787 flight deck to be based on the 777

[marcdevi]

Bryan Corliss

Herald columnist

 

The Boeing Co. plans a 787 flight deck so similar to that of the 777 that pilots will be able to move between the planes with only a minimal amount of training, a top Boeing test pilot said last week.

 

"A 777 pilot is going to feel right at home on the 787," said Mark Feurerstein, deputy chief pilot for the 787 program.

 

Cockpit commonality is a key bone of contention in the aircraft industry. Airbus makes a great deal of the fact that its airplanes all share a common flight deck layout, which makes it easier for pilots to learn to fly them - and makes it easier for airlines to shift flight crews around their fleets.

 

Boeing counters that its flight decks have commonality of function, meaning that things that work one way on a 747 work similarly on a 777, even if they don't look the same.

 

Boeing will reveal the new 787 flight deck in September, said Mike Bair, Boeing's senior vice president in charge of the 787 program.

 

But last week, at a briefing for reporters, Feurerstein gave a glimpse of what's to come.

 

Pilots flying the 787 will steer the plane using the same wheel-and-column flight controls Boeing has used on all its jets. The company considered alternatives - Airbus, for example, gives pilots a side-mounted stick - but stayed with the tried-and-true, Feurerstein said.

 

If Boeing had switched formats, he said, it would have given the perception that there were great changes on the flight deck, when the company's been working hard to make the 787 similar to the 777.

 

They won't be identical, Feurerstein said. The new 787 flight deck instrument displays will be about twice the size of the 777's. But pilots should find the layout familiar.

 

The 787 also will include new technology that's just starting to be included on 777s. That includes the Electronic Flight Bag - a computer-based system that replaces all of the 30 or so pounds of paper charts, maps, forms and manuals pilots now carry on each flight.

 

Overall, the two flights decks will be so similar that 777 pilots will be able to transition to the 787 after only five days of additional training, Feurerstein said.

 

That's the same amount of time it takes for a pilot trained on an Airbus A320 to learn to fly the A330, he said. In contrast, initial training for a new commercial airplane pilot takes five or six weeks.

 

As Boeing works on the 787, the 777 design team is looking at new Dreamliner technologies to see if they can be retrofitted for older, Everett-built airplane.

 

"We're looking for things that will give us a weight improvement, a performance improvement," said Todd Zarfos, Boeing's chief 777 engineer.

 

The new technology isn't likely to lead to another 777 model, said Lars Andersen, the vice president in charge of 777 programs.

 

Boeing has 777-200s and 777-300s in standard, extended and extra-long-range versions, and it has a 777 freighter.

 

And that's all there's going to be, Andersen said.

 

"I don't know of a (777)-400," he said. "Maybe somebody's looking at that, but they did not tell me."

 

Reporter Bryan Corliss: 425-339-3454 or corliss@heraldnet.com.