See Boeing's Etch A Sketch flight path
You'll probably have memories of a classic childhood toy after seeing this Boeing 787 route.
Boeing sure knows how to make 18-hour flights look amazing. (Click to enlarge.)
(Credit: Flight Aware)It's fair to say the planners at Boeing Test & Evaluation spiced up a recent extended operation test of the Boeing 787.
Spanning 9,000 nautical miles over 12 states, the 787's impressive route spells out "787" and the Boeing logo like a giant Etch A Sketch in the sky. The next-generation commercial airplane took off on February 9 at 1:33 p.m. from Boeing's airfield in Washington state, and landed this morning at 8:45 a.m. Some of the turns needed to create the numbers and logo seem like they'd send a stomach into a spin, but the zoomed-out map exaggerates the sharpness of the turns.
Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing for Boeing, spoke briefly in a blog post about the artistic flight: "It was an 18 hour Maximum ETOPS (Extended Operations) Duration flight test for a 787-8 with GE engines. Our team coordinated with the many air traffic control centers, choosing the routing to avoid restricted airspace."
Last August, the aviation company conducted a similar test with a 747 that loosely looked like "747."
