21st Century Jet - Building the Boeing 777 - Full Episode 5

[Music] it would be one of the most complex machines ever built it would take 10 000 people and nearly five years to build it it would cost an estimated five billion dollars success was anything but certain the plane would contain more than four million parts supplied by contractors around the world but would they arrive on time miss your first commitment and then things start to go wrong and would they work from a technical point of view i would not put this back on the airplane if i had a choice nothing could be left to chance this would be the most tested airliner in aviation history eventually lives would be at stake there's a an apprehension anytime you change technology to make it all work the company would reinvent itself from the inside out and all of this would have to happen at a time when the world's airline industry was in recession if the triple seven were to fail the company's future was at risk success would keep boeing ahead of the competition for decades to come this plane would be built to set a new standard for commercial aviation this is the story of the building of a 21st century jet [Music] with a half dozen triple seven test aircraft flying around the world in a complex flight test program boeing's newest airliner was by this time well launched [Music] the past year had been dominated by a battery of tests that pushed the plane to its limits but the most extreme test of all was still ahead in the interest of technology one whole plane would be destroyed the engineers needed to know if the triple seven wings could survive the strongest forces that turbulence or bad handling could produce they were also interested in whether the same wing design could be used on future heavier versions of the plane [Music] it would be a simple question to answer using a plane specially built for the purpose they would just attach strong cables to the wings and pull upwards until they broke [Music] as the test progressed the force on the wings became so strong it caused ripples in the fuselage the engineers hoped that the wing would withstand 150 percent of the strongest forces it would ever meet in flight they predicted a wing deflection of about 24 feet before the break [Music] retention we're now holding at 120 design limit load we'll again make a loads check it should be a short hold here [Music] as the tension in the wing increased the crowd of observers including many of the people who had lived with the plane for more than four years fell quiet condition 15 and 75 seconds starting the ramp now we have attention we're now loading to 130 percent of design limit load the ramp rate is again 75 seconds although he was no longer the leader of the team alan mullally was also there to watch [Applause] [Music] great whichever way you looked at it the test was a success 154 154 154 [Applause] the failure mode was as predicted compression buckling in the upper panels we had the failure and about this the prediction the location we predicted on the right wing on this side we didn't see the left wing very well but the observers indicate that the fracture occurred there simultaneously in the same location but anyhow thank god it's over although the half-dozen test planes were flying all day every day united airlines managed to persuade boeing to lend them one for a night so they could film a commercial they wanted to attract passengers which was after all what plane making was all about one of the things we really wanted to do was show the details of the plane the the features of the plane the entertainment features the roominess the space and we figured we needed to get somebody something some way of taking us through the plane and as we were just kicking around ideas and we thought well let's see the planes from the pacific northwest what else what indigenous thing of the pacific northwest would work and we kind of both simultaneously said bigfoot the process of putting the prosthetics on my face takes about three and a half hours and it feels like rubber glued to my face but as you can see it moves with every expression i can be horrified i can rehash it insane and whatever i'm thinking i'm suspicious the eyebrows move whatever i do it immediately shows up ready and action [Music] the publicity campaign had to be planned many months before the plane was delivered it was an impressive display of confidence in the ability of boeing to deliver the plane on a date that had been set four years before but there was still one outstanding issue for boeing that was to dominate the final few months before delivery it threatened the ability of united to use the plane on the routes they had been counting on like airliners currently in service the triple 7 was a twin-engine aircraft rules drawn up by aviation regulators control which routes a new twin-engine plane can fly to make sure that it is never more than an hour from an airport in case one engine fails the plane is expected to prove its reliability over two years or so of service before it can fly further afield these regulations governed what was called etops extended twin engine operations to many boeing engineers they were a throwback to a former age of aviation the original rule in the united states was drafted in 1950 the the the one-hour restriction and that rule was based upon the reliability of the piston