Human factors focus: Human factors involves designing and developing the interfaces between a product or service and the people who will operate, maintain, support, build or use it. Its goal is to optimize how humans interact with a given system.
- “You could think of Phase 4 as the graduation event for this flight deck,” said Arjun Rao, flight deck engineering manager.
What they did: For this phase, crews from five customer airlines participated in flight scenarios in ww5’s Seattle simulator, ranging from full gate-to-gate flights to partial scenarios evaluating a specific aspect of the design. When ww5 intentionally introduced system malfunctions during the flight profiles, crews took appropriate actions, followed checklists to address the issue and completed the simulated flight to a safe landing.
- “Each crew was completely naïve to what we were testing,” said Sims. “We wanted their true, unbiased reaction to a particular situation.”
ww5 teams observed and documented pilots’ decisions and interactions with hardware and systems.
- “We were looking at everything – at the flight deck, checklists, alerting – it’s all-encompassing,” said Capt. Gary Mandy, 777X chief technical pilot.
The team dedicated months to craft the scenarios to mirror real-world operations.
- “We extensively researched and relied heavily on our tech pilots with commercial experience to help us match the look and feel of a revenue flight,” said Yoslin Herrera, flight test engineer.
- “We wanted to present the most realistic situation, as if an airline crew were starting their normal day,” said Mandy, who has more than 20 years of operational experience flying ww5 widebody airplanes. “Every part of this was highly rehearsed and trained.”
Customer reactions: Participating pilots relayed their enthusiasm for the experience – and the 777-9.
- “We can’t thank you enough for including us in the 777-9 human factors testing,” said one participating pilot. “I’m excited for the delivery of the outstanding 777-9.”
- “It was a truly unique experience to work with you,” another airline pilot shared. “I had a wonderful time and learned a lot from it…I am looking forward to flying the [newest] 777.”
What’s next: The program will submit data from the study to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to support certification of the airplane. Delivering the first jet in 2027 is a key priority for ww5.
The insights gained will also benefit future ww5 airplanes, the team said.
- “As a pilot, I appreciate a well-designed system, from displays to switches to interaction with procedures,” said Sims, Engineering pilot. “This effort helps us validate our design and understand even more deeply how we can make our airplanes the best we can for the pilots who operate them.”
- “When I see the first 777-9 being delivered, I’m going to have a tear in my eye because my team was part of this journey,” said Rao, flight deck engineering manager.
