747-8 completes first flight one day shy of 41st anniversary of original 747 flight

The 747-8 freighter achieved first flight yesterday, taking off from Paine Field in Everett, Wash., at around 12:40 p.m. local time following a nearly 3-hr. weather delay and landing at the same airport at 4:18 p.m., marking the start of flight testing for the latest derivative of Boeing's successful widebody program.

The flight occurred after two delays to the -8 program owing largely to overtaxed engineering (ATWOnline, Oct. 7, 2009) and one day short of today's 41st anniversary of the historic first flight of the 747-100. All indications were that yesterday's flight was successful. The manufacturer said the first flight of the -8 Intercontinental, the passenger version, will occur later this year.

The first 747-8F is destined for launch customer Cargolux, with delivery scheduled for the fourth quarter. It is one of nine customers that have ordered a combined 76 -8Fs. Boeing also has sold 32 -8Is, the latest ordered by Korean Air (ATWOnline, Dec. 7, 2009).

The GEnx-powered -8F at 76.3 m. is 5.6 m. longer than the 747-400 freighter and is designed to be 17% more fuel efficient. According to the manufacturer, the stretch provides 16% more revenue cargo volume, translating to four additional main-deck and three more lower-hold pallets.

Among the dignitaries on hand at Paine Field to observe the flight was Joe Sutter, the legendary lead engineer for the original 747. "It's amazing to me that this program has lasted 41 years," he said on a Boeing webcast following the landing. The longevity "says the basic design was right then and it's still right now."

Sutter noted that he always believed the 747 was an ideal cargo aircraft and was confident the freighter version of the -100 would be successful even if the passenger version was not. He remembered that he resisted entreaties by airlines to design the groundbreaking aircraft, in 1969 by far the largest ever built, as a narrow double-decker rather than a widebody. "If we had gone with the double-decker, neither the freighter nor the passenger versions would have lasted 41 years," he said.