Flight 08, the first flight of the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental, has taken off from Paine Field at Everett north of Seattle. This is the ultimate version of the Boeing 747 family, writes Ben Sandilands.
Boeing 747-8
The ‘red’ 748-Intercontinental paint job worked
As we were quick to suggest on roll out day, the red ‘sunrise’ livery on the first of the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinentals was a vivid indication of where Boeing saw it winning more orders, with the announcement that Air China had ordered five, reports Ben Sandilands.
Boeing’s freeze over cold soak tests
Airliners must pass a test in which they are left unpowered and unheated for prolonged periods at -40C to prove the integrity of their components in polar conditions. So why aren’t Boeings new planes doing the tests? asks Ben Sandilands.
The final chapter in the 747 story
The latest and final version of the Boeing 747 line of jumbo jets, the 747-8, has taken flight in America, heralding the beginning of the end for the 747 story.
The tragedy of Boeing’s demise
In many respects, Boeing is a metaphor for failed corporations, and the wider failings of modern US business managements to engage with the realities of design and production.
Can Boeing really build jets anymore?
Barely a week after Boeing was bragging to the media about its amazing new plane, the 747-8, it has announced it won’t even be flying this year, and will take a US$1 billion hit because of problems with the project. What a joke, says Ben Sandilands.
