Aircraft’s Roll-Out Was Last Month

On Wednesday, Boeing’s 787 program marked another milestone with the first flight of the first 787 built in the company’s South Carolina facility. The airplane made a successful five-hour test flight flown by pilots Tim Berg and Randy Neville while more than 5,000 Boeing South Carolina employees watched a live broadcast of the aircraft’s departure from Charleston International Airport.

Boeing Media reported that Jack Jones, vice president/general manager of Boeing South Carolina said "This is a proud moment for our Boeing South Carolina team and for Boeing. In April, we gathered on the flight line to watch this airplane roll out of final assembly. Today, we watched as this airplane successfully completed its first production flight - one step closer to delivering our first South Carolina-built 787 Dreamliner to our customer."

Wednesday’s flight tested the aircraft’s controls and systems to verify proper operation. During the flight, the crew checked the functioning of onboard systems at medium and high altitudes. Also tested were cabin pressurization, avionics and navigation and communications systems. Each engine was also shut down and restarted while aloft.

Pilot Tim Berg said "First flight of this South Carolina-built airplane is a significant achievement and our teammates did a great job working together to make this happen. The airplane performed exactly as we expected."

The airplane will be flown next to Ft. Worth, Texas to be painted before returning to Boeing South Carolina for a mid-2012 delivery to Air India. (Image provided by Boeing)

FMI: www.boeing.com