If all goes according to plan, the jet will take off Tuesday from Paine Field in Everett, swing out over the ocean, then turn inland and pass over Moses Lake and other eastern parts of the state. It is expected to land at Boeing Field in Seattle about five and a half hours later.
The flight will kick off about nine months of intense aerial testing intended to map the boundaries of the jet's performance.
Five more Dreamliners will join the first test plane, to be stress-tested far beyond the limits that passenger jets would normally encounter.
The test pilots will take them up and do airframe-rattling dives.
Moving at full tilt down a runway, they'll slam on the brakes.
In the middle of takeoff, they'll deliberately cut an engine and keep going. Later, they'll fly for 5 ½ hours on one engine.
They'll park overnight in 55-below-zero cold, then turn on the engines the next morning.
And they're almost guaranteed that one of the jets will be hit by lightning.
