On this day, 32 years Ago, Boeing rolled out the 777-200 at its Everett Factory.This particular aircraft, line number 1, was subsequently delivered to Cathay Pacific as B-HNL, operating from December 2000-June 2018 It is currently preserved in Tucson.
Posted by Twitter_2006@reddit | aviation | View on Reddit | 90 comments
Fluffy-Proof-5175@reddit
crazy to think how modern and capable this jet still is 32 years later
Twitter_2006@reddit (OP)
Yeah and the 300ER is even better.Boeing 777 is my all time favorite.
AdditionalAsk159@reddit
It's amazing how ubiquitous the 777 is. From the flagship of many smaller carriers to the workhorse of large fleets with top tier cabins!
I prefer the A350 nowadays but I'm never unhappy to be on a 777.
Twitter_2006@reddit (OP)
A350 is a newer plane so it will be better due to improvements in technology.I love both the A350 and B787 and can't wait for the 777X.
AdditionalAsk159@reddit
Absolutely, I'm very excited for the 777X as well
Fluffy-Proof-5175@reddit
I’m also very excited for the 777x as well, hopefully it doesn’t get delayed to 2030 though
BenjaminKohl@reddit
I know saying this jinxes it but I’m really hopeful and optimistic that we’ll see the 777x certified around November of this year
GuyfromKK@reddit
To me, the development of 777 itself is remarkable. The ‘Working Together’ concept really pays off.
Twitter_2006@reddit (OP)
Alan Mulally is a legend.
mimaikin-san@reddit
and then he went to Ford since that’s where executives go to die
kittenfartastic@reddit
He went to Ford because Boeing leadership wouldn't promote him, as he was too focused on engineering and not money. Stonecipher and McNerney valued stock price above all, not the "working together" nonsense. It was also the era where Boeing moved it's headquarters to Chicago.
At Ford, Mulally brought the same mindset and set the company up for success- it was the only one of the US big 3 that fared the 2008 crisis without government bailout.
Lesson is - work hard maintaining your political status, not doing your job. Worked very well for Boeing, GE and many many more.
BillWilberforce@reddit
Move the HQ away from where they make the planes. So that HQ doesn't get waylaid by the day to day problems at the factory. Which seems like a great idea.
LightningGeek@reddit
I work heavy maintenance on 777's, some of them are over 25 years old and projected to be retired before their next D-check.
They really are amazing aircraft, very little goes wrong on them, and they are just as solid today as they were when they left the factory floor.
Honestly, their biggest issue is that they are too bulletproof. There's very little structural work to do on them. There's a few longeron issues, but they appear more on the -300's due to the extra length. Corrosion wise, apart from around the toilets, waste tanks and the vacuum exhausts for the system, corrosion is none existent. For people like me who are new to the industry, it is a horrible aircraft to learn on because you never get to do structural repairs!
Even the landing gear is amazingly strong. We are only now seeing gear changes come in with multiple yellow fasteners to signify them being drilled out to their first over size. On the 747 it was common to see pretty much all fasteners be on a their second or third and final, over size.
It truly is an amazingly well built aircraft.
pentium1994@reddit
Great 4 part PBS documentary on the development of the jet if interested
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oyWZjdXxlw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5inPWgrjONc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esmbJjK0M7Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LaSR97Zhhc
SanibelMan@reddit
A great series. How did a company that got it so right with the 777 get it so wrong with the 787 and the Max?
stuck_inmissouri@reddit
Engineers designed the 777. Accountants designed the 787. Customers pushed for the max which shouldn’t exist.
ComfortFun6426@reddit
The certification of the 777 was the first co-ordinated certification between the FAA and the JAA (Joint Aviation Authorities of Europe, predecessor of EASA) wich started on the same date in 1990 and ended on the same certification date of 17 april 1995.
mb194dc@reddit
When technology didn't go backwards every year.
Dreamerlax@reddit
My favourite Boeing jet. They don’t make em like they used to.
Realistic-Bid9464@reddit
It's almost like a time capsule of Cathay from when they still wore that livery.
NinerEchoPapa@reddit
Interesting to note that it had P&W engines at the rollout (though they look more like mockups to me?) and it flew with Cathay with RR engines
Dear-Regret-9476@reddit
Around 2000 when Boeing sold this aircraft to Cathay Pacific, they changed the engines from PW4000s to Trent 800s
SI-LACP@reddit
I didn’t know that the engines were interchangeable like that. I assumed the pylons for all three options were different
NotACompleteDick@reddit
The key information missing here is the gap from 1994 to 2000. First year she was doing certification. After that was successful she was a development and sales mule for five years.
