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On Board Boeing’s New 787 Dreamliner

A couple of weeks ago British Airways invited me to visit their newly-extended maintenance facility at Heathrow to see the new Boeing 787 which was visiting briefly. I had seen them on the production line in America but we weren’t allowed to take photos, so this was a great opportunity to see a fantastic new plane and to share some pictures with you.

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British Airways was doing some tests to make sure that the 787 could fit in the new hangar and the maintenance cradles they had built for it. I was just looking for a photo opportunity!

 

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New Rolls Royce Trent 1000 engines with this interesting scallop shape on the nacelle, which I believe is suppose to reduce noise.

 

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The first impression is that it is very smooth, like a dolphin. Perhaps it’s the nose. And is it just me, but is there a hint of Comet in the lines?

 

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We got a brief look at the cockpit. Note the head-up displays and the five large LCD screens.

 

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Other planes have little trackballs but I was interested to see that the 787 has a trackpad like a laptop.

 

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Surprisingly few knobs, dials and switches. As planes get more digital, the cockpits get simpler. I think even I could master this lot.

 

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This is the forward crew rest area. Very cosy.

 

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This picture shows the dimmable windows and Boeing’s business class concept with outward-facing windows (for a better view).

 

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Smooth. Composite structure and advanced aerodynamics are part of the reason that Boeing is claiming 20% lower fuel consumption. We got to see how engineers repair composites. I had seen some of this before after a golf ball hit the wing of an SR22 that I fly. (Don’t worry, it was on the ground at the time.)

 

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In service, I don’t think there would be so much space for walking around! But you can see the interior lighting system, cabin height and large windows in this picture.

I was impressed to see the 787 up close. Yes, it’s a few years late but some things are worth waiting for.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. PAM says

    May 23, 2012 at 05:42

    Brilliant photos and short script to explain. Easy reading – what I like!

    Excellent. Love PAm

    Reply

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Matthew Stibbe
Matthew Stibbe is CEO of Articulate Marketing and Turbine, the easy, online way to deal with office paperwork. He has an FAA CPL/IR and an EASA PPL/IR and sometimes flies a Cirrus SR-22. He also writes about wine at Vincarta and being a better manager at Geek Boss.
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