787 Takes to Skies in Long-Awaited Battery Certification Test

The Boeing Co. took up a 787 Dreamliner Friday for a final flight test to certify its new battery system to the FAA and demonstrate it works as intended in all conditions, the Herald reports.

The big new jet took off from Paine Field in Everett Friday morning on a scheduled two-hour flight west along the Strait of Juan de Fuca, south down the Washington Coast to northern Oregon and back.

"The purpose of the test is to demonstrate that the new system performs as intended during normal and non-normal flight conditions," Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel wrote in an emailed statement to the Herald.

The 787 was grounded by the in January after two incidents with its lithium-ion battery system, one a fire on a parked Japan Airlines Dreamliner.

The National Transportation Safety Board will conduct a two-day forum on the battery system next week.

For The Herald story, click here.