An Everett icon: Former test pilot relives the first 777 flight and sees a legacy that keeps soaring
Above: The first 777 takes off from Paine Field in Everett on its first flight on June 12, 1994. (Boeing photo)
Thirty years after flying the 777 for the first time, former chief test pilot John Cashman still remembers specific numbers from the testing he did. That flight was a monumental milestone for him and for Boeing.
“Everybody had done so much work – whether they were an engineer, a customer, manufacturing and maintenance folks,” Cashman said. “They had done their job. I wanted to make sure I’d do mine.”
Cashman said the 777 was such a great airplane to fly, he felt a little spoiled.
Today, thousands of Boeing engineers, mechanics and team members across the Puget Sound region are working to bring to market the latest iteration of the 777 – the 777-9 – which will be the largest and most-efficient twin-engine airplane in the industry.
Cashman’s successors are flight testing the 777-9 out of Boeing Field in Seattle. In July, the jet received type inspection authorization to begin certification flight testing with U.S. Federal Aviation Administration personnel on board.
Cashman says he’s confident the 777-9 – built in Everett and with test operations based in Seattle – will be an outstanding airplane for airlines around the world, just like all of the 777 models before it.
“I’m still very proud of that airplane and I certainly will be of the 777-9,” Cashman said.
Boeing has invested more than $1 billion in its Everett, Wash. site to design and build the 777-9 and other members of the 777X family, which will include a new 777-8 Freighter and 777-8 passenger jet. Key components for the airplane are fabricated by Boeing teammates in Auburn and Frederickson.
Above: Captain John Cashman was the chief test pilot for the 777 program and flew the first airplane thirty years ago. (Boeing photo)
By Josh Green and Jen Cram
