Jul 5th, 2016

Boeing 777: What a Plane!

Posted in Aviation News

More thoughts as I sit in the terminal in Abu Dhabi on my 12 hour layover.  In Session 10 of Doctor Aviation, we explore the Boeing 747 and how that jumbo jet changed international travel.  I got to Abu Dhabi on the son of the 747, the Boeing 777

Etihad Airways seems to have a fleet of these aircraft judging by what I see at their home base in Abu Dhabi.  After flying on the bird, I can see why.  The first thing that caught my attention when I entered the plane in Chicago was that I only had to duck once – when I entered the airplane.  At 6’ 5” ducking has become the norm for me, especially as US air carriers have increasingly employed regional jets out of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.  From Cincinnati to Chicago I could not stand up straight and it wasn’t just me, “normal” sized men had to bend over as well.  Not in the Boeing 777.  I walked around that aircraft with head room to spare.

Not only was the head room spacious, but so were the aisle ways.  Two individuals could pass fairly easily.  That is impressive given that the majority of the coach section had ten seats across.  Three by each side of the plane and four in the middle.  I include a photo below, but it is not from my flight.  There were also around 80 rows, so I assume we had over 300 passengers on board.  I got a small glimpse of how the “other half” live as I spotted first class and then business class as I entered.  These areas featured individual booths for the passenger, complete with a spacious, reclining seats, lots of leg room, a large personal monitor for viewing and other amenities.

Boeing 777 Coach Class

I asked the flight attendant about the crew and their sleeping arrangements.  The flight attendants each got a 3 hour and 15 minute nap in one of the eight sleeping pods, or berths, located above the coach section.  The aircrew had two separate sleeping berths up front.  With a flight time of nearly 13 hours, crews are required to have resting periods for safety’s sake.

A final feature caught my attention upon exiting the aircraft.  The engines – the lack thereof and the size thereof.  As we studied in Sessions 9 & 10 of Doctor Aviation, when the 747 was first developed in the 1960s, Pratt & Whitney was tasked to develop high bypass turbofan engines, four of them for each plane.  The Boeing 777 also has high bypass turbofan engines, of course much further developed from what we had in the 1960s.  So developed in fact, that the 777 requires only two engines to produce all of the thrust needed to safely and efficiently propel the aircraft through the heavens.  The sheer size of each of the two engines was mind boggling. I could have stood in the intake (engines off of course) with plenty of head room to spare.  The engines are so powerful that the aircraft can fly on just one them — and that is a lot of weight.  You can get an idea of the size in the picture below!

Etihad Airways Boeing 777 - Check those engines!

Doctor Aviation International Travel is to be continued.

 

 

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