BoringBob84@reddit
It has been studied. It is possible. The problem is that each engine manufacturer needs different wiring and electrical, mechanical, and communications interfaces. Compatibility with two other engine types would be a lot of cost and weight that each aircraft would have to carry around to do nothing. It is not a big deal in a car, but it is a problem in a huge jet aircraft.
1,000 pounds might seem like a rounding error, but it is three more passengers on every flight.
EvMund@reddit
They arent, this was the only 777 to undergo surgery like that
747ER@reddit
They generally aren’t interchangeable, airlines can’t just decide to re-equip their fleets. Sometimes exceptions are made like Airbus’ A318 prototype or this 777, but it costs way too much and is so specialised that it’s not really possible for the average airliner.
Dear-Regret-9476@reddit
You’ll never believe what they did…
adjust_your_set@reddit
Hopefully that airframe goes to a museum.
Dear-Regret-9476@reddit
This is a museum though, I went there back in November last year and it was in immaculate condition thanks to the Arizona desert
Realistic-Bid9464@reddit
B-HNL has definitely held up well, the lighter colors of Cathay's paint scheme help a lot. Desert environments are ideal for preventing corrosion, but UV exposure in those environments can still be pretty harsh to aircraft with darker liveries causing flaking and fading at accelerated rates.
Inceptor57@reddit
It is preserved as the title suggests at the Pima Air and Space Museum at Tucson, AZ.
whitepineowl@reddit
Good old Pima
NotACompleteDick@reddit
32 years ago was 1994. It spent a year on certification and then was used for testing and sales until being sold. After Cathay Pacific it did two years with Cathay Dragon before actually retiring in 2020. However, posts welcoming it to the museum were made 7 years ago, which doesn't quite add up. Seems like a short service life. The 777-200 was back before MD started the war on Boeing engineers.
dani-banana@reddit
Is this the MAX one?
747ER@reddit
What does this question even mean?
dani-banana@reddit
Boeing had the Max model (whixh they had several issues with them)
747ER@reddit
This has nothing to do with the MAX, and the MAX’s issues were a long, long time ago. It’s just a normal plane like any other.
dani-banana@reddit
Thanks fir the clarification!
OregonHotPocket@reddit
“Any you future stewardesses wanna private tour of the cockpit come holla!”
IceBoxPete@reddit
I love the 777, but I find the A350 to be much more comfortable. Anyone know why that is?
k_dubious@reddit
About 20 extra years of tech.
Lucky_Outside_2009@reddit
Considering A350 skipped on electrical bleeds, I'd say 10 years extra tech. 787 is 20 years ahead
testthrowawayzz@reddit
A350 also has less wing loading than 777-300ER so it can cruise higher on longer or heavier routes
Tratix@reddit
777 cabin altitude is 8000ft and the a350 is around 6000ft.
The A350 cabin is also quieter and might have a newer, more modern cabin that feels nicer.
Atom_Tom@reddit
On a tech/modernity level yes the 350 and 787 are "competitors" - but the 350 is airbus's answer to the 777 and the 787 is Boeing's answer to the 330.
caverunner17@reddit
Tech wise, the 787/A350 compete, but the A350 is much more in line with the 777-200/300 on size and payload-range (with better fuel burn) than the 787 is.
Atom_Tom@reddit
Lower cabin altitude, higher cabin humidity, and better noise reduction materials and technologies. All combine to reduce fatigue over the course of a flight.
Of course it helps that the 350 is a much newer platform. You can see similar technologies in the 787 which give it similar advantages over its most direct rival, the 330.
malcontentII@reddit
The second 777 ever built is still flying with United I believe. N775UA?
orangera2n@reddit
N774UA
CowTipper383@reddit
I was a very young sales rep for a hardware company called Silicon Graphics who pioneered UNIX-based computer graphics systems. We used this ad everywhere. Our tag line was prior to SGI’s Indigo workstations, the documentation generated to construct the plane weighed more than the plane itself. Apparently this was the first commercial airliner designed completely on a computer.
BoringBob84@reddit
In those days, running CATIA required special high-end workstations. The 777 was the first Boeing aircraft to have "digital pre-assembly" - not just mechanical interfaces, but communications and electrical interfaces. As a result, it had very few interface problems when it went into actual production.
All Boeing aircraft after that followed similar processes.
beachbum1970@reddit
Perhaps the last great Boeing passenger airplane.
12TH1JS01@reddit
787?
beachbum1970@reddit
The 787 had many delays and teething issues, and numerous (and still continuing ) reports of quality control problems. As Conpen mentions below, the 777 was a far better executed program, even inviting several airlines to join in the design of the aircraft, and with very few delays to introduction of service. Now the 777-X? Delays and problems, like the MAX fiasco, just adding to the slow decline of quality engineering and manufacturing from Boeing. The 787 is still a nice airplane to fly on, it's a very efficient aircraft and the airlines love them, but I feel (just my personal opinion) that the 777 is a better built, better engineered, better quality airplane overall.
