The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner flew over me today!

[gateley]

I was outside and looked up, and there was a large jet flying real LOW and real SLOW -- and off its right wingtip was a smaller jet. The thoughts went through my head -- plane in distress, terrorist threat, test flight. Then as it continued toward the West I saw it from behind and recognized those beautiful, graceful, distinctive swooping wings, so surmised it was heading down to Boeing Field.

What was noticeable was how quiet it was. Didn't sound like a big jet at all.

[Rick Myers]

1. Very cool...

Can't wait to see one coming into MSP

[gateley]

4. You'll have to be alerted, because you sure won't be able to hear it!

I am so excited about this plane, and was so disappointed with all the problems it has encountered. A friend's husband was on the team (I'm not sure in what capacity) and he became so frustrated he asked to be transferred to another division. He wanted so badly for it to be a success, but got discouraged.

[virgogal]

2. Lucky you----what a georgeous plane.

[tabatha]

3. What are the advantages of the swooping wings?

[TheBigotBasher]

5. Fuel economy

The battle is on in terms of what is more fuel efficient, a smaller plane with better fuel efficiency, or a much larger plane with better fuel efficiency per passenger.

[phasma ex machina]

12. Betcha a half full small plane beats a half empty big plane every time. nt

[TheBigotBasher]

16. The Airbus

despite the company name, is not a taxi service. The Dreamlander can become that, replacing the US "bus planes". In many ways they are both different and complementary planes. The Airbus taking passengers to hubs served by the dreamlander.

[madrchsod]

6. maybe they finally figured out how to make a bird`s wing

[gateley]

8. I couldn't tell you from an engineering standpoint -- just did a quick search

and although they referenced them, didn't specifically say how they were an improvement over the standard wings.

[bfarq]

10. Presumably more lift for less weight

Winglets were introduced on many aircraft 10 or 15 years ago. The idea (in lay terms) is that the lifting is don by the top of the wing as there is a drop in pressure that causes a sucking effect upward. In order to maintain the greatest pressure differential, you need all the air to go over the top of the wing surface. Any air that spills off the end of the wings is lost lift potential. The winglets limit that loss, but they introduce some unproductive drag.

It seems to me that this wing design is a way to allow the air to "spill off the end" sort of -- but instead of spilling off the end, the "spilling" air continues to travel up the wing surface and therefore is still productive in creating lift.

I'm sure an aerodynamics engineer could give a much better description.

[Captain Hilts]

7. Very cool!

[Bluebear]

9. Did you take that photo?

Kidding :)

[gateley]

11. Yeah, I'll probably get busted for grabbing it from Boeing's site. :-) nt

[MercutioATC]

13. Well, nothing fell off of it (that you know of). That's a good sign.

It's a cool plane, but talk about a production clusterfuck!

[gateley]

14. I know -- headache after headache! I hope they have somewhat smooth

sailing from here on out.

[MercutioATC]

15. I'd like to think they'd learned their lesson about outsourcing...

Maybe they have.

I do plan to fly on one sometime, though. Really interesting aircraft.