First Flight: P-8A Poseidon T2

A Boeing P-8A Poseidon test aircraft (T2) took off from Renton Field, Friday, to begin its first flight. T2 took off at 10:32 a.m. Pacific time and landed two hours and 56 minutes later at Boeing Field in Seattle at 1:28 p.m.

The flight plan for T2, painted in its new U.S. Navy livery, included a flyby of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Wash., to give Navy personnel a close-up look at the Poseidon. The Navy is purchasing 117 P-8As to replace its fleet of P-3Cs.

The anti-submarine warfare aircraft reached a maximum altitude of 25,000 feet as pilots performed airborne systems checks such as engine accelerations and decelerations, autopilot flight modes and auxiliary power unit shutdowns and starts.

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