The recent 747 8 is the 15th version of the venerable jumbo jet that goes back to 1969. The taxi test for the present one was hold on Saturday and it had gone successful. “The airplane performed well,” said Mo Yahyavi, 747 program vice president and general manager, in a release. “Based on early indications, the airplane is ready to fly.”(Source: Wichita Business Journal)

The 747-8 Freighter will carry up to 154 tons or 16 per cent more than the 747-400 Freighter. It features redesigned wings and new General Electric GEnx 2B engines.

Boeing’s European rival Airbus had planned a freighter version of the Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger jet. However, that program was put on hold in 2005 after FedEx Corp. and UPS Inc. canceled their orders, leaving Airbus with an empty order book for the cargo plane.

The first delivery was to have been in late 2009 and the first passenger version in late 2010, but Boeing pushed back the dates due to design changes, limited engineering resources and an eight-week strike that shut down factories.

The 747-8 freighter and passenger jets are much smaller than their A380 counterparts, which Boeing has touted as an advantage. It says the planes will cost less to operate than A380s and will be able to serve more markets.

The 747-8 passenger version will carry up to 467 people in three classes, with a range of just under 7,000 miles. Boeing says assembly of that plane is to begin around mid-2010, with the first delivery in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Both Boeing and Airbus have attempted to fill a hole left by the 757-200, the last delivery of which was in 2005 to Shanghai Airlines, although neither airframer has been able to build an adequate replacement.

Sources close to the program say that taxi tests are planned for Saturday and Sunday before the new freighter is cleared to fly on Monday, at which point weather will be the deciding factor for the green light to fly.

Chief project pilot Mark Feuerstein and engineering test pilot Tom Imrich will take the first 747-8F, designated RC501, on it’s first flight from Paine Field at the company’s Everett, Washington facility.

The first flight will kick off a certification campaign that will culminate in the first delivery to Luxembourg-based Cargolux in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Dubbed the “Panda Express”, the 777F complete with a 149m2 (1,600ft2) panda decal on the nose section, will fly non-stop from Dulles International airport near Washington’s National Zoo, to Chengdu, China, with a small but significant payload – two giant pandas.

FedEx Panda Express 777 (FedEx)

By the end of 2010 Boeing “will have a number of 787s that are either completed or will be work in process, something north of 30,” says Randy Tinseth, Boeing VP of marketing.

Tinseth says the 787  flight test program is on track for first delivery to All Nippon Airways (ANA) late this year.

ANA said recently that it will take delivery of eight 787-8s between late 2010 and the conclusion of its fiscal year in March 2011.

Currently, 17 787s are in various stages of completion at Boeing’s Washington state facilities, including the six flight test aircraft, two of which are flying.

Boeing forecasts delivery of 460 to 465 aircraft in 2010, a handful of which will be 747-8s and 787s, says Tinseth.

Feuerstein, will captain the first flight. He was at the controls of the first 747-8F (RC501) yesterday as it underwent some final rigorous tests as the new Jumbo is prepared to fly. These closed-loop “gauntlet” tests trick the systems into believing the aircraft is flying, and test the responses.

With over 7,000 flying hours, Feuerstein was previously assistant chief pilot for both the 747 and 787 programmes and has also served as Boeing’s deputy military/special projects pilot. This saw him flight-testing various military derivatives of commercial aircraft such as the KC/RC-135, E-6 and E-767.

Once gauntlet tests are complete, RC501 will be prepared for taxi tests and then its first flight, which could take place before the end of January. The test program will involve three 747-8Fs and the bulk of the flying will be operated from Palmdale in California. Certification and first delivery to Cargolux is due before year-end.

1. Boeing must ensure electronic system security protection for the aircraft control domain and airline information domain from access by unauthorized sources external to the airplane, including those possibly caused by maintenance activity.

2. Boeing must ensure that electronic system security threats from external sources are identified and assessed, and that effective electronic system security protection strategies are implemented to protect the airplane from all adverse impacts on safety, functionality, and continued airworthiness.

In theory, the flight systems and passenger networks on the Boeing 747-8 and the ever-delayed Dreamliner are separated.

By optimising the A350 around the -900 as a baseline the airframer is adopting a similar strategy to its development of the A330-200/300.

It will potentially provide the -800 with a 3t increase in payload or extend its range by 250nm – although it will also raise the fuel-burn.

What is very interesting is that two analyst in the field, Saj Ahmad and Scott Hamilton, whose views sometimes run 180 degrees apart from each other are in agreement about the what Airbus should do with the A380. Both agree that the A380 program should be shut down because of the limited chance that Airbus would profit from the program. Saj Ahmad has advocated the A380 shut down for a few years now before the situation had worsen.

The major issue with the A380 is not the engineering or even the design but the huge flexibility that Airbus gave their customers in customizing the interiors of the A380. You have all these airlines with the A380 trying to out do each other in terms of on board passenger amenities and Airbus’ salespeople basically said, in a nutshell, “no problem, we’ll do that for you.” This, in my opinion, went on without regards to the engineering and production issues that would be involved in producing each and every A380 and is now pacing the A380 production. When you have to hand wire and in some cases put in specialized equipment like plumbing for the showers on Emirates’ A380s, the production is going to slow. Airbus is promising to deliver at least 20 A380s (they have to be deliberately ambiguous as the truly don’t know how many they’ll be able to produce) this, I think, is going to be a big reach for them.

Boeing plans a 3,700h test program for the new 747, consisting of 1,600 flight hours and 2,100 ground hours, according to Mohammad (Mo) Yahyavi, vice-president and general manager of the 747 program.

The flight-test fleet for the 747-8F will consist of three fully instrumented aircraft – the first aircraft RC501 – along with RC521 and RC522. These are the 1,420th, 1,421st and 1,422nd 747s built.

RC501 has been on the flightline since 18 November undergoing functional tests, while RC521 left the factory on 6 January and moved to the paint hangar on 9 January. RC522 is undergoing factory completion at the second slant position on the 747 final assembly line closest to the factory doors.