The first of the new generation of Boeing 737 MAX airliners to roll off the assembly line has made its maiden flight. Today's flight of the 737 MAX 8 began at 9:46 am PST from Renton Field in Washington State and ended at Boeing Field in Seattle at 12:33 pm. The flight marks the start of Boeing's test flight program for certification and delivery.
The first flight of the 737 MAX 8 was under the command of 737 MAX Chief Pilot Ed Wilson and Boeing Chief Test Pilot and Vice President of Flight Operations Craig Bomben, who carried out a series of maneuvers to test the airframe and systems while telemetry automatically monitored the results. During the 2 hour 47 minute flight, the aircraft flew attained a maximum altitude of 25,000 ft (7,620 m) and an airspeed of 250 knots (288 mph 463 pm/h).
Today's flight was carried out by the first of the 737 MAX 8 aircraft and three more are currently under construction. Incorporating LEAP-1B engines and Boeing-designed Advanced Technology winglets, the single-aisle airliner is the first of the new 737 family, which includes the 737 MAX 7, MAX 8, MAX 200, and MAX 9.
![The 737 MAX flying over Lake Washington](https://assets.newatlas.com/dims4/default/5a3624a/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1623x1080+0+0/resize/1440x958!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnewatlas-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Farchive%2F737-max-maiden-flight-1.jpg)
According to Boeing, the 737 MAX will deliver 20 percent greater fuel efficiency over the previous generation of 737s (which just to confuse us is called the Next-Generation 737). It has a range of 3,500 nm (6,510 km), which is 340 to 570 nm (629 to 1,055 km) greater than the Next-Generation 737.
Boeing say it has so far secured 3,072 orders from 62 customers for the 737 MAX, with the first delivery to Southwest Airlines slated for late 2017.
Source: Boeing