Feature Story

Sixth 787 Dreamliner soars

Dubbed ZA006, the sixth 787 Dreamliner soared into the sky on Oct. 4, 2010. Captains Christine Walsh and Bill Roberson were at the controls as the plane officially joined the 787 flight test program.

Boeing photo

Captain Christine Walsh, Boeing Flight Test pilot, looks into the General Electric GEnx engine during the pre-flight inspection.

"Any first flight is an exciting day," Capt. Walsh said. "It's exciting to have the number six airplane join the flight test fleet."

In this video, Capt. Walsh describes the first flight as you see her performing a pre-flight inspection before commanding the airplane to rotate for takeoff.

"We had unbelievable weather for a first flight. The airplane performed really well, it's a really nice flying aircraft," said Capt. Walsh.

ZA006 is the second 787 equipped with General Electric GEnx engines. The first four 787s are powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines. All the Dreamliners are devoted to specific testing profiles.

Last Updated: October 7, 2010 | Comments (0)