In June, Flightglobal was invited by civil and defense simulator manufacturer CAE to get hands-on with its Boeing 787 Series 7000 full-flight simulator. Mike Gerzanics, Flightglobal test pilot and current 737 captain and I traveled to Montreal, Canada for an up-close look at a new Level D simulator that will be used to train Continental’s 787 pilots in Houston. Mike, who is also rated in the 777 authored a comprehensive flight test package about his impressions of the 787 simulator, its handling and features.
During the two hours we had with the simulator, Gerzanics and I flew the simulated skies over San Francisco in both normal and irregular operations. Here are some of his impressions:
I am type rated in both the 777 and 757/767, having flown them in
engineering and maintenance capacity for a US legacy carrier. While it
has been several years since my last flight in either type, I instantly
felt at home in the 787. For my familiarisation preview flight of the
787 simulator, the empty weight was 113,500kg (250,000lb) and a fuel
load of 68,000kg. The simulator was at San Francisco International, an
airport with which I am familiar. CAE Capt Domenic Di Iorio sat in the
right seat and guided me through the pre-start flows. Di Iorio also ran
the electronic checklist.By design, flows and procedures are similar to those I remember for the
777. While we typically would start both engines on the 777 at the same
time, we started No 2 followed by No 1 in the 787 simulator. Regardless,
the procedure is simple – start switch to start and start lever to on,
the FADEC taking care of the rest. Flaps were set to 5, and the
before-taxi checklist was accomplished using the smart electronic
checklist.During the taxi to Runway 28R I again marvelled at level of detail in
the simulation. While never to be confused with the real thing, feeling
concrete expansion joints while taxiing lends an air of authenticity. A
reduced power take-off was accomplished, with indicated take-off speeds
(V1/VR/V2) of 142/144/153kt respectively.Rotation forces were on par with those I remembered from the 777,
establishing a 10e_SDgr attitude and holding it until lift-off. Once
airborne the gear was retracted and I followed the flight director
guidance for the initial climb. Passing 1,000ft (300m) MSL the flaps
were retracted at the reference flap speed bugs on the airspeed tape. A
250kt indicated airspeed climb to 5,000ft MSL was accomplished, and I
steered the 787 towards the coast near Half Moon Bay, California.
This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.
This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.