(Posted 15th August 2025)
The fifth Washington-built Boeing 777-9 took off from Paine Field in Everett, Washington, Tuesday at 11:03 a.m., a sign of progress for the company’s widebody program as the team works to deliver the first airplane in 2026.
- The flight marked the first time in nearly five years the team built, prepared and flew a 777-9 airplane on its first flight.
Capt. Ted Grady, 777X chief pilot, and Capt. Mark Brown, 777-9 project pilot, completed the 2-hour, 27-minute flight profile to validate the airplane’s handling and performance.
- During the flight, Grady and Brown navigated a route over Washington, reaching an altitude of 39,000 feet (11,887 meters) and an airspeed of Mach .84 (511 knots), which is typical for a first flight.
- Zach Lewis and Joel Conard, systems operators, and Cody Bruinsma and Mike Deutsch, flight analysts, accompanied them. The airplane returned as planned to Paine Field at 1:30 p.m.
“The 777-9 flies beautifully, and this airplane performed just as we expected,” Grady said. “We appreciate the hard work of our coworkers who designed, built and prepared this airplane for flight. Together, we are going to get the 777-9 certified and in our customers’ fleets.”
Preparing for flight: Since the airplane rolled out of the factory last month, teams worked to fuel the 777-9, conduct engine runs and complete taxi tests.
- Michael Kellner coordinated across Engineering disciplines to support production teams as they completed the airplane and prepared it for flight.
- “We care for these airplanes; we even view them as our kids,” said Kellner, who joined Boeing as an Engineering intern over 16 years ago and serves as the Engineering ship captain for this airplane. “We’ve invested a lot of time, energy and hard work to ready this airplane and bring us one step closer to delivering the 777-9. It’s just an immense surge of pride and excitement to see our airplane take flight.”
What’s next: The airplane will undergo a series of ground and flight tests designed to demonstrate compliance with requirements for resilience against electromagnetic interference and lighting strikes.
Catch up quick: The team recently surpassed 4,000 hours of flight testing on the dedicated 777-9 test fleet, subjecting the 777-9 to a variety of tests and conditions to demonstrate the safety and reliability of the airplane’s design.
About the family: The 777X family – the 777-9, the 777-8 Freighter and the 777-8 passenger airplane – are the newest members of Boeing’s market-leading widebody family.
- Customers have ordered more than 550 777X airplanes.
Go deeper: See some of the testing underway on the dedicated 777-9 test fleet.
