Boeing Dreamliner completes first “uneventful” test flight
11 Feb 2013
US aircraft giant Boeing Inc has completed a successful test flight of its 787 Dreamliner aircraft, which has been grounded across the world since mid-January, following a series of incidents including a battery fire on an Air Nippon 787 aircraft in Boston last month.
The test plane which took off from Boeing's Seattle field on Saturday at 12:32 p.m. local time, flew more than two hours covering a distance of approximately 900 miles to gather information about problems with the batteries.
According to Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel, the flight was conducted with a crew of 13 pilots and test personnel, who monitored performance of the main and auxiliary power unit's lithium-ion batteries.
Using special equipment, the crew checked the status messages involving the batteries and their chargers, as well as data about battery temperature and voltage.
The test flight reached an altitude of 36,000 feet and its speed ranged from 435 to 626 miles per hour.
The flight was ''uneventful,'' he said.