In December, we witnessed the first test flight of the Boeing 787, a new generation of super-efficient aircraft. The 787 test aircraft (ZA001 and ZA002) have now logged well over 100 hours of flight tests and are proving to be even more fuel-efficient than the designers thought. Well, on Monday another new Boeing, the 747-8, took to the skies for the first time. And this new model will also be a very thrifty plane if the first test flight is anything to go by.
In 1969, Boeing rolled out the first generation of true jumbo jet - the 747. Since then, new models have included the -200, -300 and -400 series. But when Boeing sat down to look at its next generation of big aircraft, they decided to re-engineer the 747 with a whole new wing, new engines (actually based on the 787's engines), and a stretched fuselage. They called it the 747-8 series and these new features were designed specifically to increase fuel efficiency.
As Jason Paur of Wired Magazine reports, they may have reduced fuel use even more than they thought:
"Well into the first flight of Boeing’s new 747-8, co-pilot Tom Imrich brought up the fuel page on a display in the cockpit. Chief pilot Mark Feuerstein did a double take when he saw it. The plane, which was burning less fuel than expected. “You’re generally familiar with the odd burns — off nominal, and you know what they are,” Feuerstein said, explaining the unusual flying conditions of a first flight. “I said, ‘This is amazing.’”
The test flights, and first deliveries of this new aircraft, are the frieght-only version. But the normal version, expected to carry around 465 passengers, has been sold to Lufthansa and Korean Air.
