a given that its operators will adopt the 777X to overcome congested hubs. For now, the trend is to bypass the industry’s biggest airports with smaller long-range jets.
“Most airlines that we’re dealing with are not interested in replacing [four-engine jets] with the largest twin-engine wide-bodies,” Steven Udvar-Hazy, chairman and founder of Air Lease Corp., said during a November earnings call. “Actually the trend is the other way,” he added, noting interest in smaller planes like Boeing’s 787 and Airbus’s A350.
The market may come around as the 777X takes flight and demonstrates its capability, however. It is an expensive airplane, Udvar-Hazy said, so airlines will likely wait and see how it performs before deciding on orders
The plane features stunning composite wings, the longest Boeing has ever built, with a span of 235 feet 5 inches (71.75 meters) when fully extended. The 777X will be instantly identifiable by its most distinctive feature: Hinges that flip the sculpted wingtips skyward for easier maneuvering around crowded taxiways.
While that design is a first for a commercial jetliner, it leans on concepts that have been around for about a century for military aircraft, said Mike Lombardi, Boeing’s corporate historian and archivist. The company’s F/A-18 Hornet, for instance, folds its wings to save space on carrier decks.
“It’s a very tried and true technology,” Lombardi said. “But I don’t think we’re going to be landing a 777X on a carrier deck any time soon.”
By Julie Johnsson