Conpen@reddit
It's a good seller but still beset by delays and production issues, which are easy to argue reflected early manifestations of Boeing's fall from grace (which today is obvious with the 737Max and 777X).
The 777 was as close to a flawless execution from concept to launch as you could get. Only 5 years!
Ok-Insurance-9456@reddit
Last great passenger airplane *
UnreasoningOptimism@reddit
ONE FIFTY-FOUR
Sacto1654@reddit
The Boeing 777 was one of the very first airliners designed from the outset to take advantage of ETOPS 180 rules. It was the airliner that pretty much ended the reign of the DC-10/MD-11 and L-1011 trijet on long international routes and in the 777-300ER version, replaced the 747 on these same routes, too.
(It should be noted the Airbus A330-300 that came out of the TA9 studies was not originally designed with ETOPS 180 long range routes in mind. Long routes were for the four-engined A340, which came out of the TA11 studies.)
divisionchief@reddit
The 777 is still putting in work today not missing a beat. Hope the 777x gets the kinks knocked, certified and flying before I quit flying for work.
eastbayguy90@reddit
Why did they name the base model -200? Were the test models -100’s?
Conpen@reddit
They also skipped the -100 for the 757 and 767. Likely reasoning is that they wanted to preserve the name for a potential shortened version which never came.
sqwk7700_pls@reddit
Always considered the 777 to be the land cruiser of the plane world. Big and reliable gal
MattTheMechan1c@reddit
I’ve actually been a passenger on B-HNL circa 2008. Was flying back to Canada after a vacation in the Philippines via Hong Kong and it flew the MNL-HKG flight.
CouchPotatoFamine@reddit
So who got to sit in the cockpit for this photo op? CEO?
dcduck@reddit
And 32 years before that , the 727.
tpa338829@reddit
"preserved"
Anyone who has been to pima air and space museum will get that.
Impressive-Yak-7449@reddit
United's first 777-300ER delivery December, 16, 2016
ScienceMechEng_Lover@reddit
They only got the -300ER in 2016? That's late as hell (the first delivery of the type occured in 2004).
burritomiles@reddit
Yeah United was very early in the 777-200 game but very late to the 777-300 game. Probably got a good deal tho
747ER@reddit
777-300ER*, no US airline operated 777-300s.
Darmok47@reddit
United was the launch customer for the 777-200.
Twitter_2006@reddit (OP)
According to Google, United Airlines took delivery of its first Boeing 777-300ER (registration N2231U) on December 21, 2016, and formally christened it "New Spirit of United" in San Francisco on January 17, 2017. This aircraft was the first in the fleet to feature the new "Polaris" business-class seats, aiming for a more luxurious long-haul experience. [1, 2, 3]
Impressive-Yak-7449@reddit
31U departing KPAE December 21, 2016 @ 1612 he's local
Impressive-Yak-7449@reddit
This was the first of their new Polaris interior.
Impressive-Yak-7449@reddit
As far as I know they only had -200 before 2016. Just pulled up on planespotters to verify.
caverunner17@reddit
If I recall, they got a sweetheart deal on them due to some of the 787 delays. United also wanted to retire the aging 747 fleet which I believe had lower than average fleet reliability and Boeing needed to fill the line before the switched over to 777X production (which of course has since been seriously delayed)
etheran123@reddit
Picture I took, and have posted here before, of that very aircraft
bigsupplychainguy@reddit
There’s a few logos up there that don’t exist anymore. The more interesting part to me is
StillPrettyBoxing@reddit
what was it doing from 94 til it was delivered to Cathay in 2000?
halfty1@reddit
Flight testing then storage then refreshed/converted to RR engines
Significant_Today_24@reddit
Would they also have preserved the actual engines?
Dear-Regret-9476@reddit
They preserved it with Trent 800s and the Cathay Pacific livery on it
place909@reddit
Did Cathay Pacific get a discount because it's a display model?
ckanderson@reddit
I remember flying American Airlines 777s several times Chicago to Tokyo and back when I was a kid. Their service was memorably mediocre, but who cared, you got to fly in a new 777 in the early 2000s. Beauty and power.
YMMV25@reddit
I always assumed this aircraft went to UA since it was PW powered. I had no idea it stayed with Boeing as long as it did before being re-engined and going to CX.
Sttoliver@reddit
A very reliable airplane
melaflander34@reddit
My father worked on Flight Test on that beautiful bird! I saw it take off on it's first flight.
Love that bird!
Booouurns@reddit
Fantastic livery
airport-codes@reddit
I am a bot.
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