engine airplane the broad spectrum of today's airplanes and not just etops airplanes has engines that are at least 10 times more reliable than those engines and an accident rate related to engines that's at least 60 times better boeing's target for the triple 7 was 180 minutes etops they wanted the federal aviation administration the faa to allow the plane to fly up to three hours from the nearest airport from the day it went into service rather than one hour these maps show what a difference that would make to the roots the plane could fly the dark blue areas are forbidden airspace to a 60 minutes e tops plane they are further than an hour from the nearest airport only with 180 minutes e-tops is a large twin like the triple seven free to fly almost anywhere its owners want boeing wanted 180 minute e-tops from the moment the plane was delivered to customers they proposed to the faa that they set aside one whole plane to take on a thousand cycles of test flying with a cycle being take off cruising for a certain period of time and landing this would simulate a thousand scheduled flights more than a year's worth of commercial flight time when they discussed this plan with the pilots union the initial reaction was skepticism as a group we're rather conservative because we do sit in the front end and we're going to experience whatever happens we're going to be there so we tend to be very conservative and we will almost categorically get up and say we're not sure about this that's just a good answer for us but after that we were asked to participate in the pro and in the process and they uh they being the faa boeing came to us and said what are your objections and we said well gee this we're going to go out there with an untested product and they said well what would make you feel comfortable and that kind of dialogue went on so when somebody asks you that and they ask you what your hesitations are and they're willing to say well we'll do this how's that then you can come to a feeling that they're trying to do what's right it used to take almost years to accumulate this boeing was so successful in persuading the faa to consider this new method of certifying the plane that there were accusations that the faa was not being tough enough on the company the perception that the regulatory authorities and the fa in particular are too cozy with the boeing company is one of the most flawed perceptions that i've ever seen the people who believe that were not here when we had long drawn out dialogue over how to resolve certain issues the faa was extremely rigorous in terms of making us perform and they allowed us no slippage whatsoever in terms of performing to the objectives that we originally set out or stated we set a series of safety requirements in place that provided hurdles that were very very difficult to climb we required boeing for example to go back and look at every single engine shutdown that they'd ever experienced and every in-flight diversion that they'd ever experienced and then analyze why that happened and then tell us what in fact they were doing to design that problem out of this airplane in addition to that normally we look at twin engine airplanes in fact any airplane as being a failed safe airplane in the context that if the engine fails the flight is still safe in this airplane we went one step further we said you must design it so the engines don't fail and then if you get it wrong and an engine does fail protect the diversion so that you have no problems with regard to safety in early january 1995 wa4 the etops plane set off on a trip to a remote airfield in glasgow montana to carry out the cold weather portions of the etop cycles the flight test team would gather data on every aspect of the plane's performance to be compiled into a report for the faa there's a plan of a thousand cycles and each cycle has a characteristic it'll have a temperature uh ambient type of temperature that uh that was at existed at takeoff uh at cruise altitude cruise segment uh and then a landing at a at a destination some of them are relatively elaborate but a lot of them are very plain vanilla just like an airliner or airline would use on revenue service the plan called for an hour and a half trip to glasgow and then straight into the first group of flights that same afternoon but the weather took a turn for the worse fog covered glasgow airport and it looked as if the pilot might have to go around once or twice before he'd be able to land i'll stay primarily on instruments approaching decision height i'd like you to concentrate on the runway let me know if you've seen it all right okay you're going to call approaching minimums and decide at minimums okay okay if i haven't called landing then it's going automatically decision go around 520 laps decision go around nothing out there decision we've got ground contact no runway though damn that's close that's 20. okay well we're trying to get into glasgow valley industrial uh approaches roger we've got the ground minimums and there's a runway 10 the plane was an hour and a half late but that didn't matter as much as the fact that the fog might get even worse that could mean taking off to start their cycles and not being able to land again there was also the problem of the cold weather the very reason they'd come to glasgow right now there's a number of taxiways that are closed