In one of my favorite photos I’ve ever taken, Dreamliner One’s wheels are just inches off the wet pavement in Everett. The photo was taken on December 15, 2009, the date of the 787’s maiden flight. Behind the rotating 787 is a red Aerospatiale A-Star helicopter with an odd fixture affixed to the front of its nose. That fixture was an IMAX camera filming the moment from a yet-to-be-seen angle.
That
red helicopter was filming Legends of Flight 3D IMAX, which will premier at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC on Tuesday. The film chronicles the development of the 787 over the last several years all the way from the
Paris Air Show in 2005, the
July 2007 roll out all the way through to the first flight at the end of 2009.
Mike Carriker, chief project pilot for the 787 program, serves as the guide through the new 3D IMAX film displaying his expert airmanship as he flies aircraft such as the
Harrier and
Constellation throughout the film.
Flightglobal has been invited to cover the press conference at National Airport followed by the premier of the new film tomorrow here in Washington. Make sure to
follow me on twitter along with our
intern-extraordinaire Dan Webb for update throughout tomorrow’s program.
I’m also hoping I got squeezed into at least one shot even if I’ll only be 3 inches tall on the massive IMAX screen. There’s a decent chance it was even in this shot.
This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.
This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.
