B-777 goes for non-stop record

Boeing jetliner tries for record for longest nonstop flight
Seattle Post-Intelligencer 11/09/05
author: James Wallace
(Copyright 2005)

HONG KONG -- Locked in a sales war with rival Airbus, The Boeing Co. is out to show the world that the newest -- and final -- member of its 777 family can go the distance like no jetliner ever has before.

Around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, Seattle time, a 777-200LR dubbed the Worldliner and commanded by Boeing's first woman test pilot, Suzanna Darcy-Hennemann, will depart the Hong Kong airport bound for London, and the record books.

Flying east with the prevailing winds, the big twin-engine jet won't stop until it arrives at Heathrow Airport some 22 to 24 hours later.

If all goes according to plan, the 777 will set a nonstop distance record for a commercial jetliner, exceeding the current record of 12,455 miles. It will fly over two oceans and, depending on the most favorable jet stream, across Canada or the United States -- more than halfway around the planet.


"This flight is definitely not routine for me," said Darcy-Hennemann, who, as chief test pilot for the 777-200LR program has been making the twin-engine jet do things in the air that would terrify most commercial jetliner passengers.

"It's the opportunity of a career because the record we are going to set will not be broken, we think, for a very long time," added Darcy-Hennemann, 52, who became Boeing's first woman test pilot in 1985.

As project leader for the record-flight attempt, she will be in the left seat -- for the command pilot -- when the 777-200LR takes off from the Hong Kong Airport at 10:30 p.m. local time Wednesday. Her copilot will be Frank Santoni, chief test pilot for the 777 program.

Six other pilots will share flying time during the nearly 24-hour trip to London.

Boeing announced the record flight attempt at a news conference in Hong Kong. Its plane arrived here Monday afternoon after a comparatively short 14-hour flight from Seattle's Boeing Field.

The 777-200LR (long range), which can seat 301 passengers in a typical three-class cabin layout, is still undergoing flight testing before certification and entry into airline passenger service early next year. For the record flight, Boeing must keep the plane as light as possible. Only 35 people will be on board, including eight pilots; a couple Boeing executives; several Boeing 777 engineers; representatives from General Electric, which makes the plane's huge engines; and a dozen journalists from around the world.

A representative from the National Aeronautics Association will be on the plane to monitor the record attempt. Officials from the Guinness Book of Records will meet the Worldliner when it arrives at Heathrow Airport.

The history-making flight takes place against the backdrop of a fierce battle between Boeing and Airbus for new jetliner orders this year. Boeing is closing in on what could be a record number of orders for any year since the jet age began. It is nearing 700 orders with nearly two months to go, and should win the annual order battle over Airbus for the first time since 2000.

But several key sales campaigns remain to be decided, most notably with Singapore, Qantas, Emirates and Cathay Pacific airlines. They are all considering the 777, and all but Cathay are looking at the 777-200LR.

Singapore Airlines has more 777s in operation than any other airline -- more than 60, with another 19 on order -- and Boeing is keen to sell the bellwether carrier the 777-200LR. One Singapore Airlines pilot will be on the record flight. So will two pilots from Pakistan International Airlines, which will take delivery of the first 777-200LR in early 2006.

Boeing is after two records with this long-distance flight.

In April 1997, a 777-200ER (extended range) flew 12,455 miles (20,044 km) nonstop from Boeing Field to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, in 21 hours, 23 minutes. That record will continue to stand regardless of how far the 777-200LR goes. That's because the 777-200LR, which s heavier than the -200ER, is in a different size and class. But if the plane flies more than 12,455 miles, and it should, then Boeing will be able to say that its new 777-200LR flew further -- and was in the air longer -- than any commercial jetliner ever before.

For planes in its size and class, the 777-200LR should easily best the distance record now held by a 747-400. In 1989, that Qantas 747-400 nicknamed "Long reach" flew non-stop from London to Sydney. The flight lasted 20 hours and 9 minutes and covered 10,587 miles (17,039 km). This was a delivery flight -- the first 747-400 to be delivered to Qantas. The jumbo jet carried no passengers, which is why it had enough fuel to make such a long flight.

Boeing bills the 777-200LR as the world's longest-range jetliner, although without three optional fuel tanks in the aft cargo hold, the plane has about the same range as the Airbus A340-500. The four-engine Airbus jet entered service in late 2003 with Middle-East carrier Emirates. Singapore Airlines is operating five A340-500s on 18-hour nonstop flights between New York and Singapore and on ultra-long-range flights between Los Angeles and Singapore.

The 777-200LR being used for the record is one of two in the ongoing Boeing test flight program, which began in March of this year when the plane made its maiden flight from Paine Field in Everett, near the Boeing plant where it was built.

At the controls that day as command pilot, just as she will be when the plane leaves the Hong Kong airport for London Wednesday night, was Darcy-Hennemann. With her on that first flight as co-pilot was Santoni.

Darcy-Hennemann's career at Boeing includes a number of "firsts." In addition to being selected as the first woman test pilot for Boeing, she was the first woman to be rated as a captain on the 747-400 and the 777. The University of Washington graduate also has captain status on Boeing's 737, 757 and 767 jets.

"Rather than being a woman test pilot, I'm a test pilot who happens to be a woman," Darcy-Hennemann said.

Until it is certified at the end of the test flight program for passenger service, the 777-200LR is classified as an "experimental" aircraft. That's a perfect match for Darcy-Hennemann, a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.

Over the last eight months, she and the other Boeing test pilots assigned to the 777-200LR program have put the two test-flight planes through maneuvers that no commercial plane should ever experience in flight. They push the plane's design envelop to the edge to gather critical performance data and to make sure that it will survive any unexpected situation that might ever be encountered during its lifetime of carrying passengers.

In all, the two test planes have been flown for a total of about 900 hours. Darcy-Hennemann had specific responsibility for Boeing 001, the first 777-200LR to roll off the Everett factory assembly line. Boeing 002 will be used for the record flight.

The various tests that must be accomplished as part of any test flight program at Boeing are rated as high, medium or low risk.

One test, the stall, is considered high-risk. The plane is pitched up until it is flying so slow that the wings lose lift and it noses over toward the earth until it regains flying speed.

Darcy-Hennemann and Santoni hold the Boeing record for performing the most stalls in on day -- more than 70.

Another high-risk test involves diving the 777 toward the earth until it reaches its maximum dive speed of Mach .96. or nearly the speed of sound. The cruising speed of the 777 is about Mach 0.84.

For Darcy-Hennemann, the cockpit is her "office." And she has wanted to go to work there for a very long time.

"I was three years old when I told my grandmother I was going to fly when I grew up" she said.

She started flying in college, at the University of Washington, when she would trade friends who had airplanes food for flying time.

"Which was pretty amazing if you knew how I cook," she said. "But I was pretty motivated."

But it was not until she went to work for Boeing as an engineer that she finally had enough money to pay for flying lessons.

And now, she's chief pilot on what will be a flight for the record books.

What comes next for Darcy-Hennemann? Test flying the 787?

"Sleep," she says with a laugh.