Flight Test Journal Archives

22 December 2005

Thanks for riding with us

Joe Kranak, Chief Engineer, Test and Validation, 747, 767, 777 Well, it's been quite a ride. When we published the first entry for this journal back on May 20, we started by saying that "time flies." It certainly has....

20 December 2005

Stamp of approval

Tim Braxmeyer, Maintenance Planning/Quality Supervisor John Malone, Flight Test Quality Supervisor In the 777-200LR Flight Test Program, Quality Assurance was the group responsible for developing and verifying compliance to airplane inspection programs supporting both airplanes - WD001 and WD002....

19 December 2005

Where it all comes together

George Trampus, 777 Flight Deck Crew Operations Model Focal The flight deck is where all of the airplane information comes together and is displayed so the pilot can operate the airplane safely and efficiently. My group's main focus is...

13 December 2005

'Refurbing' the Worldliner

Andres Sanchez, Refurb Manufacturing Supervisor Kirk Foster, Industrial Engineering Methods Analyst There are many challenges to refurbishing a flight test airplane, and we are experiencing many of them right now. "Refurb" is the task of removing flight test equipment,...

09 December 2005

Troubleshooting on the go

Greg Lichneckert - Flight Systems Analyst John Stoesz - Flight Analyst (WD002) We sometimes describe the job of Flight Analyst as an in-flight trouble shooter, swapping out parts or getting something that's not working correctly to work again. There...

07 December 2005

Certification innovations

Bob Buchholz, 777 Safety, Certification and Performance Catherine Weaver, 777-200LR Certification Project Lead The 777-200LR - the world's longest range commercial airplane - is full of innovations, nose to tail. Therefore, it seems very fitting that the certification process...

30 November 2005

Certified from nose to tail

Bob Buchholz, Chief Engineer, 777 Safety, Certification and Performance Catherine Weaver, 777-200LR Certification Project Lead Certification regulations created by governmental aviation organizations around the world - most notably the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Aviation Safety Agency --...

29 November 2005

Fueling the world record flight

Scott Fortman, 777-200LR propulsion program manager Tracy Tweet, 777 fuel systems design lead A lot of credit for the 777-200LR's record-distance flight between Hong Kong and London goes to the tremendous work done by the flight crew and people...

23 November 2005

777 Makes Big Showing at Dubai Air Show

Chuck Cadena, 777 Program - Public Relations Here at the Dubai air show, visitors can stand in one spot and see aircraft of all types, shapes and sizes. Aerospace companies and governments from around the world bring their very...

18 November 2005

For the life of your airplane

Kurt Wipior, business and process analysis manager, Maintenance Engineering, Commercial Aviation Services CAS Barbara Ecola, non-recurring, new airplane program manager, Maintenance Engineering, CAS Neil Goedhard, CAS representative on the 777-200LR Program Leadership Team, Maintenance Engineering, CAS Boeing's relationship with...

16 November 2005

Writing the instructions

Rebecca Kolbet, 777 Airplane Flight Manual editor Every Boeing airplane is delivered to customers with detailed documentation to help guide its safe operations and maintenance. I collect and edit the data that the FAA requires for the Airplane Flight...

10 November 2005

Mission accomplished! 777-200LR sets world distance record

Rodney Skaar, world record flight navigator and flight test production pilot Boeing's 777-200LR Worldliner (WD002) landed this morning at London's Heathrow Airport and earned a spot in aviation history by setting a new distance record on a non-stop flight...

08 November 2005

'Going the Distance' and setting a world record

This is a very proud and exciting time for everyone at Boeing, especially for those in the 777-200LR program. As most readers of this journal know, the -200LR motto is "Going the Distance." In a matter of hours, that...

04 November 2005

Looking back

Suzanna Darcy-Hennemann, lead pilot, 777-200LR As lead test pilot on WD001, the first 777-200LR, I have mixed feelings about reaching the milestone of completing our certification flight testing. We finished testing Oct. 30 and flew our baby back to...

31 October 2005

Heart of the plane

Anngelique Bowen, AIMS Platform Engineer Rochelle Mai, Displays Lead Engineer Wayne Fortner, Technical Focal, Flight Data Acquisition & Recording Systems, Flight Deck Printers Edward Nolte, Jr., Avionics-Flight Management/Guidance Lead Engineer For us in the Aircraft Information Management System (AIMS)...

25 October 2005

At your service

Stuart Kramlich, flight test program manager, General Electric Boeing uses a lot of engines manufactured by General Electric (GE) in its products. This is no surprise considering the number of flight test programs, research projects and commercial jetliners the...

21 October 2005

Protecting your tail

Steve Louthain, lead engineer and equipment manager for the Primary Flight Computer For the Flight Controls teams, FAA certification testing is a long process that began last winter in the earliest stages of the 777-200LR flight test program. New...

