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Might there be a literal case study of the 777? I read a book about the development of the 747 and it was absolutely fascinating--particularly the (now extinct?
by teachrdan 7y ago
Might there be a literal case study of the 777? I read a book about the development of the 747 and it was absolutely fascinating--particularly the (now extinct?) Boeing obsession with engineering safety.
[0] Jumbo: The Making of the Boeing 747
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22849121-jumbo https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22849121-jumbo
- mannykannot 7y agoAs you liked that, consider "Twenty-First-Century Jet: The Making and Marketing of the Boeing 777" by Karl Sabbagh. I believe there is also a video series from PBS. The 777 development program might have been Boeing's technical apotheosis.
- markdown 7y agoFor anyone else: "the highest point in the development of something; a culmination or climax."
- sgnelson 7y agoThe PBS documentary is linked in the above article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oyWZjdXxlw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oyWZjdXxlw with this quote: "There is a scene in the first episode of a five-part 1996 PBS series on the making of the 777, Boeing’s first plane to employ “fly-by-wire” technology, in which an engineer discusses the company’s philosophy of computer-assisted aviation: One of the things that we do in the basic design is the pilot always has the ultimate authority of control. There’s no computer on the airplane that he cannot override, or turn off if the ultimate comes, but, in terms of any of our features, even those that are built to prevent the airplane from stalling, which is the lowest speed you can fly and beyond which you would lose the control. We don’t inhibit that totally; we make it difficult, but if something in the box should inappropriately think that it’s stalling when it isn’t, the pilot can say, this is wrong and he can override it. That’s a fundamental difference in philosophy that we have versus some of the competition.
- mbrodersen 7y agoI highly recommend the book (Jumbo: The Making of the Boeing 747). One of the best "how succesfull engineering is really done" books I have ever read.