THE first Boeing 787 Dreamliner with General Electric (GE) engines, the airplane referred to as ZA005, completed its first flight following a three hour and 48 minute flight over the state of Washington and were received by a welcoming committee of GE executives and Boeing employees.

Captains Mike Bryan and Mike Carriker completed the flight with Capt Bryan in command, who said: "It was just like every other 787 flight that I've flown in the last several months - smooth, per plan and excellent."

Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice president and 787 programme manager Scott Fancher said the fifth Dreamliner joins the flight-test fleet and kicks off flight testing with GE engines. "It's taken the collective resources and dedication of our teams to get to this day. There's just nothing like a first flight to validate that it has been worth the sacrifices we have all seen our teams make in the past several years," he said.

ZA005 will be used to test the GE engine and demonstrate that the changes made to it do not change the aircraft's handling characteristics. The sixth, and final, 787 to join the flight test programme is expected to fly before the end of July.

Fifty-six customers around the world have ordered 860 of the all-new twinjet 787s since the programme was launched in April 2004, making the Dreamliner the fastest-selling new commercial jetliner in history. Delivery of the first 787 is planned for the fourth quarter of 2010.

Source: shipping online