AVIATION/ BOEING 787 ON FIRST TEST FLIGHT

Boeing's 1st 787 Dreamliner touched the sky for the 1st time today, achieving an important milestone for the company. The aircraft lifted off, as seen above, at about 10:27am, PST, from Everett's Paine Field on a 4 hour flight over Washington state to perform a variety of basic tests and systems checks before landing at Seattle's Boeing Field. Reports from Washington say that the test flight is proceeding well. A successful flight will give the Chicago-based plane-maker also will gain an opportunity to shift focus to the aircraft's promise and away from the production muddles that set the 787 2 1/2 years behind schedule, costing Boeing billions of dollars.