
The eagerly anticipated arrival of the 787 Dreamliner here at Farnborough yesterday is a major boost to the troubled program’s credibility. If seeing is believing, this first opportunity for much of the global air transport industry to examine the 787 should bolster belief that the twinjet is just months away from entering commercial service– even though this key milestone is set to slip for a seventh time from late this year into 2011.
The Dreamliner touched down here just a bit before 9 a.m. yesterday after orbiting for a few minutes away from Farnborough in order to arrive in time for the moment to be captured by the assembled media cameras. Boeing assistant chief pilot Capt. Mike Bryan landed the aircraft with the use of reverse thrust after an 8 hour 37 minute overnight flight from Seattle. Comprising the 787 crew were technical test pilot Capt. Ted Grady and production test pilot Capt. John Frischkorn.