Aircraft Information
Aircraft Make: Boeing
Aircraft Model: 747
Aircraft Nickname: Queen of the Skies, The Whale
Aircraft Mil Civ Description: Large Jet
Category: Airplane
Class: Multi Engine Land
Engine Description: 3 or more Engine

First Flown Information
Sequence First Flown:
Date First Flown: 04/13/2007
Location First Flown: KBFI Boeing Field, WA
Who and/or What Organization First Flown With: Boeing flight test, including Paul and Henry. And my Skillet buddy Rip.

Aircraft Experience
As of: 07/22/2020
Number of Hours Flown: 665
Number of Times Flown: 234
Other Aircraft Models Associated: 747LCF, 747-400, 747-8F, 747-8Pax

Recollections:

In my write-up for the 737 I mention that it used to be my favorite…and that was true, until I flew “The Whale”. Simply put, this GIANT airplane flies like a dream. It does what you want it to do when you want it to do it. How’s that for technical test pilot talk?

My first flight in the Boeing 747 was actually in the “Large Cargo Freighter”. I wasn’t rated in the 747 so my pre-flight preparation consisted of studying the books and I think I went for a sim session at Boeing’s LongAcres simulator site (R.I.P.) down the street from the FAA office (having that facility so close was such a great thing…but it didn’t last, as Boeing decided to consolidate their training facility as far away as possible…Miami, FL). So, there I was, ready to fly the biggest Boeing…and this one even bigger than standard. The Large Cargo Freighter (LCF) was designed to carry big pieces of the 787 (wings, fuselage sections, empennage) from their far flung manufacturing facilities in Japan, South Carolina and Italy to the assembly plant in Everett, WA. An interesting manufacturing concept that, I hope, has some advantages. Anyway, before the 787 could be built and certified, Boeing had to build and certify the LCF. Talk about a house of cards…but they did it! So, there I was, several years before the 787 would have it’s first flight, helping to certify the LCF. My first flight involved a test of the Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS), including the Radio Altimeter (RADALT). The flying included, among other conditions, pointing the airplane at the deck, in this case over Banks Lake in Eastern Washington, and waiting for the “PULL UP, PULL UP” GPWS warning. I’d been flying the airplane for maybe an hour when we did this condition diving at the ground and the thoughts occurred to me “Have I prepared enough?” and “Have I done sufficient build-up?” But, it also occured to me that the answer was a resounding “yes!” and that was due mostly to the wonderful Handling Qualities that even the giant LCF (with it’s “battleship-like” rivets and funny shape) had.

Later it was my please to be the FAA’s lead pilot on certification of the new “Queen”, the 747-8. And, if the LCF flew great, the “dash 8” was the greatest. It was a gorgeous airplane to look at and a wonderful one to fly. Because the 787 program was happening at roughly the same time period, I–and my fantastic lead FTE John Neff–ended up doing most of the flying on the 747-8 program, flying with Mark, Buzz, Leon, Rick, Paul, Keith, Frank, Gerry, Doug, Tom, Barry, Kirk, Stu, John, and Pat. And so many wonderful engineers and FTE’s. I got to basically do every test technique there is, including a Max Brake energy, Minimum Unstick, takeoff and landing performance and enough S&C, Ice Shapes and systems testing to form a career. I got to do the Heaviest takeoff ever for a Boeing airplane (over 1M lb). I flew a flight that only lasted 6 minutes (a single takeoff condition with an Autopilot Hardover test and immediate return to land), and a function and reliability test that lasted 18 hours. She always flew like a dream and that’s why she’s my “favorite Boeing”.

Aircraft Information
Aircraft Make: Boeing
Aircraft Model: 737
Aircraft Nickname: Not sure if there’s an official one; lots of unofficial ones on Google
Aircraft Mil Civ Description: Large Jet
Category: Airplane
Class: Multi Engine Land
Engine Description: Twin Engine

First Flown Information
Sequence First Flown:
Date First Flown: 10/13/2005
Location First Flown: KBFI to 07MT
Who and/or What Organization First Flown With: Mike Bryan, Boeing Test Flight

Aircraft Experience
As of: 07/22/2020
Number of Hours Flown: 715
Number of Times Flown: 333
Other Aircraft Models Associated: B737-600/700/800/900/900ER, B737-7/8/9/10

Recollections:

For awhile, this was my “Favorite Boeing”….more on that later. The 737 is an amazing airplane, an interesting balance of new and old. My first flight, in tab number “YN001” was with Mike Bryan and I was fairly new to working with Boeing. In one of the many “small world moments” that are the nature of aviation (and flight test, in particular), I was again paired up with someone I’d known for a long time. Mike and I first flew together about 15 years before this…in a T-38 at USNTPS. Only then I was the instructor and Mike was the student, doing a ILS/FDS eval (an early exercise at USNTPS and Mike’s first time in the T-38). Mike drew a cartoon of that experience…with him as a wide-eyed “student” literally (in the cartoon) hanging onto the tail while the calm instructor took care of business. I’ve got that cartoon somewhere…will have to dig it out. Anyway, fast forward 15 years and one month and the roles are reversed…Mike’s now the “old hand” and I’m the one “behind the airplane”…my first time flying an actual 737 (instead of the sim) and there we go, launching off to do what? –> you guessed it…essentially an “ILS/FDS eval”. Actually it was a “limit headwind test of Fail Operational Autoland 700 aircraft with Winglets for ANA” (or at least that’s what my logbook says). Basically…an ILS/FDS eval except this time evaluating an automatic system. So, there Mike and I were again, except this time he was the one with the knowledge and I was “hanging on the tail”!

Mike was the first Boeing test pilot I flew the 737 with, but not the last. Along the way, I had the opportunity to reacquaint myself with many (like Mike..and the other Mike who was MY instructor at USNTPS, Regis, Jenn, Smoke, Big Al, Fish) and get to know so many others (ilke Van, Ray, Christine, Doug, Richard, Tom, Bomber, Stu, James, Barry, Scott, Steve, Dale and dozens of others). And those are just the pilots…some of my favorite people are the ones directing the test, sitting behind me as the FTE (Shaun, Junior, Paul, Senior, Steve, Bobby, Tin, Nick, Bob and the rest), and the engineers and safety professionals who analyze the data in real time–> THEY are the ones I take my hats off to. My experience in this ONE MODEL are a microcosm of what it means to be a tester…to get to work with the absolute best people you can imagine, testing a plane to make sure it’s safe for those who entrust their lives to us. It’s a blessing to do what we get to do.

My experiences in the 737 are a “love/hate” experience. I love the way the airplane flies. It just goes and goes, extremely dependable. It has an amazing safety record…the story is that there’s a 737 taking off or landing somewhere in the world every 1-2 seconds on average. Really amazing when you think about it. That’s the love part. The hate part I’ll leave to discussions over a beer. She’s been a world leader for more than 50 years and I wish her continued success as we move forward.