19 October 2005

Testing the flutter

Frank Roney, Loads and Dynamics manager, Structures Keith Wing, lead flight test engineer, Structures Safety, obviously, is the top consideration in flight testing the 777- 200LR or any other Boeing airplane. The Structures group plays a key role in...

12 October 2005

The brains of the engine

Shahrokh Ghayem, Propulsion Controls Lead Engineer Mathew Metcalfe, Propulsion Controls Engineer Peter Douglass, Propulsion Controls Engineer Grazyna Ostrom, Propulsion Controls ATF Kevin Brown, Propulsion Controls Engineer Kyle Peterson, Propulsion Controls Engineer As the Flight Test program for the 777-200LR...

09 October 2005

The human side of Flight Test

Les Tomminger, Flight Test Manufacturing Maintenance crew chief I've been involved with Flight Test for 19 years, and I spent the better part of a month this past summer at Edwards Air Force Base in Cal., supporting WD001, the...

30 September 2005

Measuring it all

Richard Lamarre, lead instrumentation engineer on WD001 Luidel Bernitt, lead instrumentation engineer on WD002 The heart of what the Validation Instrumentation group does in flight testing the 777-200LR is to take measurements - sometimes in the tens of thousands...

28 September 2005

Running the wind station

Daniel Downey, radio services technical staff, wind station operator Robert Snyder, radio services technical staff, wind station operator Roger Klinger, data systems and support lead The wind station collects and reports all kinds of weather data during testing -...

22 September 2005

Iceland via Ireland: All in a day's work for flight test

John Corrigan, flight test operations lead Caitlin Connolly, flight test engineer, Auto Flight group Sean Russell, flight test analysis engineer Jasper Corleis, flight test director, 777-200LR Logistical challenges are nothing new to the flight test program. We fly all...

20 September 2005

Future looks quiet

Boeing Commercial Airplanes: Belur Shivashankara, Eric Nesbitt, Bill Herkes, Stefan Uellenberg and Ron Olsen Charlotte Whitfield and Mehdi Khorrami, NASA Steve Petersen, General Electric Hwa Kwan and Jeff Moe, Goodrich Corp. Rob Stoker, Boeing Phantom Works As we mentioned...

14 September 2005

Shhh...quiet please

Boeing Commercial Airplanes: Belur Shivashankara, Eric Nesbitt, Bill Herkes, Stefan Uellenberg and Ron Olsen Charlotte Whitfield and Mehdi Khorrami, NASA Steve Petersen, General Electric Hwa Kwan and Jeff Moe, Goodrich Corp. Rob Stoker, Boeing Phantom Works August was an...

09 September 2005

Home sweet home

They lined up like they were waiting for a carnival ride. They came from all over Boeing's Everett facility and they represented almost every job family. Some of them had worked on parts of it, or helped design parts...

06 September 2005

Say cheese

Deb Hanford, Flight Test photographer Joe Parke, Flight Test photographer We're not exactly fashion photographers, but we spend an awful lot of time taking pictures of "super models" doing some pretty amazing runway work. The two of us make up...

31 August 2005

The Cave

Noel Lucero, Lead, Aerodynamics Performance Certification, Takeoff Team Fred Krueger, Lead, Flight Test Aero Analysis Engineering Team Flight tests of the 777-200LR, or any other airplane model, produce an enormous amount of data. All of that information needs to be...

26 August 2005

Cruise control

Mariann Jansen, autoflight systems engineer Jim Vanden Brook, autoflight certification leader Doug Ormiston, autoflight systems engineer Autopilot is just what the name implies - operating key airplane flight functions automatically. It's like the cruise control on your car. Only much...

23 August 2005

Mother Nature

Michael Patnoe Meteorologist When we talk about flight testing an aircraft as technologically advanced as the 777-200LR, people often forget how many airplane performance requirements are tied to something as common as the weather. So my work as meteorologist helps...

19 August 2005

Refurb

Ken Christiansen 777-200LR Build Team Leader Airplane refurbishment, or “refurb,” is the simple task of removing flight test equipment, reconditioning worn or damaged parts and installing customer-unique equipment. This can include seats, lavatories, galleys and painting the customer livery. Basically,...

16 August 2005

No vacation for flight test

Joe Kranak Chief Engineer, Test and Validation, 747, 767, 777 For many people, August is a time when the weather heats up and activity slows down. Friends and neighbors are squeezing in that last week of summer vacation before schools...

10 August 2005

Showing off at Seafair

Frank Santoni Chief Program Pilot, Boeing 777 I'm the Chief Program Pilot for the 777, but on this program Capt. Suzanna Darcy-Hennemann is the lead project pilot for the 777-200LR Worldliner. This past weekend, however, I was in the pilot's...