because we haven't snowplowed them yet but we'll be working on that when you guys are up in the air please call in about 15 minutes before you're going to land so that in all the time so we can make sure the runway is clear and we have to do an animal check to make sure there's no deer animal on the runway at night so we'll run a truck down the middle of the runway before you land it looked like they could still fit in five cycles that day if the weather didn't get any worse so the afternoon shift got on board the plane but the fog got worse and the weather got colder the tests were abandoned for the rest of the day as night fell there was nothing to do but wait [Music] the following morning the weather had improved enough for the tests to begin they completed five takeoffs and landings by noon in the coming weeks the triple seven would have to do this another 900 times without any major problems if boeing was to convince the faa to grant the urgently needed 180 minute e-tops [Music] there was another important test of the plane's evacuation procedures that the triple seven had to pass before it would be certified for commercial flight boeing and united had to prove that they could evacuate a full plane load of passengers and crew through just four of the plane's eight doors in 90 seconds or less without serious of first aid injury here in case of injury we're going to take care of the people who get injured and we'll get the information from them and give them treatment right on the spot this is our nurse on call and i'm dr palestinian and we're ready for the show the passengers all volunteers were led through a covered tunnel into the plane so they wouldn't know which of the escape doors would be used the faa required that the test take place in total darkness except for the plane's emergency lights to record the event a regular camera was mounted outside the plane it would record what was visible to the human eye inside the plane was a special infrared camera that could see in the dark it would show what was happening to the passengers the plane had been fitted with all-economy seats for a maximum capacity of 420 with passengers ranging from 16 to 70 years old plastic dolls were used in place of children to make things more realistic luggage was strewn in the aisles every passenger wore a number to help the faa and boeing analyze the videotape of the event support personnel are doing a final check of the plane and we are about ready to go i just heard the announcement that they want us to get ready because lights are coming out pretty clear thank you the emergency began when the lights went off [Music] oh [Applause] yeah i ain't got we get abrasions burns the slides are plastic and when they come down if they forget and put their hands down they get burns hopefully everybody took off their pantyhose and things like that because that increases the heat synthetic fibers only one person failed to walk away she got a cracked rib from another passenger's elbow of the 420 passengers 419 got out in the required 90 seconds one passenger balked and had to be thrown down the slide after the time limit had expired well it's a quick look report looks like three doors made it well within the time limit one person appeared to be a buck or a door four and so there was a the last person had a big gap so we'll have to go look at the film on that the plane's evacuation procedures were eventually certified for 419 passengers if an airline later decided they wanted to squeeze in one more the test would have to be repeated boeing was reminded of the scrutiny they were under when local news shows highlighted the problem that had occurred on a test flight emergency vehicles surrounded this 777 the pride of thousands of boeing workers after the plane made an emergency landing at 3 21 this afternoon at boeing field paramedics took three injured engineers off the plane and sent two of them to harborview medical center boeing says it all started while the 777 was on a test flight 30 miles north of boeing field at 43 000 feet in the test engineers were running the plane on battery power only suddenly a clamp for an air conditioning duct failed and the cabin rapidly depressurized the pilot then put the plane in an emergency dive dropping the passenger cabin lost pressurization through a faulty valve in the belly of the plane there was a last minute scramble to fix it about nine o'clock that night i'd been home and i was supposed to have the next day off my boss called me up at nine o'clock and said oh by the way would you mind come in and go to work tomorrow and we pretty much worked the weekend to uh you know get the understanding of the problem and to figure out our plan an air conditioner off to the right was pushing cooled air into the cabin through a valve on the left this clamp came loose and the air in the system rushed out downwards the valve slammed shut to prevent the cabin air escaping but at that height the pressure difference was so great that the valve flap broke and the cabin depressurized when the airplane landed this duct was this coupling was off this coupling was off and this coupling was off and this whole part was jammed up against the lower surface of the wing and the flapper itself was at the back of the pack so when we opened the pack door fell out of the airplane the same clamp failed the previous day on a flight to