Boeing 747-8 Freighter Makes Its First Flight

• With 747 Chief Pilot Mark Feuerstein and Capt. Tom Imrich in the cockpit, the freighter took off at 12:39 pm local time and landed at 4:18 pm after climbing to 17,000 ft and speeds up to 230 knots, watched by more than 5,000 people^[1][7]
• The flight began a test program of more than 1,600 hours that would move to Moses Lake and Palmdale as two more test airplanes joined^[1]
• It was about a year behind plan: the first delivery was to have been late 2009 but design changes, limited engineering resources and an eight-week strike pushed the dates back^[7]
• The airplane is 250 ft 2 in long, 18 ft 4 in longer than the 747-400 Freighter, giving 16 percent more revenue cargo volume; Boeing reported 108 747-8 orders, 76 of them freighters^[1]
• AIN noted seven 747-8s already on order in executive configuration; the first delivery to launch customer Cargolux followed on 12 October 2011^[2][6]

Notable features

• 747-8F length 250 ft 2 in (76.3 m); wingspan 224 ft 5 in (68.4 m); four GE GEnx-2B67 engines of 66,500 lbf each^[1][2][4]
• Maximum takeoff weight 975,000-987,000 lb (442,252-447,695 kg); operating empty weight 434,600 lb; maximum structural payload 290,400-292,400 lb (about 131.7-132.6 tonnes)^[5]
• Cargo: typical main-deck volume 24,462 cu ft (693 m3) plus 5,850 cu ft of lower-deck containers; usable fuel 59,734 US gal; cruise Mach 0.845^[5]
• Range 4,265 nmi (7,899 km) with maximum payload^[2]
• List price above US$301 million per airplane (AP, 2010), before airline discounts^[7]