It'll be there tonight for a NAA benefit dinner; there are a bunch of signs up for the event. It's very clearly visible from the Mt Vernon Trail and/or the road to/from Economy Parking. I took this photo through the fence.

that would be interesting.... never will happen though

Cheers paytonc!

If any of you can get to the Economy Parking lot or the Mt. Vernon trail, the 787 is truly a sight to be seen.

As I was a bit disapointed as I was commuting [on foot] home on Tuesday, only to see the tail of the plane, I was ridiculously surprised to see the entire plane, super close to the trail and basically next to all the cars parked in the Economy parking lot.

I'll be watching from my place here that overlooks the monuments & the flight path [to the North] and hopefully if the winds are the same as they were this evening, I'll be able to see the 787 leave - and those that are at Gravelly or Long Bridge will be able to see it too!

-jeremy

there should be a decent breeze from the NW. should take off on 1/19 to the north. if the breeze picks up more than expected, will take off on15/33(i don't know which runway number one uses in which direction)

Current traffic is landing and taking off on Runway 1 to the north with some express traffic landing on 33.

Flight is now showing up in Flight Aware: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/B...500Z/KDCA/KIAD

Estimated 11:10 departure.

And an estimated 11:48 arrival at IAD. [Please add your own minimum-500-EQM joke.]

It just took off!

I watched it from Gravelly Point. It was VERY quiet and only needed about half the runway before rotation.

I could have sworn it said US Airways Express on the side! ;)

Looks like a refueling stop. Why not Gander?

They probably sent it out almost empty to keep the runway requirements minimal. It's en route to DFW*, the last stop on the tour.

* home of a certain airline which will paint their carbon planes to look like chromed aluminum, but then again I shouldn't complain since I own an aluminum bicycle painted to look like matte carbon.

Yes, exceptionally quiet and fast off the runway--the landing gear were already stowed away by the time it was over Gravelly Point. (If any of you stuck around for another five minutes, you would have witnessed the contrasting example of an AA DC-9 that needed nearly the entire runway to thunder its way into the air.)

One thing I didn't expect: From the ground, the 787 doesn't look that big. I think it's because the relative size of the engines to the fuselage isn't that far off from a 737--even if the 737's fuselage can't be much wider than a 787 engine.

When it was at the beginning of the runway it looked big. After takeoff it didn't look that big. I stuck around and got to tell some people they missed seeing it by 5-10 minutes. :p. I'm a lousy photographer with a lousy camera (iPhone 4) but the pic I got was small because it was so high by the time it got to where I was. It did seem to not use much runway.

i was there today:p

i may have even seen you and not realized it

I agree the take off was not a big deal

And the AA DC-9 that followed soon after was ridiculously loud (even at my place - in view of DCA) compared to that of the 787 or any of the newer Boeing planes...

And yes, the 787 didn't look massive to me, but definitely bigger than most planes I see at DCA (naturally) and the wings to me didn't look as curved as I'd expected them to.

Still, a beautiful sight that I wish could happen all the time here at Reagan, but of course - we get the smaller planes, albeit with the best looks from the airport in all of America of course.

-jeremy