hawaii the plane was at a lower altitude so the damage was not as great miscommunication played as big a part as engineering when the team tried to find out whose fault it was that's a real tough one to answer because i think it's really a combination because we boeing set down the requirements and then our suppliers go about showing us how they're going to meet our requirements and this is one that they said they would meet our requirements and they did and i guess right now i'm not sure i think it's kind of a little bit of we didn't understand what they told us they were going to test and they didn't quite understand what we told them we wanted and so it's kind of a two-way street it's really hard to say that our supplier was at fault or we were at fault it's really i think a combination of the two the faa restricted the other test planes to 25 000 feet until boeing had redesigned the clamp and the flap a month before delivery the thousand cycles tests were in the 900s and wa4 the etops plane flew to hawaii the remaining cycles would be flown by a crew from united airlines to show the faa they could operate and maintain the plane on the schedule captain wally tweeden arrived to fly the plane back to washington dc to find that wa4 had been delayed on its previous leg it's doing it 2014 we're gonna try for nine o'clock departure the plane landed at 8 10 on a tropical hawaiian evening in the week since the cold weather tests in montana it had crisscrossed the united states through a range of climates taking off and landing at dozens of airports every aspect of the plane was put to the test not only the engines but the environmental control system emergency oxygen masks fire extinguishers and the all-important fly-by-wire computers that had caused so much concern the year before the hour and a half delay on the flight from washington had been caused by a faulty high-frequency radio because we're flying over water and you get pat you know you go so many miles outside of land over water the only communication we have is the hf radio if we were flying over land that wouldn't be a problem but because of the fact that we are flying over water we must have both transceivers because otherwise we would have no communication with air traffic control we could not radio in our position and update our position as we progress across the ocean so that is why the hf radio in this particular situation is so important problems that developed during the etop cycles wouldn't necessarily disqualify the plane what was important was how the airline dealt with them united had hoped for a quick turnaround to make up some of the lost time but two screws on the radio antenna refused to budge and the whole process took a lot longer while the antenna was being fixed another problem reared its head every 30 days the navigation computer had to be updated with new route information but the crew had trouble loading the data into one of the two navigation computers because these flights were a test of united's operating abilities they were supposed to solve the problems on their own i'd be more inclined if than than disabling i'd be more inclined to um operate and left for our operating auto for departure and then uh if we feel like it's wise to go to left and leave it there do that while the flight crew tried to find a way of flying with one working computer an faa observer sat and watched because i i i'm of the same feeling i the the right i'd like to have that right fmc and it's it's not that it's not operating and it's not that we have to worry about it and we can still plot and make sure that we're and if we need to once we're over land we can navigate vor to v.o.r i think this might be an faa trick are you happy with that yeah i go along with it but that means he's not happy and i agree with your way of doing it i mean i don't know that they've made a phone call to seattle but have they okay as they might do in normal operations united was allowed to ask boeing in seattle for advice what they could not do was consult the boeing engineers on the plane even though one of them was a computer expert who could have helped using the onboard boeing experts would have been frowned on by the faa by midnight tweeden decided to let the maintenance people try to solve the problem before morning well i finally just decided that uh you know i would check with operations control because if it was going to get delayed much more we were going to have to rest sooner we get started the better we are tomorrow during the night two things happened united ordered a new computer from san francisco when it arrived the united maintenance crew solved the problem by swapping the new one for the old the following morning the test crew boarded flight 9432 from honolulu to washington [Music] [Music] the plane was 15 hours late but lateness was not a disqualification for the 180-minute e-tops united and boeing believed that the previous night's problems typical of everyday flight had been handled effectively tweden who was in charge of the plane seemed relatively unconcerned about being monitored by the faa since they're who grant the etops authorizations 180 minutes as what we're hoping for and planning on and what the program is designed around so the faa needs to be able to determine that our procedures and the way we use the aircraft will justify that authorization so that's