IF BOEING LEARNS anything from today’s maiden flight of the 787-10 Dreamliner today, it means something has gone wrong.
That’s because the planemaker has left the Wright brothers’ system—build something, throw it off a sand dune, observe—far in the past. Instead, the company’s engineers have spent the past five years testing, tormenting, and torturing every last scrap of metal on its latest widebody commercial jet destined for customers all over the world—before letting it leave the ground. Today’s maiden flight is a milestone more than anything, signaling the new jet is ready to take off—and endure yet more testing.
