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Boeing’s 777X jet completes its first test flight

777X takeoff
Boeing’s 777X jet takes off for its first flight from Paine Field in Everett. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle)

Boeing’s next-generation 777X wide-body jet completed its first flight today, providing a boost to the embattled company amid the 737 MAX crisis — and drawing rave reviews from its pilots.

The plane took off from Paine Field in Everett, Wash., next to Boeing’s wide-body jet assembly plant, headed eastward over Washington state and featured several rounds of maneuvers, including a photo op near Mount Rainier.

“It was awesome,” 777X chief test pilot Van Chaney told reporters at Seattle’s Boeing Field, where the nearly four-hour flight test ended at 2 p.m. PT.

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Boeing pulls out of DARPA space plane program

Phanton Express XS-1 space plane
An artist’s conception shows Boeing’s Phantom Express XS-1 space plane in flight. (Boeing Illustration)

The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency says Boeing is dropping out of its Experimental Spaceplane Program immediately, grounding the XS-1 Phantom Express even though technical tests had shown the hypersonic space plane concept was feasible.

“The detailed engineering activities conducted under the Experimental Spaceplane Program affirmed that no technical showstoppers stand in the way of achieving DARPA’s objectives, and that a system such as XSP would bolster national security,” DARPA said in a statement issued today.

In a follow-up statement, Boeing confirmed that it’s ending its role in the program after a detailed review.

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Stratolaunch keeps working on hypersonic vehicles

Stratolaunch hypersonic testbed
Stratolaunch’s swept-wing hypersonic testbed would be propelled by a rocket engine. (Stratolaunch Illustration)

It’s been three months since ownership of the Stratolaunch space venture was transferred from the late Seattle billionaire Paul Allen’s estate to a private equity firm, but the new owners say they’re still pursuing one of the old owner’s dreams: hypersonic flight.

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Boeing moves 737 MAX timetable to mid-2020

Boeing 737 MAX 9
A photographer takes a picture of the first Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet during its assembly at the company’s Renton plant in 2017. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle)

Boeing today acknowledged that it doesn’t expect 737 MAX airplanes to be back in service until mid-2020, months later than previously projected.

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Boeing goes negative in 2019 on net airplane orders

Parked 737 jets
Dozens of 737 MAX jets were parked at Seattle’s Boeing Field in July, as seen in a Planet SkySat satellite image. (Planet Image Processed by Leanne Abraham)

Amid its 737 MAX crisis, Boeing Commercial Airplanes is reporting a negative number for net orders in 2019, meaning that it booked more cancellations than new orders over the course of the past year.

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Boeing’s new CEO puts safety first on his first day

David Calhoun
Boeing’s new CEO, David Calhoun, gives a talk at Virginia Tech, his alma mater, in 2018. (Virginia Tech Photo)

Veteran aerospace executive David Calhoun took the reins as Boeing’s CEO today, telling employees in a company-wide email that his top priorities are to get the 737 MAX flying again and restore confidence in the troubled aerospace giant.

It was just the kind of email you’d expect Calhoun to send — and that’s the problem.

In the midst of what’s likely to be a yearlong grounding of Boeing’s most widely sold airplane, questions about other airplane programs ranging from the 777X to the yet-to-be-announced 797, and a setback to Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner space taxi project for NASA, bolder action will be needed.

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Iran admits shooting down 737 jet by mistake

Iran crash site
Emergency teams survey the wreckage left by the crash of a Ukrainian Boeing 737-800 passenger jet in Iran. (IRNA Photo)

Days after claiming that the catastrophic crash of a Ukrainian Boeing 737-800 plane was caused by a mechanical failure, the Iranian military acknowledged that it erroneously downed the jet with a missile strike, killing all 176 people aboard.

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U.S. officials suspect Iranian missile downed 737 jet

Crash scene in Iran
Teams from the Iran Red Crescent Society survey the Iranian site where a Ukrainian 737-800 jet crashed. (International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Photo via Twitter)

President Donald Trump and other U.S. officials today voiced suspicions that Iranian surface-to-air missiles brought down the Ukrainian Boeing 737-800 jet that crashed in Iran on Jan. 8 amid a volley of attacks.

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Ukrainian Boeing 737 jet crashes in Iran

A Ukrainian Boeing 737-800 jet carrying 176 people crashed tonight after taking off from Tehran’s international airport, killing all aboard, Iranian news media reported.

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In a reversal, Boeing calls for 737 MAX training

Boeing CEO in 737 MAX cockpit
Two Boeing test pilots check out a 737 MAX plane with updated flight control software in April 2019 while then-CEO Dennis Muilenburg watches from behind. Muilenburg was forced out of his corporate role last month due to his handling of the 737 MAX controversy. (Boeing Photo / Paul Weatherman)

Months after two accidents forced the worldwide grounding of 737 MAX passenger jets, Boeing is now recommending that pilots go through new rounds of MAX simulator training before the planes return to service.

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