See how that vertical 787 takeoff looked from the cockpit
The Internet was wowed by footage of a Boeing Dreamliner taking off at an extreme angle. Now see what it looked like from the pilot's perspective.
- Finalist for the Nesta Tipping Point prize and a degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Boeing's new 787-9 Dreamliner passenger jet is a big-boy plane, and last week we saw that it's capable of some big-time maneuvers. Boeing released a video of the jet making what looks like a near-vertical takeoff from a runway in Washington state in preparation for the Paris Air Show happening this week.
The video has since amassed nearly 10 million views on YouTube, and now Boeing has released some additional footage to take advantage of a new feature Google's video site has been testing called "Choose Your View."
The multiple-view experience, which works best in a desktop or laptop browser, can be found on Boeing's YouTube channel and allows you to experience that crazy takeoff and the brief flight that follows from three different angles -- looking at the 787 from outside, the pilot's view from the cockpit and a view inside the cockpit itself where you can see the pilots doing their thing.
The earlier footage of the extreme takeoff -- which reportedly requires the plane to be nearly empty and without a full tank of fuel to execute -- cuts away at a few points, which made me wonder if there were some tricks of perspective going on.
While Boeing has yet to release any details of the actual pitch of the insane ascent, this new footage doesn't cut away as the plane is hitting the apex of its initial arc, and the result is actually more impressive than the video that went viral last week.
Boeing told CNET's Crave blog in an email that the multiple-view perspective was created by mounting cameras inside the cockpit and shooting a third view from a chase helicopter. The company says the 787-9 is 20 feet longer than its predecessor 787-8, but is just as fuel- and emission-efficient.
As someone who has suffered my fair share of airsickness, the view of the pilots in the cockpit calmly using ever-so-slight movements to make this massive plane perform what must surely be stomach-quaking maneuvers is perhaps the most impressive perspective of all.
The Choose your View video is not yet embeddable, but you can check it out here.