First Photos of Boeing 787 Dreamliner
There's a bit of a war brewing in the airline industry, with the major aircraft players trying to out-do each other. Airbus's main baby is the A380, a huge monster of a craft capable of carrying 840 passengers. Boeing is going a different route with its 787 Dreamliner, which was spotted in the wild by intrepid aircraft fan Charles Conklin. Charles hung outside a hangar to capture the first 787 as it rolled its way out of assembly at the Boeing plant. As you can see, the 787 is still naked without a coat of paint. Charles posted his pics at the hugely popular aircraft forum Airliners.net.
The 787 carries a maximum of 330 passengers. The idea here was to make a lighter, more efficient craft for airlines interested in reducing fuel costs and operating more efficiently. To enable this, much of the 787 is created from lightweight composites like carbon fiber, including the entire wings. In fact, according to an excerpt from 'Avation Week,' both wings can theoretically be bent upward far enough that they could touch tips before the wings would break. Let's just hope they don't bend that far mid-flight.
From Flightstory and Wired Blogs
Gallery: Boeing 787
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