Boeing Co's newest 747 passenger jet took to the skies for the first time yesterday, marking the third maiden flight of a new Boeing commercial airplane in the past 15 months, reported the Wall Street Journal. Painted in its orange and red "sunrise" livery, the massive, four-engine 747-8 Intercontinental lifted off from Paine Field, north of Seattle, at 10 am local time under partly cloudy skies and gusty northerly winds. At 250 feet long, the 747-8 is 18 feet longer than its predecessor, the 747-400, and is the largest commercial plane ever built by Boeing. After a 4 1/2-hour test flight, the big jet landed at Boeing Field in Seattle at 2:25 pm. At a press conference following the flight, Boeing's two test pilots said the first flight was a success, which enabled them to complete a number of standard checks to begin the official flight-test regime. The flight-test programme will involve about 600 flight hours, which should last through the summer, according to Elizabeth Lund, the 747 programme manager. In February 2010, the 747-8 freighter flew for the first time. Now nearly two years behind schedule, the freighter version of the jet encountered significant problems during its flight-test programme and Boeing now expects to deliver the first freighter to Cargolux Airlines International by this summer. The first 747-8 passenger jet is to be configured for a private customer, likely in the Middle East. The first airliner is slated for delivery to German carrier Lufthansa sometime in early 2012, assuming Boeing runs into no trouble during the flight test certification of the Intercontinental. Boeing has 114 orders on the books for the 747-8, with 76 for the cargo version and 38 for the passenger model. source: cna