primarily their role at this point we get on with them fine and and frankly we worked together in fact before i came up here we were discussing a couple of items in the manual to address and some things like that you know they have they have an interest in making sure this at least making sure that the authorization they grant is justified by the performance during these cycles lunchtime was a test of the plane's galley and meal service the meal was less than a complete success wow look at this one the galley ovens overheated melting the containers for the mixed nuts for bob ireland in charge of these etops flights for united the problems of the last 24 hours had taught him a lesson well the lesson we learned last night was uh was that we were ready i think the fact that something happened could have happened after two years of service might well have same thing that turned out to be a hardware failure and uh we handled it it took a long time in revenue service the passengers might not have been inconvenienced for so long because we would have done something else with them so that made it possibly more dramatic than it would have been to passengers on a regular flight however what we showed is that we were able to troubleshoot the problem and eventually get to a solution a solution that was quicker than waiting for the parts to arrive because our guys got inventive they used their knowledge their their corporate knowledge that they had and did something that wasn't necessarily written in the books they were able to try something that worked as the plane landed in washington it faced another 50 or so trips around the united states then there would be several weeks of analyzing the data before the faa issued their etops verdict no one dared to believe that the certification would be denied so united airlines prepared for the purchase and delivery of their first plane like the owner of a new car they wanted to make sure everything worked before they accepted it that's going to sit there and flop in the wind and eventually you're going to wear a hole in there aren't you the other condition you guys want to bring that up on a customer pickup i'm here to verify for united airlines that the airplane is working as we expect it to work that everything is put together properly and that and i'm sure that it's all been done by boeing but because we're paying a lot of money for the airplane we'd like to have our own people make sure that that in fact it's ready d1 okay [Music] 200 feet to oral once in the air united's quality assurance inspectors got to work every element of the plane's interior was checked and boeing would be required to fix any mistakes before delivery faults and problems were marked with red tape our test pilot up there is accepting the airplane from the standpoint of how well the airplane flies the system operations and flight etc we kind of buy back the airplane on the ground in terms of how do the systems functionally check are they operating the way they should operate uh is a cabin what we expect is the noise levels within expectations the windows aren't fogging up the carpets are laid flat and everything like that in spite of intensive efforts by boeing and the subcontractors united reluctantly had to accept that the sophisticated video phone computer system in every seat was not going to be completely ready for the inaugural flight [Music] in the middle of the flight when the plane was at cruise height it was depressurized to test the doors holding the oxygen masks the masks themselves weren't meant to come down but several did repacking these things is quite a job so we don't we don't want all the doors to open so they put these little red things in there to hold it and obviously this one just wasn't latched the red thing wasn't in all the way those are something that are all removed before delivery of the airplane and then if you ever have this happen in front of you on a real flight you pull hard on the mask when you pull on the mask it pulls a little key out right here that starts the oxygen generator so you don't ever try to use the masks when they're hanging here like this so nothing's coming out of them pull them down and that starts the oxygen to flow that's what the flight attendants tell you that nobody listens to before every flight the complex flight deck was equipped with a huge range of warning systems that alerted the pilot when he was in a dangerous situation captain peterson tested them one by one right here and do all that stuff if the plane got into a stall one of the most dangerous situations when it was flying too slow to generate lift there was a warning device called a stick shaker stick shaker is something that shakes a stick to tell you hey it's time to speed up you're going too slow and in this test not only are we checking the speed at which that works but because of this airplane and the automatic systems there's a lot of other protections that as we do it we're checking and if you keep negating all that and you force it to go slower eventually you get the stick shaker it shakes the whole stick and you can hear it you can feel it it says you're going too slow speed up 118. another important check was on the fuel vent system for dumping fuel in certain situations when you take off full of fuel going a long way you actually weigh more than your than the airplane is stressed