VIDEO: Boeing ecoDemonstrator’s West Seattle flyby

Thanks for the tips, and to Nate Miller for the video! That jet’s low flyby over northwest West Seattle this past hour was courtesy of BoeingFlightradar24 identifies it as the “ecoDemonstrator” jet, a 777-200ER with its underside painted with POWERED BY SAF – short for Sustainable Aviation Fuel. Here’s a closer look in a photo tweeted by Bill Schrier:

(The smaller plane accompanying it is not identified on the tracker – possibly for photography.) You can read about the ecoDemonstrator program on Boeing’s website.

15 Replies to "VIDEO: Boeing ecoDemonstrator's West Seattle flyby"

  • Freak out at Mioposto July 22, 2022 (5:41 pm)

    Wish Boeing would more actively announce these activities. We thought it was a military escort and something big going down. 

  • 22bkadrs July 22, 2022 (5:51 pm)

    The “Chase Plane” alongside the Demonstrator is the Boeing Company’s T-38 jet used for test flights & possibly inflight photography.

  • CarDriver July 22, 2022 (6:53 pm)

    22blades. Boeing retiree here. Boeing does indeed use the chase plane mainly for photography and for inspecting flight test planes in flight. Side note. Boeing had a nice F86 they used. They had to sell it because someone scoured the earth and bought up all the spare parts. That meant every time Boeing needed a part that guy just held out his hand. They finally got tired of it and sold the plane and bought the T38.

    • Svenry July 22, 2022 (9:06 pm)

      That’s crazy, thanks for sharing! Apparently that same F86 Sabre is at the Museum of Flight, though I wish it still had the Boeing paint job as seen here:

      • 22blades July 23, 2022 (2:28 am)

        Agree! Awesome old skool paint job.

  • Svenry July 22, 2022 (7:55 pm)

    Great video! That was a very cool & unexpected flyby, especially since that ecoDemonstrator was just announced last month. My view from the Alki Art Fair:

    • Svenry July 22, 2022 (8:42 pm)

      Here’s a look at the flight path over Elliott Bay and overall view of the entire flight. Quite an interesting journey 

      • WSB July 22, 2022 (9:22 pm)

        thanks, I have an even-more complicated screengrab from Flightradar24:

  • 22blades July 23, 2022 (2:20 am)

    The Boeing Flight Test also had two T-33’s for Flight Test & photography until 2011. ( I kind of forgot about the F-86! )They flew chase for the 787’s first flight. Pictures from their final flight…

  • 22blades July 23, 2022 (2:26 am)

  • Boinsted July 23, 2022 (10:29 am)

    Yup – as CARDRIVER said, the T38 is used extensively for test flights and photography. When I ran air-to-air photography for Boeing years ago and we were shooting for a customer we would use both Wolfe Air and the legend Clay at Clay Lacy. Clay is always a blast to fly with.

  • Diane July 23, 2022 (10:49 am)

    Sitting out in my backyard with a friend and we heard the approaching sound of a plane that was flying across incredibly low. Looked up into our amazement there was this beautiful plane flying overhead. A sight to behold. Happy to read it was a test flight.

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