The Boeing 777X has begun low-speed wind-tunnel testing at QinetiQ’s test facility in Farnborough, UK.
“This is the first major development milestone…since we launched the program last month,” said Terry Beezhold, vice-president and chief project engineer for the 777X program. “Wind-tunnel testing will validate our performance models and generate a vast amount of data that our engineering teams will use to design the airplane in this phase of development.”
Low-speed testing at the QinetiQ facility is expected to take about five months, Boeing stated. Further testing will be undertaken next year at the Boeing Transonic Wind Tunnel in Seattle to validate high-speed performance projections for the 777X.
The 777X program was launched in November with 259 aircraft ordered, and commitments from Emirates, Etihad, Lufthansa and Qatar Airways.