for landing so if you have to turn around and land right away you really need to lower your weight so the only way we can do that is to jettison fuel [Music] after a couple more hours of flying including practice landings the united team met to tell boeing whether they would accept the plane or not a boeing pilot ran down the list of problems or squawks that united had uncovered basically a real clean airplane up front we have three squawks first one using the airplane supplied headsets and without keying the mic we have an audio feedback heard whenever talking and that just is depends on how heavy you're breathing on the on the mic or not and it may really relate to that specific headset okay second one first officer's windshield wiper fluttering at high airspeeds uh we didn't notice it during the first a couple of times here at high speed but finally coming back across the mountains it uh let go and number three three latches on the adp access door were open after flight uh really clean airplane united have anything you'd like to say about the back end we certainly noticed a significant improvement the cabin noise levels between us and lot four uh a number of us have been flying out on one floor last month here and even been bigger noticed in the flight the uh lavatory at door four left and flush it just sounds like a hurricane i mean it's much louder than all the other ones uh it's it sounds like there's some sort of adjustment can be made on that that anyone can recognize on the ground is that one of your pickups did we write that yeah that's it i guess i'll make the unprecedented step of actually uh checking the customer acceptance off on this probably the first time in history [Applause] i just uh like to add that it's the nicest airplane i think i've flown of this kind i mean it's beautiful somehow french pastry seemed like two miles away to celebrate the first boeing plane ever to be accepted first time by a purchaser after the pleasures of the test drive came the sticker shock it was a surprisingly complicated process that involved lawyers and accountants in four states a lot of money would change hands nothing would be done on faith i think there's a box in a big cardboard box at the faa's headquarters in oklahoma city where the change of ownership would have to be registered three lawyers met to get matters underway at citibank in delaware where united and boeing had accounts the transfer of a hundred million dollars or so would take place the computer keys would be pressed by brian todd united airline headquarters was in chicago and here lawyer david olassen would get the complex operation underway by starting the conference called please check the number [Music] uh [Music] the second vermin letter worked okay i don't think i want to ask that there's a spot in the forward galley where the keyboard goes into the attendant workstation and people looked at it so that was a good place for cockroaches to hide so we had to write a letter promising to have the galley modified in that area so that we would have vermin he would keep the vermin out anyway all right conference room okay thank you thank you a little bit um we're here for the closing of uh the 777 with the u.s registration number of n777 7ua bob ireland can you run through the serial numbers of the airframe and the engines okay airframe serial number is 29616 we have two pratt whitney pw 4077 engines position number one p777019 and position number two p777016 very good jim can you authorize transfer of funds sure brian would you debit united airlines account for the confirmed amount for immediate credit to the boeing company account sure let me put you on hold for one moment and i will give you a confirmation on that [Music] in each closing they have outside the room they have the name of the airlines and then they always have all these nice trays of danish and juices and fruits and yeah we said i know [Applause] [Music] david yes i'm here and for the benefit of the folks in oklahoma city the receipt from which i was reading had a misprint the airframe serial number is two six nine one six that's much better we have on the bill of sale that's what we have here uh it's correct on the registration application it's just wrong on the receipt so we'll get these receipts reprinted okay it's two 2-6 thanks joe that's what i thought i couldn't hear the first two digits that uh 296 that's only 3 000 down the line from this one a bit wild you'll get there don't worry okay i guess i have all parties on the phone i do have a confirmation on the predetermined amount okay brian this is rick nelson at boeing would you uh please call our treasury department and inform that the funds have been transferred boeing had taken great pride in a new and more open management technique based on trust but that trust stopped short of the company's lawyers who wouldn't release the plane until they were certain united's money was in their account as soon as i get verification from our treasury people david of the uh funds transfer i'll go ahead and do that i got some uh [Music] had some real large ones too that's where i got mothers shirley yes surely yes sir this is rick nelson i authorize you to go ahead and date the bill of sale and release it's united for filing okay i'm going to release the bill of sale from the boeing company to bail to a boeing sales corporation you will