How They Pulled Off The Dreamliner Flight

Editor’s Note: When we first saw the formation pictures of the Boeing Model 40 with their 787 Dreamliner, we were as impressed as anyone - the world’s oldest Boeing airliner with their newest. Model 40 owner/pilot Addison Pemberton of Spokane spoke with us about the flight and the details in coordinating the vast differences in size and speed.

By Addison Pemberton

What was the occasion of the flight? No occasion, just creating history, a historic record of Boeing Legacy. These pictures show the oldest flying Boeing aircraft in flight with Boeing’s newest aircraft.

We were at 90 kts and the 787 was at 156 kts dirty and 190 kts clean.

The plan was for the Boeing 787 to intercept our flight of three with an overtake on our right side with the Boeing 40 in the foreground and 787 Dreamliner in the background of the photo. The Bonanza was lead for our flight of three.

Two conference calls with Boeing flight test were conducted the morning of the flight to confirm details. The Boeing 787 was light and could overtake us dirty at approximately 150 kts and clean at 190 knots.

Our flight of three was stabilized at 90 knots. This would provide a 3-7 second photo window during each overtake pass.

The shoot took place after departure from Hood River, Ore., 80 miles south

of Mt Rainier. We climbed out of Hood River with the goal of reaching the south face of Mt Rainier at 12,000 feet at a prearranged longitude-latitude location at 2:15 PM . A 310 degree heading was selected for a favorable sun line and join up with the Boeing 787, serial number 001.

Our flight was composed of three aircraft; an A36 bonanza with both rear doors removed, flown by Randy and Julie Ingraham as a photo platform, a Cessna 185 Skywagon flown by Jay Pemberton acting as a weather scout and safety overview, and the Boeing 40C flown by me. My son Ryan and his wife Taryn were staged for the photos in the Bonanza with Ryan in a safety harness grasping his Canon 40D cameras.

The weather did not pan out as planned and our weather scout C-185 proved

invaluable to find us a last minute update location for a photo run 20 miles south west of Mt Rainer. Also the freezing level that day was 5,000 ft and at the 12,000 feet were we were flying the air temp was -13¡C (8.6 F).

The prolonged exposure to the low temperatures caused camera failures but they were resolved by heating the cameras in the front of the Bonanza between each photo run. Were all dressed in cold weather flying gear (but not enough).

The 787 first appeared at 12:30 climbing up to meet us through a broken cloud deck. The sight was absolutely breathtaking as he arced the graceful airplane wide to our left to to set up the first overtake on our right side.

The four passes were perfect and the skill of the test pilot Mike Carriker was quickly apparent. He made four passes on us in a matter of minutes with absolute safety leaving us star stuck.

The Dreamliner in its element is beautiful and the experience is etched in all of us for ever now.

With a brief broadcast from the Dreamliner he was gone as quickly as he had

appeared and the images are now a historic record for all of us to enjoy. Our many thanks to the Boeing company for the vision to make this event take place and their willingness to work with us.

TECHNICAL DETAILS

The 1928 Boeing 40C 5339, Serial number 1043, is the oldest flying Boeing aircraft of any kind and considered the first successful airliner in the U.S. No. 5339 was delivered to Pacific Air Transport a division of Boeing Lines to fly CAM 8 in July of 1928. The airplane crashed Oct 2 1928 in southern Oregon when North bound from Medford to Portland.

The airplane was recovered in the 1990’s by the Oregon Aviation Historical Society and purchased by Addison Pemberton in 2000. The aircraft was restored over an eight year period and first flown after restoration Feb 2008.

Boeing 40C pilot - Addison Pemberton. Passenger John Bevan.

Photo Plane A36 Bonanza flown by Randy Ingraham of Spokane with his wife Julie. Taryn Pemberton provided camera support in the photo plane.

The safety weather scout plane C-185 was flown by Jay Pemberton. Photographer Ryan Pemberton of Spokane used a 12 megapixel resolution Canon D40/stabilized with 200mm lenses.

Dreamliner:

Boeing 787 Serial number 001 Dreamliner flown by Michael Carriker, Boeing

flight test pilot and his crew.