Boeing Dreamliner takes an interesting path on endurance test flight

Recently, a new Boeing 787-800 Dreamliner took off from Seattle and flew more than 2,000 miles to Marquette, Michigan on the first leg of what the company says was an endurance test flight. The then reversed course and headed southwest, then turning and veering all over the United States.

After several hours, flight trackers realized what the aircraft was doing. It was drawing itself over an 18-hour flight.

“Rather than fly in random patterns, the test team got creative, flying a route that outlined a 787-8 in the skies over 22 states,” Boeing spokesman Doug Alder, Jr. told The Washington Post.

“The nose of the Dreamliner is pointing at the Puget Sound region, home to Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The wings stretch from northern Michigan near the Canadian border to southern Texas. The tail touches Huntsville, Alabama.”