Mark Wagner - Boeing 787 Dreamliner

BOEING 787
DREAMLINER

GUY NORRIS AND MARK WAGNER

First published in 2009 by Zenith Press, an imprint of MBI Publishing Company, 400 1st Avenue North, Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA.

Guy Norris and Mark Wagner, 2009

Unless otherwise noted, all images provided courtesy the Boeing Company.

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Cover, main: Mark Wagner
Cover, insets: the Boeing Company

Editor: Steve Gansen
Design Manager: Brenda C. Canales
Designer: Danielle Carnito
Cover Designer: Simon Larkin

Digital edition: 978-1-61673-227-1

Hardcover edition: 978-0-7603-2815-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Norris, Guy.
Boeing 787 Dreamliner / Guy Norris and Mark Wagner.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7603-2815-6 (hardback)
ISBN-10: 0-7603-2815-3 (hardback)
1. Boeing 787 Dreamliner (Jet transport) 2. Boeing airplanes--Design and
construction. 3. Aeronautics, Commercial. 4. Boeing Aerospace Company.
5. Composite materials. I. Wagner, Mark, 1964- II. Title.
TL686.B65N673 2009
629.133349--dc22
2009004998

Printed in China

Chapter 1
BRINGING BACK THE MAGIC

Chapter 2
SUPER EFFICIENT

Chapter 3
DREAMTIME

Chapter 4
GOLF, MISSILES, AND DREAMLINERS

Chapter 5
SYSTEMS ADVANTAGE

Chapter 6
POWER PACKED

Chapter 7
DREAMLIFTER

Chapter 8
TESTING TIMES

Chapter 9
DEVIL IN THE DETAILS

Chapter 10
TAKING FLIGHT

Appendix
SPECIFICATIONS AND MILESTONES

A VERITABLE LEGION HELPED US ALONG THE WAY ON THIS LONG JOURNEY. FIRST and foremost are Yvonne Leach and her stalwart 787 communications colleagues past and present at Boeing including Lori Gunter, Mary Hanson, Adam Morgan, Scott Lefeber, Lorri Murphy, Jennifer German, and Mary Kane. Among the engine makers our thanks also to the irrepressible Rick Kennedy, Deb Case, and Jim Stump at General Electric; Martin Johnson; Martin Brodie; Ian Bustin; Annalie Brown and Bill OSullivan at Rolls-Royce; and Mark Sullivan, formerly of Pratt & Whitney. We would also like to thank Gail Warner and Lisa Bottle of Goodrich; Helene Cox and Sandra Fearon of GKN/Ultra Electronics; Pam Tvrdy and Nancy Welsh of Rockwell Collins; and Tom Kilbane. Also Deborah Gann of Spirit AeroSystems; Jennifer Vilarreal and Heather Cox of GE Aviation (formerly Smiths Aerospace); and Peg Hashem of Hamilton Sundstrand.

Among the engineering, management, and pilot teams, again past and present, who gave up valuable time to help us wed particularly like to thank Pat Shanahan, Mike Bair, Tom Brisken, Stuart Buchan, Mike Carriker, Tom Cogan, Mike Delaney, Walt Gillette, Jeff Hawk, Duane Jackson, Mark Jenks, Alan Mulally, Dennis ODonoghue, Richard Ostrom, John Roundhill, Frank Santoni, Mike Sinnett, Frank Statkus, and Scott Strode.

Our grateful appreciation also goes to Graham Warwick for his patient sub-editing skills and to Gareth Burgess and Lia Ravelo for graphic artistry. Colleagues at Aviation Week & Space Technology and Flight International, past and present, who in one way or another have provided a helping hand include Max Kingley Jones, Jon Ostrower the inimitable Flightblogger, Andrew Doyle, Paul Lewis, Mike Mecham, Jim Asker, Joe Anselmo, Darren Shannon, and Tony Velocci. Thanks also to Dominic Gates of Seattle Times and James Wallace (formerly Seattle PI), Geoffrey Thomas, Darren Shannon, and Joe Wollner, as well as bloggers Uresh Sheth and Saj Ahmad. Wed also like to say a special thank you to our long-suffering families: Anna, Chris, Daniel, Tom, Greg, Steph, Henry, and Polly, without whose steadfast support none of this would have been possible. Also to the Isle of Man support team including Trevor, Jan and Elise Norris, Melanie and Bronte Wright. Last, but not least, we thank our editor at Zenith Press, Steve Gansen, who has stuck with us on this project for so long.

OCTOBER 26, 2002, WAS A COLD, UNSETTLING DAY FOR MANY SEATTLE CITIZENS. The news that Saturday morning was full of stories about the bloody end to a Chechen hostage crisis in Moscow, as well as growing signs of imminent U.S. military intervention in Iraq. Just over a year had passed since the horrifying 9/11 attacks on America, and the world remained an uncertain place.

Few of those scurrying along Seattles busy waterfront on Alaskan Way could therefore have guessed that a meeting was taking place that morning at Pier 66 that would bring some much-needed good news and at the same time fundamentally alter the destiny of the worlds air transport industry. There, beneath steely gray skies and cold rain showers, delegates from a dozen airlines were quietly meeting with Boeing officials at the Bell Harbor Conference Center.

While decidedly low-key, the meeting was also pivotal. Boeing hoped, once and for all, that the gathering would help it figure out what the airlines wanted most in the next-generation airliner: speed or efficiency. No one knew for sure at the time, but it would decide not only Boeings design priorities for the twenty-first century, but also begin a chain reaction that would impact the aerospace industry for years to come.

Anchoring the meeting was Walt Gillette, a soft-spoken Texan with a reputation for solid engineering over a long career at Boeing stretching back to 1966. Gillette, who in media interviews referred to himself as older than dirt, had been involved in almost every Boeing jetliner since the 707. Now he was tasked with steering the companys aircraft development in a bold new direction and away from the lower-risk, lower-cost derivative approach of the past decade.

Boeing heritage infused Gillettes blood. He had been brought up on flying tales of World War II from his uncle, a B-17 veteran, and Gillettes many achievements included a breakthrough installation design that enabled the low-slung 737 wing to be fitted with the high-bypass CFM56 engine. The move transformed the fortunes of the 737, effectively launching it into the history books as the best-selling airliner of all time. Now he was pursuing answers that would help plot Boeings commercial jetliner development course for the next fifty years or more.