Cop an eyeful of this Boeing plane from Seattle in Washington on Wednesday night drawing its own outline over the top of the United States. Woah.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane used GPS tracking to draw itself over the course of 18 hours as it travelled 15,699 kilometres, further than any other commercial route in operation. The current longest route in the world is 14,517 kilometres from Auckland to Doha.
The plane flew to Lake Superior to begin its outline journey, crossing 22 states, including Alabama, Michigan and Wyoming, over the course of its etch-a-sesh.
Time FLIES when you’re having fun ✈️#avgeek [Total flight time: 18 hrs, 1 min] https://t.co/151oNsMFOY pic.twitter.com/ThNWC5IM5k
— Boeing Airplanes (@BoeingAirplanes) August 3, 2017
The plane finished up in Seattle at about 9.40am Thursday morning US time.
It effectively worked as a kind of “endurance test” for the engine, which is currently undergoing certification.
Boeing said:
Rather than fly in random patterns, the test team got creative, flying a route that outlined a 787-8 in the skies over 22 states.
The nose of the Dreamliner is pointing at the Puget Sound region, home to Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The wings stretch from northern Michigan near the Canadian border to southern Texas. The tail touches Huntsville, Alabama.
See how and *why* @BoeingAirplanes decided to draw a giant 787 in the sky. https://t.co/9zGZc72Prf #dataviz by @itoworld #avgeek pic.twitter.com/VCvUasoFfz
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) August 3, 2017
It’s not the high flyer’s first stunt like this. In February, Boeing used the test flight for its 737 MAX 8 to spell out the letters MAX over Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.
In Australia, Qantas‘ Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner will host passengers flying from Perth to London non-stop for 17 hours from October.
