The Andy Aupperlee Explosion 5000

We waited, hundreds of us, in the cold and wet December Pacific Northwest weather. Shortly after 10 AM, the first-ever 787 Dreamliner pulled away from the flightline. It taxied down the runway, turned around and fired up its two Rolls Royce Trent 1000 engines. Seconds later it filled the viewfinder of my Nikon as I held down the shutter release, clicking off 6 frames a second as it climbed into the atmosphere. Within moments the 787 was a spec against the cloudy sky, and several minutes later it vanished into the horizon. After almost a decade of hard work and billions of dollars in investment, the flying 787 Dreamliner became reality.

Earlier in the morning at around 8 AM, I walked a mile from another Boeing building to Paine Field. As I made my way across the tarmac, I ran into a couple of friends who had also made the trek to witness the 787′s first flight. The flight line was electric—hundreds of Boeing employees braved the elements to catch a few fleeting glimpses of an aviation first. To shoot the scene I rolled with some heavy artillery, specifically the Nikon D300 and the Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D lens.

While we were waiting for the first flight to commence, a helicopter from Blackcomb Aviation fitted with an IMAX camera panned the crowd from 30 feet above the crowd. It reminded me of the badass rig the guy from Brain Farm Cinema has.

Buzz on the flight line was that the flight could be called off if the weather got too nasty. Sweeper trucks made several passes on the runway to clear off standing water. Apparently the conditions weren’t too dangerous which was evident when a Bombardier Challenger (painted in the Boeing Corporate Fleet livery) landed a few minutes before first flight was scheduled. After hours of waiting, the jetway finally pulled back and the 787 taxied onto the runway. The crowed erupted in cheers as first flight was not almost certainly eminent.

I noticed a large cone attached to the tail of the 787. An engineer later explained to me that this device mechanically measures air speed. It is attached to lines and gauges inside the plane that determine air speed based on resistance—all analog. This seems strange considering the cutting edge technologies harnessed to design, build and operate the 787, but I guess there’s always room for an old school method or two.

After taxiing down the runway, the 787 turned around to face the north. If it wasn’t so stereotypically overcast, the airplane would have pointed straight at Mount Baker. Mike Carriker, 787 Chief Test Pilot, fired up the engines. The chase airplanes, two old military trainer jets, came up from the south and nearly stalled as they tried to match the takeoff speed of the 787. The aircraft quickly reached 140 knots, and with the two trainer jets and an IMAX outfitted helicopter chasing, it lifted off the ground for the very first time. Everett erupted in cheers.

The first thing I noticed about the airplane was how absolutely SICK the wings looked. They gracefully sweep back and look more like a bird of prey than a commercial jet. Bad ass, Boeing. Bad ass.

For more photos of the 787 Dreamliner First Flight, visit my Flickr set. For more information on the 787, check out newairplane.com.