then release it to united airlines this is mary lou and i am dating the bellow sale from boeing sales corporation to united airlines and i have now released that bill of sale thank you rick thank you shirley um patty hanson will you please date the aircraft registration application and pilot together with the bill of sale okay 15th of may 15th of a minute to me we're ready to file yeah okay we'll be right back with the filing time bob ireland while they're filing that um will you date the pink slip of the registration now i have done it david and you'll be putting it aboard the plane you bet yep tom it's on its way okay it's 8 44. okay man look please sure david this is patty the documents were filed at 8 44 am cdt very good hey want to thank all who participated in the call thank you david thank you bye all right yeah congratulations thank you thank you um here anyway champagne breakfast would be nice that's right we all want to go to brunch you know [Music] it only remained for boeing to hand over to united the key to their first triple seven certainly not least on behalf of the boeing company i'd like to present to you the key to your brand new triple seven aircraft but they still didn't know whether the faa would approve it for 180 minute e-tops that decision was announced just one week before united's inaugural flight last night i was provided a copy of the board's report in which they recommend that based on successful completion of a most extraordinary series of tests analyses and flight demonstrations the boeing triple seven equipped with pratt whitney 4084 engines be type approved for use on extended range operations up to 180 minutes from the nearest adequate airport the triple 7 team was visibly relieved they had proven their plane more reliable than any previous boeing plane at entry into service it was just in time for the hectic schedule of flights that united had planned now for the first time the new plane could do what it was designed to do earn lots of money for the airlines that were buying it united's inaugural flight took place right on schedule the plane's phones still weren't working but the airline didn't let that interfere with the celebration [Music] due to the english pronunciation of inaugural at least one american passenger thought this was going to be an all-girl flight and we had heard that this was going to be an all-female clue today and uh to include flight crew that's what the woman at the confirmation desk i don't want to disappoint you but i saw the pilot i know we've worked for about five years on developing a part for the flyby wire system very small but important part the 300 of them on each airplane very unique technically and i thought it'd be a way to kind of for our company and for me to celebrate the success of that program and tell the engineers i appreciated the work so it's fun [Music] hey [Music] good morning [Music] fine [Music] there are eight exit doors on the 777 four on each side of the airplane [Music] degrees [Music] nearly five years earlier united airlines had launched boeing on the path of building the triple seven by committing in advance to buying it alan mullally had been the team leader for most of that five years looking back he saw the project as a test of a new management philosophy just as much as it was an experiment in design and engineering if our thinking back to the anxious time was more of of getting going and having the team all be on the all of us be on the same plan and knowing that it would work because it had to work you know we if we simulated all the parts and all the parts started to arrive and they didn't fit well it would have been a great idea but and if the airplane didn't perform well and if the people really didn't like this environment that they really wanted to go back to the way we took tests individually in the past and we were fighting some human characteristic that we didn't know that doesn't really want to work together well i think it would have been devastating and so the minute that the the first indications that working together was working the people were different and had so much more to offer when they're in this environment and they were willing to share it and do it together and the minute we saw the parts starting to fit together and the minute that we had a glimpse that the airplane was going to be able to do what that what the customers wanted to do then the rest was just holding on and fighting the day-to-day issues and and helping everybody that did the whining which was okay to help them find a way to get it done and to me the whole rest of the of the program then was exhilarating i mean it had his ups and downs because of the issues but i mean it doesn't get any better than this if you like to design a complex sophisticated state-of-the-art fabulous machines are going to get lots of people together around the world i mean it just doesn't get any better than than doing a 777 program and i'll do i'll look forward and try to find out or figure out a way over time to get myself in a position where i can do it again because it's just so much fun [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

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Keywords: Boeing 777

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Length: 56min 11sec (3371 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 03 2013