Boeing (Chicago) on April 26 put a second Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental, designed by Boeing as RC021. Destined to Lufthansa as D-ABYE (msn 37826), N6067U successfully made its first flight on April 26. The airplane completes the two-airplane test fleet for the 747-8 Intercontinental.

N6067U was piloted by Captains Keith Otsuka and Ron Johnston, with Ralph Chaffin serving as system operator and Greg Lichneckert as flight analyst, RC021 took off at 9:26 a.m. Pacific time from Paine Field in Everett, Washington. The airplane completed a three-hour, twenty-minute flight landing at 12:46 p.m. at Paine Field. During the flight, the airplane reached an altitude of 28,000 feet (8534 m) and airspeed of 275 knots, or about 316 miles (509 km) per hour.

RC021 will be used primarily for testing the various interior systems that will be on the Intercontinental, such as heating, venting and air conditioning, smoke detection and galleys. In addition, Boeing will conduct fuel consumption and function and reliability tests on the airplane. The 747-8 Intercontinental flight-test program will perform approximately 600 hours of flight testing.

Copyright Photo: Joe G. Walker. N6067U arrives back at PAE after completing the historic first flight.