boeing 747-8

Boeing said today that it has received FAA certification for its flagship 747-8 Intercontinental, putting the plane on course for first delivery to its launch partner Lufthansa "early next year."

The company said the certification from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration "validates that the design of the 747-8 Intercontinental is compliant with all aviation regulatory requirements and the production system can produce a safe and reliable airplane, conforming to the airplane's design."

The aviation giant first unveiled the Intercontinental last February, and the plane made its first flight last March 20.

The new 747 … Read more

PARIS--As he neared the end of the nearly 10-hour flight from Everett, Wash., to the French capital and the Paris Air Show here, Boeing chief pilot Mark Feuerstein got some unexpected gratification.

"It was a real quiet flight over," Feuerstein said of the trip that began just an hour north of Seattle, where Boeing builds many of its biggest passenger planes. "But as we approached Paris, it became a big deal. People knew who we were, on the radio. It was exciting. A lot of the pilots in the area saw us and were commenting, asking, 'Is … Read more

Boeing today said one of its 747-8 freighters will be the first commercial jetliner to do a transatlantic flight on "biologically derived fuel."

According to the aviation giant, Boeing's Keith Otsuka and Rick Braun, along with Sten Rossby of Cargolux, will pilot the new plane to the Paris Air Show on Monday using a 15 percent camelina-based biofuel mix. The remainder of the fuel will be traditional Jet-A kerosene.

In a press release, the company described camelina as a plant grown in Montana and processed by Honeywell, and said that the freighter doesn't require any modifications … Read more

AT&T gets bigger, a whole lot bigger with its purchase of T-Mobile. Trust us, mobile plans won't be getting any cheaper. Sprint gets a few consolation prizes, Twitter is 5 years old and we feature the "Morning-After" App.

Boeing announced today that its all-new 747-8 Intercontinental, the longest passenger plane in its history, is expected to take its first flight on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, the aviation giant said that the plane--which it unveiled in a huge ceremony just last month--had passed what is called final gauntlet testing, which "simulates flight conditions to test systems and ensure flight readiness," Boeing said in a release, adding that as part of the testing process, its test pilots "put the airplane through its paces."

Over the next few days, then, the plane will be subjected to &… Read more

EVERETT, Wash.--An international press corps is descending on this town today, about 45 minutes north of Seattle, for the beginning of a two-day Boeing extravaganza to mark the formal unveiling of its next-generation 747-8 Intercontinental passenger plane.

The unveiling doesn't happen until tomorrow--today will be a factory tour and a look at some interior mockups of the new plane--but this morning, Boeing let this picture out: The first 747-8 Intercontinental rolling out, under wraps of course, from the paint shop.

Stay tuned for full coverage of the festivities.

OAKLAND INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT--As a big fan of airplanes, and plane travel, I'm excited to be sitting in the terminal here, waiting for my flight to Seattle. That's because starting tomorrow, I'll be covering three days of Boeing events, highlighted by the unveiling of the aviation giant's long-awaited 747-8 Intercontinental.

The next-generation of Boeing's iconic jumbo jet--probably the most famous airplane in history--is said to be highly efficient.

As Boeing puts it on its Web site:

The 747-8 Intercontinental is the only jetliner in the 400- to 500-seat market, stretched [18.3 ft] from the 747-400 … Read more

Updated at 4:28 p.m. PST with additional details about the 747-8F.

EVERETT, Wash.--With all the recent hoopla about the first flight of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, true aviation buffs may be the only ones aware that the most iconic jumbo jet of all time was also preparing for a crucial step forward.

And on Monday, it happened: the 747-8 Freighter, the next generation of Boeing's 40-year-old flagship jet, took off from Paine Field here, the first flight of the cargo version of what will be the longest commercial plane in the company's history, a very important advancement for the venerable 747 program.

The 747-8 is considered an essential airplane for Boeing, even as it proceeds with the 787 Dreamliner, because the former will be the aviation giant's entry in the more energy-efficient roster of planes that airlines and freight carriers are demanding for long-haul flights with high capacity for passengers and cargo. (The passenger version of the plane is set to arrive about a year after the cargo model.)

And while the passenger version of the 747-8 is perhaps sexier than the freighter that took off at 12:39 p.m. PST on Monday, the 747-8F's first flight is vital evidence that the 747 program is alive and well, and ready to move solidly into the 21st century.

Boeing says that the 747-8 will be quieter and far more fuel-efficient than the existing 747-400 series. It is thought that the passenger version will hold as many as 467 passengers, 51 more than on a current 747-400. The freighter version will offer 21 percent more lower-hold revenue cargo volume than the 747-400 and cost about 8 percent less per seat mile to operate, the company says.

A big part of the plane's improved efficiency comes from an innovative wing design which features double-slotted flaps inboard, and single-slotted flaps outboard, fly-by-wire spoilers and outboard ailerons. The plane also features GEnx-2B67 engines, similar to the GEnx engines that will power the 787 Dreamliner. The engine features a high-pressure compressor that is the most efficient and compact GE has yet produced, Boeing says. The result is said to be high fuel efficiency and low noise.

Boeing said the 747-8F will offer the lowest cargo cost-per-mile in the business. It weighs 154 tons, has a range of 4,390 nautical miles, a height of 63 feet, 6 inches, a wing span of 224 feet, 7 inches, and a length of 250 feet, 2 inches. It can reach Mach 0.85

The Monday takeoff was delayed by nearly three hours by low cloud cover, and the flight was scheduled for about four hours in the air, with a series of initial tests intended to demonstrate the plane's airworthiness.

But as Boeing deputy test program manager Brian Johnson said, Monday's flight was much more "a chief pilot time," as it marked the first opportunity for Capt. Mark Feuerstein, the man in that role in the 747 program, to have "four hours in the cockpit to just get comfortable with" the plane. … Read more

If Boeing is going to keep on producing jumbo jets with state-of-the-art networking technology, it may have to get used to dealing with government demands that it ensure the planes are not hackable.

Earlier this month, as reported by AVWeb, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued "special conditions" regarding Boeing's forthcoming 747-8--the next-generation of its iconic 747 line of planes--aimed at making sure that the new plane's high-tech networking systems are hack-proof.

The 747-8, which should have its first flight any day now, is intended to be a much more efficient and powerful version … Read more