A first flight is always something to see. It's the “moment of truth” in an airplane's early life. It says, “Yeah, we designed this thing, and now we'll show you that it can actually take to the air.”

We've had two opportunities to experience such a moment this month.

Just a few days ago the Boeing Large Cargo Freighter (LCF) took flight for the first time over Taiwan. It was a flight of just over two hours. The first of what we think will be about 250 flight test hours for this unique freighter, a modified 747-400.

We've put together a great short video about the LCF and its first flight. You can view it here with Windows Media Player (smaller size).

After some initial tests in Taiwan, the first LCF will cross the Pacific and arrive at Seattle's Boeing Field for the remainder of its flight test program.

Earlier this month, we had another great first, as many of us in the Seattle area got to see the newest member of the Next-Generation 737 family fly.

The 737-900ER flies over the Olympic Mountains on its maiden flight, after departing from Renton Municipal Airport. This is the beginning of a flight test program to obtain certification of the airplane from the FAA and EASA by early next year.

The 737-900ER rolled out of the Renton factory, as you may recall, a little over a month ago. It's painted in the distinctive Boeing livery, with the logo of launch customer Lion Air adorning the vertical stabilizer.

Then, on September 1, Boeing flight test pilots took off from Renton and headed off to the west and then south toward Oregon before soaring over the Olympic Peninsula on the way back to Seattle. The idea behind this first flight was to test the -900ER's performance in terms of airworthiness, aerodynamics, and other factors.

You can view a short clip of the flight here.

The five-month 737-900ER flight test program also involves a second test airplane. And both of the airplanes will be delivered to Lion Air next year.

The 737-900ER has a new Website. Click on the image to go directly to it.

If you want to find out more, it turns out Boeing has just launched a new Website focused on our newest airplane. Those of you who have visited our “newairplane.com” Website for the 787 Dreamliner will definitely want to check out the just-launched 737-900ER new airplane site.

There's a pretty cool video on the 737 site that you can watch by clicking on “Watch the 737 being built in real time.” In just a couple of minutes you go from the first arrival in Renton of the fuselage “cigars” from Wichita, to major assembly, rollout and flyaway. This video has been a big hit around the world.

Kind of like the Next-Generation 737 itself!