Boeing 787 Completes Battery Certification Flight
Boeing 787 Line Number 86 takes off from Paine Field in Everett, Washington, Friday. (Photo: Boeing)
Boeing 787 Line Number 86 takes off from Paine Field in Everett, Washington, Friday. (Photo: Boeing)

Boeing took a significant step toward returning the 787 to service on Friday, when it flew Dreamliner Line Number 86 on a one-hour, 49-minute mission to demonstrate conformity of its battery system modification to U.S. certification authorities. Painted in LOT Polish Airlines livery, LN 86 took off from Paine Field in Everett, Washington, at 10:39 a.m. local time, traveled west, then south down the Washington State and northwest Oregon coastlines before turning around over the Pacific Ocean and virtually tracing its original flight path back to Everett, where it landed at 12:28 p.m.