Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental Makes Maiden Flight Beginning Its Certification Test Programme
Boeings latest airliner to fly, the 747-8 Intercontinental, recently began its flight test programme with the takeoff on its maiden flight from Paine Field in Everett, Washington State, a flight which was to last four-and –a quarter hours.
The takeoff was witnessed by several thousand employees, customers, numerous suppliers and community leaders. The aircraft later landed at Boeing Field, in Seattle. The 747-8 InterContinental’s flight test progamme will finish towards the end of this year.
With 747 chief pilot, Mark Feuerstein, and Capt. Paul Stemer at the controls, the flight of the newest member of the 747 family was the start of more than 600 flight hours in the testprogramme for the new 747-8I. The aircraft followed a route over eastern Washington, where if underwent tests for basic handling and performance .It reached a cruising altitude of 19000 feet and speeds of up to 250 knots.
In fact, the maiden flight of Boeings latest and largest passenger aircraft went so well that Capt.Feuerstein”squeezed in” a few man oeuvres not ordinarily flown on a first flight.
For example, Feuerstein put the rudder all the way to the floor while rolling the jet a little to maintain a steady heading. That made it fly at an angle to the direction of travel, with the pilot’s side window facing forward.”It flew just fine and as expected,” he said.
The new 747-8 Intercontinental, painted in a vivid Orange-and-white livery with grey and gold striping, crisscrossed the state for those flight test manoeuvres.On the way, Feuerstein positioned the jet with Mount Baker as a backdrop for some photos taken from a chase plane.”It was one of the cleanest first flights of a new airplane I’ve seen,” Feuerstein said.”It just went perfectly.”
Although the future of the 747 jumbo jet was the focus that day, its past was also recognized. As the giant plane rolled down the runway for takeoff from Paine Field, in Everett, the initials JFS were clearly visible on the nose landing gear door. That is in honour of Joe Sutter (middle name Frederick), the famed chief engineer on the original 747,which first flew in 1969.Sutter,who turned 90 the following day, watched the takeoff from the side of the runway ,along with other VIPs, including Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO,Jim Albaugh.
Just over four hours later, utter was at Boeing Field to see the jet land and greet the pilots as they emerged.
Speaking at the side of the runway, he deflected congratulations away from himself.”It was the people of Boeings achievement,” Sutter said.”I helped a little bit.” Although the 467-seat jet has sold slowly so far, its first flight sets the stage for what Boeing believes will be a successful sales year.
Shortly before the first flight, Air China ordered five 747-8IS, bringing the total to 38 orders for the passenger model and 76 for a freighter version.
The 747-8 Intercontinental has a list price of $ 317-million, but large discounts are standard and aircraft-valuation firm, Avitas, has estimated that the real market price is about 6-million.
It is claimed to be the longest airliner in the sky at 76, 3 metres (250feet), with a 68, 5 metre (224-foot) wingspan. The tail height is 19,4 metres and the interior cabin width is 6,1 metres.The giant Airbus A380 has a length of 72,8 metres (238 feet) but carries more passengers.
Powerpalnts/Range
Both the -8Freighter and the passenger version are powered by four GEnx-2B67 engines with a maximum thrust of 66500 pounds each. They share a common maximum all up weight of 442250 kilograms (975000 lbs-just 25000 pounds short of a million).
The InterContinental’s maximum fuel capacity is 242470 litres (approximately 66055 US gallons) which gives it a range of up to 8000 nautical miles, as against the Freighters maximum fuel uplift 229980 litres and maximum range of 4390 nautical miles.
This gives the Intercontinental the ability to connect typical city pairs such as New York and Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Mumbai, or London and Singapore. Typical cruising speed of the 747-8I is Mach 0,855 as against that of the Freighters MACH 0,845.
The Intercontinental s typical seating configuration in three classes is 467 and its total cargo capacity is 161,5 cubic metres which enables it to carry seven pallets and 16 LD-1 containers plus bulk storage of 18.1 cu.m The Overall revenue volume is 110,3 cu.m
The B747-8I has an extended forward fuselage hump with a row of upper-deck windows that stretch all the way back to the wings. The wings are newly designed, as are the engines and the advanced flight deck. Parked alongside the 747-8 Intercontinental as Paine Field were 11 completed freighter versions of the jet, including the first one scheduled to be delivered mid-year, which will go to Cargolux.
I flight tests of the earlier freighter model, some problems emerged: barely perceptible vibration at the wingtips and in a movable control surface on the wing during extreme flight conditions.
Brian Johnson, 747-8 deputy test programe manager, said that because the upper deck of the passenger jet was so much longer than the cargo vrsion, the aircraft was structurally and aerodynamically different. So the vibration problem that occurred on the freighter version may or may not materialize.
“We need to get it up in the air and fly it to see,” he said. As for the freighter versions vibration, he added: “We’re essentially done with that.” Boeing awaits only a formal signoff from the FAA.
Flight Testing
The 747-08I which undertook the types maiden flight, will be the first passenger model delivered. Industry “buzz” suggests it will go to the Government of Kuwait, one of two VIP versions of the jet the Kuwaitis have ordered.VIP customers typically take their aircraft to outside designers to be fiited with lavish customized interiors, at an added cost that can easily top -million.
On this maiden trip, however, the jet was prepared not for royal luxury but for serious flight testing.Inside, Orange wiring snaked along the floor to racks of electronic boxes and computers in the centre of what will be the passenger cabin.
The cavernous interior space was otherwise largely empty except for dozens of squat, black water barrels fore and aft, connected by tubes.
During the upcoming flight tests, water that serves as ballast will be pumped around these barrels to simulate various loads. At the back of the cabin, a device resembling a giant hamster wheel, about a metre in diameter, was installed. During test flights, this wheel reeled in, from the tip of the vertical tail, a long tubular line attached to a cone-shaped sensor that took air pressure readings well away from the fuselage. A second test aircraft, which was due to have flown as this edition was being distributed, is outfitted with a complete passenger-cabin interior. About 600 hours of flight tests are planned.
Rival To Airbus A380
The 747-8Is prospects are much debated in the industry. Prominent aviation entrepreneur, Steven Udvar-Hazy, chief executive of Air Lease, said at a recent conference in Phoenix, Arizona, that the 747-8 freighter jet was “in a class by itself” and would sell well for the next 15 to 20 years. Still, he thought many passenger airlines that wanted to buy Boeing would choose the slightly smaller, but more efficient 777, rather than 747-8.
“They’ll get some sales,” Udvar-Hazy said, “but I don’t see is as a massive number of units.”
The 747-8 passenger jet is also up against the larger Airbus A380 super-jumbo airliner. The A380 is shorter, though with a full –length double-decker passenger cabin, it is larger overall and can carry 525 passengers in three classes.
Boeing, on the other hand, claims that the 747-8I offers airlines better operating economics than the A380. According to Airbus, airlines will likely configure the Boeing plane with closer to 400 seats than 467.
Indeed, Lufthansa, scheduled to be the first airline to put the 747-8I into passenger service early next year, says it plans around 380 seats.
Lufthansa has ordered both 15 Airbus A380s for its highest-density routes as wellas 20 B747-8 InterContinental’s.
