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Strega

Boeing 787 Flight Plan

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There essentially flying the Boeing symbol plus a 787??

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There essentially flying the Boeing symbol plus a 787??

Yup.. makes me think it is a testing flight

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Obviously doing it at night helped, but I can only imagine it took a lot of coordination with FAA to fly on non-eastablished routes at 35K feet. We used to do training from 20K-25K (well below most airliners) over about a 30 mile radius (in a non-military operating area) and we were always being called by ATC because we were approaching traffic of some sort or another.

On another note, I used to fly with a program that flew in support of The Treaty on Open Skies. While DoD executes the mission, it is flown under the control of Dept of State, since it is a treaty. We used to fly to Russia and take pictures of whatever we wanted, but they could do the same in return. Most of you would be pretty surprised to know that every single square inch of US territory is open for the Russians to photograph to about a 30cm resolution. Yes, even all the places that I as a military pilot couldn't fly, the Russians have access to. Even smack dab over the center of the Pentagon, White House, Area 51, any military function, etc. When we are in Russia, they flew on our plane to ensure we only photographed what was agreed to and vice versa when they are flying over the US. Well, they're not required to submit their flight plan until 48 hrs prior to take-off. Once they submit it, the entire US government is notified so the various agencies and departments can take whatever measures are necessary to do whatever they feel is necessary. The missions aren't flown along established airways, and when an Open Skies aircraft is flying, they are supposed to have a 20 mile bubble around them where no other aircraft are allowed to be. Well, commercial airplanes fly closer than that, especially when taking off and landing. Not only that, but the only other aircraft that have priority over an OS aircraft on a mission are MEDIVAC and Presidential movements. Yep, if the SecState or someone else other than a medical emergency or the President is flying, they have to get out of the way of the Russians So, on this one mission, the Russians propose to overfly Chicago and New York City in the same mission, in the middle of the day, and make a few circles over each city it so they can ensure they get all the photos they want. You can only imagine the cluster that was caused for all the traffic going into and out of O'Hare and the NYC airports. Needless to say, we (the Russians actually), really screwed up a lot of airlines schedules and cost them a whole ton of money. But, we have the same privileges over Moscow...

So, the only time the USG asked the Russians to modify their proposed plan (you don't want to ask them to make concessions, as then you "owe" them one, it goes both ways), was when they were to overfly a Shuttle launch within about an hour of launch. It would cost the USG just too damn much to modify the launch, we we asked them to go around by about 25 miles. They agreed, and it all worked out. But whenever they are in the southeast, they always for some reason we can't figure out, overfly Disney World!

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I like that Boeing is having fun while flight testing the 787.

As far as coordination within the airspace it really isn't much to do anymore. Air Traffic Control systems are finally being upgraded and can plan aircraft positions many hundreds of miles along their filed routes to estimate any possible traffic separation problems. Like was said being the middle of the night certainly helps make it happen, but with the latest in Reduced Vertical Separation Minimums (RVSM) aircraft only need 25 miles horizontal and 1000' in vertical separation while in cruise flight. These days we rarely fly established airways and routinely get cleared "direct" to a fix 800+ miles away, even during the peak hours.

If you click on the hypertext (track log & graph) you'll see that the flight has been up and down from various altitudes and is now level at 41,000'. Once they got to 41000, and being overnight, they'll be just about the only aircraft that high and can fly whatever routes they want in whichever direction they desire. Typically flights will be Eastbound at odd thousand feet and westbound at even thousand feet, but when the only aircraft in an area pilots can request an altitude "wrong way" for the direction of flight, ex. 41,000' Westbound.

Also, Boeing is ALWAYS doing flight tests at all altitudes in the Northwest. They have production and overhaul facilities at Boeing Field, Tacoma airport (not Sea-Tac) and Payne Field in Everitt. There may be more too that I haven't seen. Every time I'm in the area I hear a Boeing company airplane requesting a block of airspace for the next few hours to conduct their pre-delivery tests or in the case of the 787, certification testing.

To me, having read the flight plan route, I'd hate to be the guy that had to load all of those lat/long fixes in the Flight Management System (FMS) or be the one to check it, or have to recheck it... Although I'm not sure they'd triple check the fixes for a domestic flight. That level of redundancy is normally reserved for flying the NAt-Tracks (North Atlantic Tracks, routes between the North America and Europe) and Pacific open ocean routes.

Oh yeah, very cool Strega. Thanks for sharing.

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19 hours aloft...that means, full fuel and zero passengers or bags. That's my best guess anyway. :)

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Still Going.

19 hours and only over Spokane. Still another 30 mins to go. To fly for 19.5 hours plus have 45 mins of reserve fuel at landing is pretty amazing. I'm trying to locate the distance traveled for this PR stunt but am coming up empty.

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My sister-in-law works at Boeing and knows a few of the flight engineers. They got a tour of the 787 test aircraft when it was at San Bernardino. They are doing Extended Operations qualifications on the new GE engines. Article here.

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:blink: is this whole thread some sort of code? I can read all the words but have no idea what you are talking about...

Is it a new plane? Bigger? More leg room? Hotter stewardasses? Free drinks? Can we avoid airports? what's the big deal? Help out a noob

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