Congratulations, Boeing!

This isn't politics, but really cool anyway:

A Boeing jetliner has set a new world record:

LONDON - A Boeing Co. jet arrived in London on Thursday at the end of an attempt to break the record for the longest nonstop flight by a commercial jet.

The 777-200LR Worldliner — one of Boeing's newest planes — touched down shortly after 1 p.m. (8 a.m. EST) at London's Heathrow Airport after an almost 23-hour journey of more than 12,586 miles from Hong Kong.

The flight traversed the Pacific Ocean and North America before landing in London.

Boeing said that Guinness World Records representatives would monitor the flight and attend the landing at London's Heathrow Airport.

The plane has four pilots and was carrying 35 passengers and crew, including Boeing representatives, journalists and customers.

Boeing wanted to fly the jet farther than a Boeing 747-400 that flew 10,500 miles from London to Sydney in 1989.

The record-breaking attempt is part of Boeing's fierce competition with its European rival Airbus. The Boeing 777-200LR Worldliner was designed to compete directly with the popular Airbus 340-500, which has a flight range of 10,380 miles.

After leaving Hong Kong, the Boeing jet was flying to the northern Pacific Ocean, crossing North America and cruising over the Atlantic Ocean to London, said Boeing spokesman Chuck Cadena. Hong Kong-London flights usually fly over Russia.

Having been in aviation my entire adult life, I get a charge out of new achievements. And it's rare nowadays to see any large company engage in this kind of risky showboating. But in an earlier age, this was the norm in aviation. Companies routinely engaged in one-up-manship excerises such as this that drove innovation in the industry. Most products were designed and built on speculation - something that today's bean-counter mentality won't allow.

Boeing's achievement today shows us that some of that "barnstorming" spirit is still alive.

P.S. Here's a link to the really nice website Boeing set up for the flight.