Aircraft
Boeing Test Flies 787 As Concerns of Prolonged Grounding Mount
Boeing 787 ZA005 takes off from Seattle's Boeing Field on Saturday for a two-hour, 19-minute test flight. (Photo: Boeing)
Boeing 787 ZA005 takes off from Seattle's Boeing Field on Saturday for a two-hour, 19-minute test flight. (Photo: Boeing)

Two days after the FAA cleared Boeing to fly 787 test missions over unpopulated areas, the company took prototype ZA005 on an “uneventful” flight over Washington state on Saturday. During the two-hour, 19-minute flight, 13 Boeing pilots and flight-test personnel used special equipment to observe and record details of the performance of the main and APU batteries during normal flight conditions. Boeing wouldn’t comment on what data it gathered, citing its potential bearing on the investigations into the battery failures that occurred last month on Japan Air Lines and All Nippon Airways airplanes.