boeing

Fans of the 747, rejoice! Boeing's flagship jumbo jet is one step closer to flying paying passengers.

Today at its huge Everett, Wash., assembly plant, the aviation giant handed over the very first 747-8 Intercontinental, the next generation of perhaps the most famous airplane in history.

At an event at the plant, about 45 minutes north of Seattle, Boeing delivered the first new 747, a special "VIP" version that will be modified to carry 100 passengers in what has to be assumed is very luxurious style, to "an undisclosed customer." This first plane will be … Read more

A management swap at the top of Boeing's much-hyped 787 Dreamliner program is shining a spotlight on the airline industry's frustration at the slow pace of deliveries of the fuel-efficient and technically advanced plane.

Today, Boeing said that it's shuffling the leadership of the Dreamliner and 777 programs, with Larry Loftis, formerly vice president and general manager of the 777 program, moving into the Dreamliner program's top position. At the same time, Scott Fancher, formerly the VP and GM of the 787 program, is now taking over the 777 efforts.

While Boeing neither characterized the switch … Read more

Now this is clever marketing.

Over the last few months, Boeing has been sending its next-generation airplane, the 787 Dreamliner, all over the world on a goodwill tour meant to impress country after country with its composite materials, its curved wings, and of course its fuel efficiency.

But this month, the aviation giant sent one of its Dreamliners on a very precise flight over the United States. Over the the last two weeks, a 787 has been plying the skies of America, tracing out "787" and Boeing's signature logo over much of the northern U.S.

To … Read more

I live in a place that a lot of big airplanes fly over just after taking off from San Francisco International Airport. While I'm by no means perfect at it, I can often tell you what kind of jet is overhead, and even where it's going. There's a lot of people like me.

But there's also people who don't know anything about planes, and who can't tell the difference between very distinct behemoths like Boeing's 747 and Airbus' A380, let alone jets that on quick inspection look very similar, like Boeing's 737 … Read more

It's fair to say the planners at Boeing Test & Evaluation spiced up a recent extended operation test of the Boeing 787.

Spanning 9,000 nautical miles over 12 states, the 787's impressive route spells out "787" and the Boeing logo like a giant Etch A Sketch in the sky. The next-generation commercial airplane took off on February 9 at 1:33 p.m. from Boeing's airfield in Washington state, and landed this morning at 8:45 a.m. Some of the turns needed to create the numbers and logo seem like they'd send a stomach into a spin, but the zoomed-out map exaggerates the sharpness of the turns. … Read more

Here at Geek Gestalt, every day is different. The world of geek culture is broad--sometimes bewilderingly so. A typical year's coverage can easily include stories on everything from Burning Man to Lego, aviation to 3D printing, NASA to tech startups, MythBusters to Pixar movies, and so on.

That makes coming up with predictions for next year in culture a difficult task--but we're here to serve, so that's just we're offering. Of course, trying to settle on just five ideas for 2012 means leaving a lot of things out.

Still, prognosticating culture's next steps meant talking … Read more

Starting in the spring, the Hummingbird will be on sentry duty in Afghanistan.

The U.S. Army is getting ready to deploy a trio of prototype A160 Hummingbird drones as it evaluates the aircraft for a more full-fledged development program. One key characteristic that sets these unmanned air vehicles apart from others, such as the Predator, already more famously serving in the war zone is that the Hummingbirds are rotorcraft--that is, they fly like helicopters rather than planes.

The Hummingbirds will be equipped with DARPA's Argus-IS sensor system, which features a 1.8-gigapixel color camera--gear that the Army a … Read more

In 2011, Boeing's 787 Dreamliner carried passengers for the first time, and the space shuttle landed for the final time.

For aviation buffs and aerospace junkies, those were the signature events of the year. In the case of the shuttle, there were actually three such moments, and each time we got more verklempt: Discovery, Endeavour, and Atlantis all flew their final missions. But as the door closes on that 30-year piece in history, a window is opening to private space ventures like SpaceX and the newly unveiled Stratolaunch effort from Paul Allen and Burt Rutan.

Boeing got a lot … Read more

Boeing said today that it has received FAA certification for its flagship 747-8 Intercontinental, putting the plane on course for first delivery to its launch partner Lufthansa "early next year."

The company said the certification from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration "validates that the design of the 747-8 Intercontinental is compliant with all aviation regulatory requirements and the production system can produce a safe and reliable airplane, conforming to the airplane's design."

The aviation giant first unveiled the Intercontinental last February, and the plane made its first flight last March 20.

The new 747 … Read more