Boeing returns to old idea for 777X

Sources close to the design team for the Boeing 777X have confirmed that Boeing is going back to the original idea for the 777-200, and giving the new aircraft folding wingtips. When the -200 was launched Boeing gave customers the option for folding tips, to allow the design to go into airports with smaller gates, but no one went with the option.

Boeing has refused to confirm the design, but has said that they are a year or more from formally offering the aircraft. Entry into service by the end of the decade is feasible. Boeing plans on using longer carbon-composite wings, and plans on adding seats to just over 400 in the new aircraft.

Boeing said Wednesday it plans to bring its next-generation 777X jet into service by the end of the decade, a time frame that had come under question after remarks from the company’s chief executive last year.

At the same time, sources familiar with the design confirmed that the 777X design is expected to have folding wingtips, a novel feature that would allow bigger wings to fit into the same-sized airport parking space as the current 777.

“We have not changed our schedule,” said Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said at a conference in Seattle organized by the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance. “We’re focused on these airplanes coming to the market late in the decade.”

AvWeek

Thanks SME. I always enjoy your posts!

I'm a designer....I want to know if the wingtips fold down or up....I say fold 'em down and under...
public visual appeal would be less cardiac if they hinge on the bottom for inherant reliability, don't tell me they fold up....

reply to post by GBP/JPY


Ok, I won't tell you.

I couldn't imagine them folding down. More of the wing could be folded if it went up, plus the biggest reason.... it would be allot harder for ground handlers to hit the wings in the up position.

Naval a/c wings generally fold up - how many of those collapse in flight?

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul


Well, there are several tales of the F-8 and F-4 flying about with the tips still folded... Though none were the result of mechanical failure in flight, to my knowledge.

Some more details of the 777X have been revealed. The design team is taking the best features of the 777 and 787 and combining them for the preliminary flight deck design. They plan to put the larger 787 displays, and is using a former 787 development cab at the Integrated Aircraft Systems Laboratory in Seattle.

The current plan is to have the 787 Flight Control System (FCS), which unlike the 777 FCS operates on all three axes. The Current 777 FCS is known as C*u, and uses speed control for longitudinal stability. The 787 system added a P Beta law for longitudinal control.

The wing fold mechanism will be standard on all aircraft, and will reduce the wing from 233 feet, down to 212 feet when folded. The crew will receive multiple warnings on the wing fold, to let them know if they are folded or extended. The rule will be that the wingtips will be extended when the aircraft passes the hold short line on the runway.

777X design features

a reply to: Zaphod58

What would happen if they tried to fly with them up?

a reply to: MystikMushroom

It's just the tip, so they'd almost certainly get airborne depending on weight, but they'd suffer damage up to the tip coming off.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I really can't wait to start receiving more work for parts on this plane. I help build pulley assemblies and other bench assembled parts for all BCA aircraft and most builds are quite interesting to make at times. I'm not in the loop on design decisions at all or what will actually happen with a wing folding decision, but I would think that there may be a pulley design or two for it. Perhaps it'll be entirely hydraulic, though I wouldn't fault Boeing for having a backup way to actuate the actual folding process itself.

a reply to: MystikMushroom Probably nothing much would happen. Firstly there will almost certainly be a control law inhibit that simply wont allow the aircraft to get off the ground unless there is positive indication of the wing tips being down and locked. And even if it did get of the ground, realistically they will just act like a big winglet or fence so long as speed remains low. Lateral movement might be a bit sluggish. I don't think passengers or cabin crew will let the tech crew get too far off the ground without mentioning it! What might be interesting is just how reliable the position and status indicating system for the wingtips will be. It better be good if the first time they can try it is at the hold short point rather than at the gate. Otherwise there will be a few embarrassing return to blocks, not to mention engineering crews having to tear back to the departure bay to meet it (usually at the expense of their just prepared lunch).

LEE

a reply to: thebozeian

There have been a few cases of carrier birds getting airborne with folded wings. They usually suffer some damage. A very few that successfully landed (most don't) had minor damage to the wings. These wings being bigger and composite, I don't know how they'd react damage wise, but I'd assume similarly.