Next 777 takes wing

ABOVE CENTRAL WASHINGTON — One minute you’re comfortably seated inside a 777 jet, looking out the window at the ground, 34,000 feet below.

The next minute, the plane is in a downward spiral, banking at a 60-degree angle. You feel an intensifying pressure pushing you down in your seat as the force of gravity nearly doubles. Just lifting your arm requires exertion, as if you’re pushing against a large weight. Dizziness sets in.

Then, just as quickly as it started, the plane pulls out of the turn and rights itself. The other passengers on the 777 on a recent December afternoon, mostly Boeing Co. flight test engineers and analysts, barely seem to notice anything has happened.

This is nothing, they say. Just the other day, they did this 70 times. In a row.

It’s all part of an extensive battery of tests for the 777-300ER, a new extended-range version of the twin-aisle 777 that can handle such long routes as Los Angeles to Tokyo.

Although all Boeing’s commercial jets undergo routine testing when they come off the factory floor, new models such as the 777-300ER undergo far more extensive analyses.

The plane will go through about 1,500 hours of flight tests in order to win certification from the Federal Aviation Administration and be allowed to enter service. Boeing expects to deliver its first jet in April to customer International Lease Finance Corp.

Flight testing is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach.

Boeing test pilots, engineers and analysts will take the plane through maneuvers that would make many people swear off flying for good, from midair stalls to last-second screeching halts on a runway. The idea is to identify the outermost limits of the new airplane, make sure the multiple systems work together and ensure that the plane will behave the way it should — even in emergency situations.

To test extremes, they go to extremes: the Arctic Circle to test performance in cold weather; Singapore for hot and humid; Iceland where they can test landing amid severe crosswinds. The plane has also flown long distances from Asia to the Middle East to Alaska in a test of its ability to travel on only one engine.

Many maneuvers are designed to test the comfort and control of the airplane, ensuring that when for instance an airplane is caught in a Dutch Roll — a series of vertical and lateral oscillations — the airplane can handle the swaying movement without causing major passenger discomfort.

And they test how systems developed independently work with one another. Systems that seem fine alone can interfere with one another, said Capt. Suzanna Darcy, a Boeing flight test pilot for 18 years.

She recalled testing a 737. When she switched the power on, she heard the toilet in the lavatory flush. After confirming that no one was in the lavatory, she switched the power on again. This time, all the toilets on board flushed. The reason: interference between electrical systems.

Not all the test flight time is spent in stomach-turning maneuvers. The crews have a makeshift putting course — with one hole — that they practice on during their down time, said Rocke Koreis, whose business card identifies him as "Sr. Engineer, Super Genius."

When they need a little help sinking the putt, they just yell to the pilot "bank to the right," he joked.

Despite the maneuvers, it’s not as high-risk as a person might think, Darcy said.

"The most dangerous part of my job is the drive to get to work," she said.

Boeing has not had a fatality in a flight test for at least several decades, said Glenn Piersall, flight test operations manager, who added that he did not know of any.

Tests progress in baby steps, Darcy said. Pilots don’t jump into an untested plane and fly major maneuvers, but rather build up to the riskier tests over time.

There are moments, she added, when you realize something is not going right. But that’s when you rely on your training to fly yourself out of the problem, she said.

Flight testing has its advantages as well, she noted.

"I may not be the CEO," she said, as she and a guest test-pilot maneuvered the jet over mountain ranges during a sunset. "But my office has the best view."