The Boeing 747 Dash 8 makes it first Flight………..

This from Aviation Week…..

Pilots Mark Feuerstein and Tom Imrich marched through their check off list so efficiently that they brought the first 747-8 in early on its debut flight and pronounced that it handles just like its predecessors. That is good news for Boeing, which is marketing the third generation of the world’s first widebody jet as being a follow-on in terms of its handling to what current crews are familiar with. These similarities are despite the fact that the 747-8 has a new, higher aspect ratio wing, a 19-foot fuselage extension, new General Electric GEnx-2B67 engines, new flight deck and a hybrid fly-by-wire system for roll control. “Any 747 crew in the world could have flown the flight that Tom and I did today,” Feuerstein said after their three-hour, 39-minute first flight in RC501, the first of three test airplanes in Boeing’s flight certification program. They are expected to complete 1,600 hours of flight tests before reaching certification late this year. “The basic architecture was right, so we’ll just keep going,” said Joe Sutter, the octogenarian father of the 747 program, of the big airplane’s longevity as he proudly watched the third generation flight test program begin. “So how was it?” asked a beaming Mo Yahyavi, general manager of the -8 development program of the cockpit team. “It was great,” answered Feuerstein. “It was a big day for a big airplane.” Low ceilings kept the flight grounded for 2.5 hours, but once the overcast cleared, Feuerstein and Imrich flew into clear skies and flew over Puget Sound, not venturing into eastern Washington as Boeing flight teams often do. Similarity with the 747-400 program is a major goal for the 747-8 because it will make the transition for airline crews faster and cheaper since less simulator time will be needed. Feuerstein said he realized within the first minutes of flight that the airplane was like its predecessors. “As soon as we took off” it was apparent, he said. “It just felt like I expected.” The next flight is not expected for two to three weeks as data from the first test series is analyzed. Once RC501 begins flying again it will not stay at Paine Field, which is next to its factory here north of Seattle, for long. The test program will shift quickly to Boeing’s Moses Lake test facility for continued initial air worthiness flights and then shift to its permanent home in Palmdale, Calif. Although not part of the early test phase, fuel consumption was noted to be significantly lower compared to the 747-400, says the crew. Although flying in ‘off-nominal’ configurations for low fuel burn with flaps and gear down or combinations of different flight surfaces deployed, Feuerstein and Imrich both commented that the burn rate was “noticeably” different. Fuel burn improvements of as much as15-17% over the 747-400 are expected from the new wing and engines of the 747-8, and testing for cruise efficiency will be a critical element of the performance testing later in the program. “I didn’t even look at fuel flow until we were well into the flight,” says Feuerstein. Joking with ground engineers monitoring the flight in the telemetry room at Boeing Field, Feuerstein said at the time of the crew’s decision to return to land that “we’ve got enough gas for another eight hours.” The aircraft took off at a take-off weight of 630,000 lb, of which some 130,000 lb was fuel — well below its maximum fuel capacity and around two-thirds of its design maximum take-off weight of 975,000 lb. Feuerstein says 20 deg. flap was used and rotation was at “about 152 knots” with the landing made some three hours and 39 minutes later using 25 deg flap and touchdown at 151 kt. During the flight the aircraft reached a maximum altitude of 17,000 feet and a top speed of 230 knots, while all the major systems were tested and the gear cycled several times – including once with the alternate back-up retraction and extension system. “We also shut down all four engines, but only one at a time!” adds Feuerstein.

Here’s a link to a video of the Aircraft landing…..