Design effort
The design phase for Boeing's new twinjet was different from the company's previous commercial jetliners. For the first time, eight major airlines – All Nippon Airways, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Delta Air Lines, Japan Airlines, Qantas, and United Airlines – had a role in the development of the airliner.[23] This was a departure from industry practice, where manufacturers typically designed aircraft with minimal customer input.[11] The eight airlines that contributed to the design process became known within Boeing as the "Working Together" group.[23] At the first group meeting in January 1990, a 23-page questionnaire was distributed to the airlines, asking each what it wanted in the new design.[14] By March 1990, Boeing and the airlines had decided upon a basic design configuration: a cabin cross-section close to the 747's, capacity up to 325 passengers, flexible interiors, a glass cockpit, fly-by-wire controls, and 10 percent better seat-mile costs than the A330 and MD-11.[14] Boeing also selected its Everett factory in Washington, home of 747 production, as the final assembly site for the 777.[24]
On October 14, 1990, United Airlines became the 777's launch customer when it placed an order for 34 Pratt & Whitney-powered aircraft valued at US$11 billion with options on an additional 34.[25][26] The development phase coincided with United's replacement program for its aging DC-10s.[27]United required that the new aircraft be capable of flying three different routes: Chicago to Hawaii, Chicago to Europe, and non-stop from Denver, a hot and high airport, to Hawaii.[27] ETOPS certification was also a priority for United,[28] given the overwater portion of United's Hawaii routes.[25] In January 1993, a team of United developers joined other airline teams and Boeing designers at the Everett factory.[29] The 240 design teams, with up to 40 members each, addressed almost 1,500 design issues with individual aircraft components.[30] The fuselage diameter was increased to suit Cathay Pacific, the baseline model grew longer for All Nippon Airways, and British Airways' input led to added built-in testing and interior flexibility,[14] along with higher operating weight options for the basic aircraft.[31]
The 777 was the first commercial aircraft to be designed entirely on computer.[19][25][32] Each design drawing was created on a three-dimensional CAD software system known as CATIA, sourced from Dassault Systemes and IBM.[33] This allowed a virtual aircraft to be assembled, in simulation, to check for interferences and to verify proper fit of the many thousands of parts, thus reducing costly rework.[34] Boeing developed their own high-performance visualization system, FlyThru, later called IVT (Integrated Visualization Tool) to support large-scale collaborative engineering design reviews, production illustrations, and other uses of the CAD data outside of engineering.[35] Boeing was initially not convinced of CATIA's abilities and built a physical mock-upof the nose section to verify its results. The test was so successful that additional mock-ups were canceled.[36]
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar