Boeing’s fifth 777-9X conducted its first flight on Tuesday, taking off from Seattle Paine Field International Airport (KPAE) in Everett, Washington.

Plagued by years of setbacks and delays related to technical issues, this marked the first time in five years that Boeing launched a test flight for a newly-manufactured 777-9X aircraft.

The aircraft took off at 11:03 am from Paine Field and flew for nearly two and a half hours, reaching an altitude of 39,000 feet and an airspeed of Mach .84, or 511 knots.

This particular 777-9, WH286, is designated as a production plane, unlike the four previous 777-9 that are test aircraft. Together, the four test planes have flown over 1,400 flights and recently surpassed 4,000 hours of flight testing. Given its production designation, WH286 is not outf

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