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AirlinerTech #2
Boeing 777
An inside technical look at the Boeing 777, one of the world's most advanced airliners. This volume features test flights, complex systems, revolutionary materials and structures, space-age cockpits and highly expensive engines.
100 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1998
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September 6, 2014
Triple Seven Made Two Perfection
When she was rolled out and first took to the air in the final decade of the last century, the Boeing 777 was heralded as the “Twenty-First Century Jet.” To be sure, the terms “millennium,”
“21st century,” and “2000” were often overused marketing hype, but in the case of Boeing’s latest product, this moniker remains very much applicable even 20 years later. What, another Boeing twin? Why, it even looks like a scaled-up Boeing 767! However, the “Triple-7” was much more than that. It was – and still is – the largest twin-engine aircraft ever built; its mighty engines were bigger than anything ever fitted to an aircraft, dwarfing even the large-diameter high-bypass engines fitted to widebody aircraft of the time, with a thrust rating more than twice that of the revolutionary engines fitted to the Boeing 747 prototype. The final surprise awaited: upon boarding the aircraft at the gate, the passenger was greeted with a cabin made up of gracefully flowing lines, one unlike any other ever seen.
In the tradition of the other fine books in the AirlinrTech series, Jim Upton’s volume serves as a highly detailed introduction to this remarkable aircraft. The first chapter gives an overview of the features of the Boeing 777, though each will be covered in greater detail later on in the second chapter. Discussed are the structural components, the exterior dimensions, seating arrangements, each of the three engine choices, emergency components, landing gear, fuel system, flight controls, and the flight deck. It’s quite a comprehensive offering, though some diagrams are repeated. The size comparison of the Boeing 777 with the 767 and 747 is interesting, but dimensions would have been helpful, especially to compare the stretched -300 model with the Boeing 747. The two graphics showing the structural components are nice, but are labeled only Boeing, domestic, and international, with no source of country or manufacturer of the major parts.
The Boeing 777 was the most thoroughly tested commercial aircraft in history, even more so than the De Havilland Comet and Boeing 747; the main reason for this was that Boeing wanted to offer prospective customers its latest large twin-engine airliner with full long-range overwater certification “out of the box,” a major selling point of the airliner as a Boeing 747 and McDonnell-Douglas DC-10 replacement. At the time, this concept, known as Extended-Range Twin Operations (ETOPS), was relatively new, but the Boeing 757 and 767, along with the Airbus A310 and A330, were already ETOPS certified. The details of this chapter will satisfy even the most diehard airliner junkie.
In the second half of the book, Upton discusses the Boeing 777 in airline service, with several seating plan configurations of the airplane’s earliest customers. Only missing are the crew rest quarters. This volume was published just in time to cover the introduction of the stretched -300 series, then the longest airliner in the world (until it was superseded by the Airbus A340-600). Though that aircraft was brand new, there is a fine selection of photos of the prototype, with its array of flight-test equipment.
Predicting the future has never been an exact science, but the final chapter by that name has proven quite accurate as far as range prediction are concerned. The new models, such as the -200LR and -300LR are not named, as these designations are quite recent; even more recent are the proposed -8 and -9 series (formerly known as the -200X and -300X) due to take to the air later in the second decade of the 21st century. The raked wingtip designs were still way in the future when this book was published, and the shortened -100X will remain a “paper airplane.” Like other AirlinerTech volumes (and even the WarbirdTech series), this is no coffee-table book. The pictures are simple black-and-white affairs, but they convey their information admirably. Even then, there is a full-color supplement in the middle to break up the monochrome. However, this is a book to be perused and read for it wealth of detailed technical information, and in that way, Upton’s book does what few others accomplish.
When she was rolled out and first took to the air in the final decade of the last century, the Boeing 777 was heralded as the “Twenty-First Century Jet.” To be sure, the terms “millennium,”
“21st century,” and “2000” were often overused marketing hype, but in the case of Boeing’s latest product, this moniker remains very much applicable even 20 years later. What, another Boeing twin? Why, it even looks like a scaled-up Boeing 767! However, the “Triple-7” was much more than that. It was – and still is – the largest twin-engine aircraft ever built; its mighty engines were bigger than anything ever fitted to an aircraft, dwarfing even the large-diameter high-bypass engines fitted to widebody aircraft of the time, with a thrust rating more than twice that of the revolutionary engines fitted to the Boeing 747 prototype. The final surprise awaited: upon boarding the aircraft at the gate, the passenger was greeted with a cabin made up of gracefully flowing lines, one unlike any other ever seen.
In the tradition of the other fine books in the AirlinrTech series, Jim Upton’s volume serves as a highly detailed introduction to this remarkable aircraft. The first chapter gives an overview of the features of the Boeing 777, though each will be covered in greater detail later on in the second chapter. Discussed are the structural components, the exterior dimensions, seating arrangements, each of the three engine choices, emergency components, landing gear, fuel system, flight controls, and the flight deck. It’s quite a comprehensive offering, though some diagrams are repeated. The size comparison of the Boeing 777 with the 767 and 747 is interesting, but dimensions would have been helpful, especially to compare the stretched -300 model with the Boeing 747. The two graphics showing the structural components are nice, but are labeled only Boeing, domestic, and international, with no source of country or manufacturer of the major parts.
The Boeing 777 was the most thoroughly tested commercial aircraft in history, even more so than the De Havilland Comet and Boeing 747; the main reason for this was that Boeing wanted to offer prospective customers its latest large twin-engine airliner with full long-range overwater certification “out of the box,” a major selling point of the airliner as a Boeing 747 and McDonnell-Douglas DC-10 replacement. At the time, this concept, known as Extended-Range Twin Operations (ETOPS), was relatively new, but the Boeing 757 and 767, along with the Airbus A310 and A330, were already ETOPS certified. The details of this chapter will satisfy even the most diehard airliner junkie.
In the second half of the book, Upton discusses the Boeing 777 in airline service, with several seating plan configurations of the airplane’s earliest customers. Only missing are the crew rest quarters. This volume was published just in time to cover the introduction of the stretched -300 series, then the longest airliner in the world (until it was superseded by the Airbus A340-600). Though that aircraft was brand new, there is a fine selection of photos of the prototype, with its array of flight-test equipment.
Predicting the future has never been an exact science, but the final chapter by that name has proven quite accurate as far as range prediction are concerned. The new models, such as the -200LR and -300LR are not named, as these designations are quite recent; even more recent are the proposed -8 and -9 series (formerly known as the -200X and -300X) due to take to the air later in the second decade of the 21st century. The raked wingtip designs were still way in the future when this book was published, and the shortened -100X will remain a “paper airplane.” Like other AirlinerTech volumes (and even the WarbirdTech series), this is no coffee-table book. The pictures are simple black-and-white affairs, but they convey their information admirably. Even then, there is a full-color supplement in the middle to break up the monochrome. However, this is a book to be perused and read for it wealth of detailed technical information, and in that way, Upton’s book does what few others accomplish.
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