787

The 787 tag on the old Flying Engineer blog collected seven posts written between 2012 and 2014. They covered the Boeing 787 in the cabin, in the cockpit, on a short ferry flight, and in the sales argument against the Airbus A330.

India Aviation 2012: seeing the Dreamliner

At India Aviation 2012 in Hyderabad, the 787 on show carried the registration N1015B and was marked as experimental. A photo post followed, based on a detailed tour given by Boeing. It looked at a cabin with 238 economy seats and 18 business seats, and noted the following:

• Economy was nine abreast (3-3-3) with a 32 inch seat pitch, and business class had lie flat seats at 78 inch pitch.
• The curved overhead bins looked small when closed but took a large trolley bag, and they let passengers stand closer to window seats.
• Windows had no shades. A control below each window dimmed them electrically by polarisation.
• Every passenger had a 115V AC socket under the seat, plus a footrest and a USB socket for the entertainment system, supplied by Panasonic and Thales.
• On the flight deck there was a head up display, a Honeywell FMS controlled by a cursor and not by touch, and touch screens only on the electronic flight bags.
• The cockpit is so close to the 777's that the FAA allowed only 5 days of transition training. A Boeing captain, Pat Bearce, said the two aircraft almost feel the same to fly.

Sales and marketing

A 2013 post took issue with a claim by the A330 programme head about A330 sales since the 787 launched. It compared order books: 621 orders for the 767-300ER and 767-400ER, 575 for the A330-200, and 535 for the 787-8, with 50 delivered at that point. It argued that the 787, in service from 2011 against 1992 for the A330, was the stronger seller for its age. Another post, in February 2013, pointed out that the header image of a Boeing marketing blog showed a 787 on climb out with its spoilers deployed.

Flying and the show

In March 2014, Air India's second newest 787-8, VT-ANB, flew a 10 minute ferry hop from Hyderabad Shamshabad to Hyderabad Begumpet for India Aviation 2014. The same week, a post on the show itself said only 17 civil aircraft were on display, and that SpiceJet announced an order for 42 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. A 2013 passenger post also compared Air India's 787 promise with the A320 and A319 flights actually flown on an Air India trip.