Thread by @jbirdav8r

THREAD:
I was gonna wait to make a 🧵 on my first #boeing777 trip until I got more pics, but since my second trip canx, I will start now! #AvGeek

WALKAROUND: The 777 is simply MASSIVE. This just doesn’t come across in the PowerPoint walkaround training. (1/27)

The 737 and Bus feel like properly big airplanes—200 pax is nothing to sneeze at—but a 777 preflight feels like readying a mega yacht for a voyage on the high seas. It’s the first airplane I’ve flown that feels like a “ship.” And it almost seems alive, with (2/27)

the humming of systems and fans winding up and down. There’s a definite sense of occasion as we prepare the aircraft for departure; an army of ground crew are swarming the airplane, supporting our flight. It’s really neat to see. And I don’t know what is is about the big (3/27)

widebodies, but the cabin even different than the narrowbodies. More premium, or something, idk. It’s nice.

PREFLIGHT: Settling in to the 777 cockpit, I noticed it feels like a hybrid between the 737 and Airbus. It’s not as big as I thought it would be, but it’s plenty big(4/27)

and comfortable. This doesn’t come across in the sim because there’s not a rear bulkhead like in the actual jet. The windows, however, are phenomenal. We had a few last-minute troubleshooting items (cantankerous ACARS and a borrowed tow bar) but in general the preflight (5/27)

and before start duties are very similar to the other airplanes. As we are headed out over the North Atlantic, we pay extra close attention to the waypoints and our clearance, but other than that, it is familiar and comfortable. The Boeing ECL (electronic checklist) is (6/27)

great, an avionics generation newer than the Airbus (a320 at least). It helps immensely with situational awareness, and it makes verifying the airplane’s proper configuration a breeze. (7/27)

START/TAXI:
I am amazed by the start process on the giant Rolls-Royce Trent engines. Flip a couple of switches and these simply massive engines both start at once. That won’t be the case with my next trip on the -300ER with the GE90s, but this is cool. Doing my (8/27)

flight control check I had been warned to go slowly due to the sheer size of the control surfaces. As I pulled the elevator back into full deflection, it hit the stop and the airplane slightly shuddered—whoops. That’s what happens when the horizontal stabilizer is (9/27)

literally the same width as the entire wingspan of a CRJ. Lesson learned. It’s nice to sit up higher on the taxi, and the airplane just feels massive. I couldn’t see the wingtips at all from my seat. The nose gear is pretty far behind us. That makes for interesting visuals(10/27)

as we used judgmental oversteer to make tighter turns, swinging the nose out far past the centerline in the turn to keep all of our gear on the pavement.

TAKEOFF: as my captain handed control to me, I (11/27)

silently recited the Astronaut’s Prayer (Dear Lord, please don’t let me f*** this up 🤣) and put my hand on the thrust levers. I pushed them up a little to let the engines stabilize at 1.05 EPR, squeaked out a call of “TOGA,” pushed the TOGA button, and away we went! I (12/27)

could hear the engines spool from the mournful howl they emit at low power to that intense, powerful, trademark Rolls-Royce takeoff power growl. I admit to a quick case of the goosebumps and perhaps a little smirk as I thought “wow, they did that because of me!” We were (13/27)

quickly through 80 knots. Not too long thereafter, the airplane called V1, and the captain called “Rotate.” I pulled back pretty gingerly (better too little than too much) and the nose rose nicely into the air. As we climbed out, I continued hand-flying to get a feel for (14/27)

the airplane. My initial impression was that it felt a lot like my grandfather’s giant Cadillac: confident, enormous, and surprisingly light on the controls. And way better than the simulator: Hate to admit it but I had forgotten the concept of “trim” as we sped up to (15/27)

250 knots. I was like “why am I holding the nose down?” Whoops. It’s a little different than other jets because you’re commanding a trim speed vs a stabilizer setting, but it comes naturally soon enough. I like having the yoke. I hand-flew it through 10,000 feet, at (16/27)

which point I got the autopilot on to focus a little more on what was going on inside the plane.

THE CROSSING: coming out of New York doesn’t give you a ton of time to get things going to head out over the Atlantic, but it’s not super complicated. We have a briefing (17/27)

guide for Europe flying that we use like a checklist, guiding us through all the steps required. If you can read, you can cross the Atlantic. We make sure the airplane is talking to Gander, we get our oceanic clearance electronically, re-verify it, and we go “feet wet.” (18/27)

Not bad at all. Over the ocean that night, we could see many jets along our same track, some very close to us. Again, it felt like we were in ships leaving the harbor to brave the high seas. Just awesome. As there is no radar coverage, we are continuously (19/27)

cross-checking our position so that there is zero confusion we are going exactly where we are cleared to go and the airplane is configured properly. We also keep a close eye on the airplane’s systems.

I took the middle break and set up the bunk. (20/27)

It is surprisingly cozy and comfortable. On the -200, it’s right behind the cockpit. All the adrenaline flowing meant I didn’t get a wink of sleep, but I did get a nice relaxation session and felt rested and ready for the rest of the flight. (21/27)

THE LANDING: whoo, what a rush! Soon enough we were crossing the Alps and beginning our descent. A relatively short approach had me testing my energy management skills. The 777 flight spoilers are more like the 737 than the Airbus; where the 320 will automatically (22/27)

deploy them slowly, the 777 seems happy to just throw them all out at once if you ask it to. I won’t test it but in the 737 it makes the airplane basically squat in midair and it’s really uncomfortable (yes I know from experience). The 777 hand-flies like a big (23/27)

sweetheart. It’s great for building confidence, especially when handflying opportunities are rare. If you can fly a Cessna well, you should have no problem with a 777. As I brought the airplane down the final approach, it felt every bit as rock steady as the Airbus (24/27)

felt. Just really dialed in. One more recital of the Astronaut’s Prayer as we passed the final approach fix. As we cross the threshold around 50 feet, I start listening to the cadence of the GPWS to judge my flare. True to form, I flare just a tiny bit early. I can feel (25/27)

the autothrottles add a bit of power to account for that, so I make a correction. 50,40,30,20,10….holding my pitch attitude…and the airplane just rolls on beautifully. I crack idle reverse, as required at Milan for noise abatement, and the auto brakes have the airplane (26/27)

decelerating nicely. Quick transfer of controls and a super short taxi and we are done!

Thank you for reading. I hope it was enjoyable for you, as it sure was for me. I feel incredibly privileged to be in this position and I am glad to share my #pilot experiences. (27/27)

Cabin even “smells” different*