[August 12 - post updated with new pictures]
Yesterday whilst in a meeting in the YourGadgetGuide offices I looked out of the window to see a large passenger aircraft flying low and slow.
A smaller aircraft was flying in formation with it and this caught my attention because this sort of thing does not happen every day in Derby city centre.
At first we thought the plane might have been in some difficulty and was being escorted to the nearest airfield but the real reason was altogether different.
British Airways was flying its new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft over the Rolls-Royce site in Derby as a special ‘thank you’ to the employees who worked on the Trent 1000 engines that power the aircraft.
British Airways’ first Boeing 787 pilot, Senior First Officer Mitch Preston, said: “We are delighted to have been able to fly over the Rolls-Royce site in Derbyshire to express our gratitude to everyone for helping to power one of the newest and most technologically advanced aircraft in British Airways’ fleet. The flight is part of our programme to prepare our Boeing 787 Dreamliners for long-haul operations, which begin with flights to Toronto from September 1.”
John Griffiths, Rolls-Royce, Trent 1000 Programme Director, said: “It meant a lot to us that our valued customer, British Airways, chose to fly its Dreamliner over our site. Today’s flypast was the ultimate way to thank Rolls-Royce employees for the effort they have put into making the Trent 1000 such a success.”
OK so this is not a tech story as such but when an interesting and newsworthy event such as this just happens to take place outside our window then I am happy to bring it to you.
Read the full press release here:
Post featured image picture caption: BA 787 Dreamliner flies over Derby alongside a Spitfire owned by Rolls-Royce as a thank you to Rolls-Royce employees.
Here are some other pictures from the day’s historic flypast:
All pictures: Courtesy of Rolls-Royce