By Julie Johnsson | Boeing’s
787 Dreamliner hastily touched down at Moses Lake, Wash., Friday, after
losing power in one of its engines about an hour into its planned
eight-hour test flight, according to reports.
 
Chicago-based Boeing Co. confirmed the incident, which was first
reported by blogger Jon Ostrower, and said it repaired the aircraft
over the weekend and returned the 787 to its Seattle-area base on
Sunday.

Randy Tinseth, vice-president for marketing with Boeing’s commercial airplane business, provided more detail on the incident on a Boeing Web site.
 
Boeing is preparing to ramp up flight testing of the Dreamliner, which the aerospace manufacturer hopes to complete by early fall so it can deliver the first of the much-delayed planes to launch customer All Nippon Airways by the end of the year.
 
So far, Boeing pilots are taking two of the aircraft through their paces, beginning the arduous process of gaining federal certification for the 787. Two additional planes are expected to take their first flights by the end of the month.
 
Friday’s incident occurred as pilots began “flutter testing,” of ZA001, the first 787 off Boeing’s assembly lines according to Ostrower, in a Flightblogger post.