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Boeing's 747-8 Goes For Its Very First Flight

March 21, 2011 at 12:36 PM | by | Comments (0)

While we were watching our bracket get destroyed over the weekend—thanks again VCU—some pilots at Boeing were doing something a little more important. The company’s biggest airplane to date took its first official test flight on Sunday, and as far as we know, everything went great.

In fact, things went so well, that the test pilot of the 747-8 even threw in a couple maneuvers usually not performed during a test flight; however, we doubt he did any loops or a barrel roll. The weekend’s test plane is slated to go to a VIP client, and the rumor is that it will be shipped off to the government of Kuwait.

If you’re looking to fly on one of these big birds anytime soon—they’re actually longer than the Airbus A380—you’ll have to wait until 2012. That’s when it’s expected that Lufthansa will launch the first commercial flights with the new plane. Even though the plane can seat around 467, they’re only installing around 380 seats—so that’s promising to our knees.

The 747-8 might not have the wow factor of the Airbus A380 or its sibling the 787, but it’s still a brand new airplane, and we can’t wait until tickets—especially for the upper deck—become available to us common folk.

Related Stories:
· Boeing's Biggest Passenger Jet Completes First Flight [Seattle Times]
· Boeing Reveals One of Its First 747-8 Jumbo Jets to The Public [Bloomberg]
· Airplane News coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Boeing]

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