Huge Boeing 777X Takes Off Almost Vertically During Stunning Demo in Dubai

As promised ever since the beginning of the month, Boeing traveled to the 2021 Dubai Airshow with the full complement of flying machines it makes, from the civilian Dreamliners to the military MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor. None of these beasts seems as exciting though as the 777X, especially now that we have official footage of it in action above the event’s dedicated site.

The 777X was born as an idea all the way back in 2013. It’s a widebody offshoot of the well-known 777, meant to be about 10 percent more fuel-efficient, and 10 percent cheaper to operate than a similar plane made by the company’s competitors.

When testing of the plane ends, Boeing will launch two versions of it, the 777-8 and 777-9. The former’s edge is the 16,170 km (a little over 10,000 miles) range, while the latter relies on the huge number of passengers it can carry, 426, to make an impression.

That makes the 777X quite the large mechanical beast, so seeing it perform a couple of maneuvers usually reserved for fighter planes is quite the rare event. Yet that’s exactly what the pilots of the plane did in Dubai.

Below this text is a rather short, 1.2 minutes-long clip that shows the 777X taking off almost vertically, then flying above the heads of the curious crowd. It comes and goes, and almost rolls over at one point (on purpose) as it tries to prove its capabilities.

Needless to say, once production starts, the airplane will give up showing off, so enjoy it doing tricks while you still can.