05 August 2005

Big finish

The 777-200LR has wrapped up the last two big stops on its World Tour before its return to the U.S. The Worldliner paid a three-day visit to India this week, with stops in Delhi and Mumbai. In both locations...

02 August 2005

Aero

Nick Ferrera Aero Performance Engineer and 777-200LR team leader Jim Blohowiak Airplane Performance Engineer 'Aero performance' is a big area of flight testing for the 777-200LR. When we fly on the test airplanes, we think of it as measuring the...

29 July 2005

Live from Newark

Jim Condelles Boeing Commercial Airplanes Media Relations There's nothing like getting an entire day's worth of news coverage for your new airplane on national television! This week the 777-200LR World Tour touched down in the largest media market in the...

27 July 2005

A bird's eye view

Paul Bolds-Moorehead, stability and control lead engineer, 777 program Karen Alberghini, stability and control engineer Tim Nelson, stability and control engineer We sometimes refer to "stability and control" as one of the few groups, other than the pilots, to have...

21 July 2005

In the spotlight

Dave Ingebright, crew member on WD002 I'm writing from Auckland, New Zealand, where I'm accompanying WD002, the second 777-200LR Worldliner, on its World Tour. The stops along this tour last anywhere from one day to several days. We use these...

19 July 2005

Birthday party 6 miles up

Kevin Nack Base Manager You never know what's going to happen during Flight Test. And it's not all business all the time. Late in the evening of July 10, on the 777-200LR World Tour leg between Gatwick, England, and Hong...

15 July 2005

Fltviz

Frederic Lambert, senior simulation software engineer Peter Ryer, senior flight visualization engineer This is unusual to talk about in a written journal, but we're going to describe a powerful tool we use in flight testing that allows us to "see"...

12 July 2005

36,000 measurements at 30,000 feet

John Corrigan Lead Test Operations Engineer, WD001 I have the overall responsibility for day-to-day test planning on WD001, the first 777-200LR. And there are a lot of decisions my team and I have to make. What tests are we going...

08 July 2005

To the ends of the earth

Eric Garday Lead ground operations engineer, WD001 On WD001, we typically perform Stability & Control and Aero Performance testing. We run the airplane through its full paces and go anywhere in the world to get the conditions we need to...

06 July 2005

Home base, and around the world

Kevin Nack 777-200LR Flight Test engineering manager In my job I get to oversee the people who control the test plan and airplane configuration. It means I travel to places such as La Paz, Bolivia, where you have a 14,000...

30 June 2005

On remote

Ed Cogswell Flight Test manufacturing maintenance manager Preparing for a remote Flight Test program - such as the one we just completed with WD001, the first 777-200LR Worldliner - is quite an undertaking. It's all about preparation and flexibility. Our...

28 June 2005

Approaching mid-point

Joe Kranak Chief Engineer, Test and Validation, 747, 767, 777 As we close out the month of June, this might be a good time to update the status of the two airplanes and of the flight test program overall. WD001,...

21 June 2005

Conversation pieces

Jeff Perrine 777 interiors supervisor When you walk into a 777 and look around, everything you see is the result of the work that my team does. We start from the bottom - carpet, seats, sidewalls, lavs, and galleys. That's...

16 June 2005

Pulling it together

Steve Morton 777 functional test manager I want to share a little bit about what we call "functional testing." This can be a very interesting adventure in the flight testing of an airplane. Flight Test always seems like a long...

14 June 2005

Interior focus

Dave Ingebright Supervisor, Flight Test manufacturing, WD002 Putting a new aircraft or derivative, like the 777-200LR Worldliner, through the Flight Test program is intense and demanding for everyone involved. It's also very exciting. The focus inside WD002 is on advanced...

10 June 2005

Whatever it takes

Mike McGuire Factory integration leader - derivatives, on special assignment to the 777-200LR program WD002 arrived at the Paris Air Show this morning after its first intercontinental flight. It's an amazing milestone for this airplane, and I'd like to tell...

09 June 2005

Seeing WD002 out the factory door

Kirk Foster Industrial engineering methods analyst Editor's note: As airplane WD001 works through its Flight Test program at Edwards Air Force Base in California, we turn our attention for the moment to the second 777-200LR Worldliner, WD002. We'll be...

27 May 2005

Desert sunrise

Suzanna Darcy-Hennemann Chief Project Pilot, Boeing 777-200LR Worldliner We've all seen them - those glorious photos of sparkling, airborne jetliners silhouetted against a sun partially hidden by the horizon. And you've probably said to yourself, "What a beautiful sunset! The...

20 May 2005

Time flies

Joe Kranak Chief Engineer, Test and Validation, 747, 767, 777 On May 10, 2004, the first Boeing 777-300ER entered service. Now, just over a year later, that airplane's stable mate, the 777-200LR Worldliner is in the thick of flight...