A new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft — which is to be delivered to Air India — has successfully completed its first test flight in South Carolina, the plane manufacturing company has said.
“The airplane will now be flown to Texas to be painted with Air India's livery before returning to Boeing's South Carolina plant for a mid-2012 delivery,” an official statement said.
This is the first Dreamliner built in Boeing's South Carolina plant.
Test pilots, Mr Tim Berg, and Mr Randy Neville, flew the plane successfully during the five-hour test flight.
More than 5,000 Boeing employees watched a live broadcast of the aircraft as it took off from Charleston International Airport.
“This is a proud moment for our Boeing South Carolina team and for Boeing,” said Mr Jack Jones, Vice-President and General Manager, Boeing - South Carolina.
“In April, we gathered on the flight line to watch this plane roll out of final assembly. Today, we watched as this aircraft successfully completed its first production flight — one step closer to delivering our first South Carolina-built 787 Dreamliner to our customer,” Mr Jones said.
Boeing, in a statement, said the production flight test profile tested the plane's controls and systems in a series of scenarios designed to verify the plane operates as designed.
The tests took place in all stages of flight beginning prior to taxi, through final landing and taxi.
During the flight, the crew checked the functionality of onboard systems at high and medium altitudes.
They also checked back-up and critical safety elements including cabin pressurization, avionics, and navigation and communications systems.
In addition, they shut down and re-started each engine during flight, the Boeing statement said.