Reece Goudercourt

Boeing 777- A Study of Commercial Airline Avionics

By Reece Goudercourt

Figure 1- A Boeing 777 200LR

To make this text easier to understand- I shall be writing about the avionics of the Boeing 777
models in general- so, even though some information may not be correct for certain 777
models- it is correct for a large quantity of the models that have been created.

Contents:
Page 2- An Introductory
Page 3 - 4- Communication Systems
Page 5 - 6- Navigation Systems
Page 7 - 9- The Engine
Page 10- An Alternate Engine?
Page 11- Conclusion of Avionics
Page 11- References and Acknowledgements

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An Introductory
The Boeing 777 is a sub-range of modern commercial aircrafts developed and created by
Boeing (one of the biggest names in the aerospace industry). There are several different
models within this range and it is worth noting certain title designations- as they are factored
by not only their fuselage length, but also their wing span and passenger capacity.

The varieties of Boeing 777's are as follows:

1- Boeing 777-200… first plane delivered to United Airlines in May 1995

2- Boeing 777-200ER… first plane delivered to British Airways in February 1997

3- Boeing 777-200LR… first plane delivered to Pakistan International Airlines in February

2006

4- Boeing 777-300… first plane delivered to Cathay Pacific in May 1998

5- Boeing 777-300ER… first plane delivered to Air France in April 2004

6- Boeing 777-Freighter (Non-Commercial) … first plane delivered to Air France in February

2009

7- Boeing 777X… A new range of the 777, the aircraft is still in development

One of the most substantial differences between the Boeing 777-200 and 777-300 is the
fuselage length- figure 2 shows the huge 40% size increase of the 777-300ER’s fuselage
length, compared to the 777-200ER.

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Figure 2- Boeing 777-200ER (Left) and Boeing 777-300ER (Right)

Communication Systems:
The Communication systems of an aircraft are very important- the avionics within the aircraft
are normally carefully chosen so it not only allows the pilots to communicate with the Air
Traffic Control (ATC), but it also allows communication between the pilots and passengers,
and most importantly, between the actual aircraft and the pilots.

Although the large majority of modern day aircrafts have the capability of communication in
several different ways, the Boeing 777 sparked a particular interest to me simply because of
the way it communicates.

The Boeing 777 is quite a unique aircraft in terms of its way of communication, as it mostly
revolves around its use of a data communications management function (DCMF)- which is
able to route all communication protocols throughout the entire aircraft.

The aircraft is able to communicate with the ATC and the rest of the aircraft through a fibre-
optic network. Fibre optics have been getting more and more popular as a choice of
communications in airliners (especially commercial, and the 777 more specifically) over the
past 2 decades or so, as they are a very fast way of ‘transporting’ information around a large
aircraft.

Due to the Boeing 777’s pure size, this also makes the most sense, as fibre-optics are capable
of transmitting information over larger distances- much faster than a standard copper wire,
and, since copper isn’t a metal that is in abundance, its more sustainable, better for the
environment, and just that little bit cheaper too (apart from the investment cost, which is quite
high).

It is also worth noting that,

because you are using a fibre-
optic network, there are no
copper wires going
throughout the aircraft, which
means that the weight and
mass of the aircraft is
severely reduced, which in
turn means that a higher
velocity can be achieved on
the aircraft. This is a very
important part of the 777 and
make it easier for the aircraft
to actually fly without falling
out the sky.
Figure 3- Copper System v Fibre System

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So, although a copper system could be used to transmit information throughout the aircraft,
the Boeing 777’s size means that it is much more beneficial (both in terms of speed and
money) to use fibre-optics as the main way of communicating information around the
aircraft.

But it’s not just the physical way of communicating information through wires that needs to
be considered, but the way the Boeing 777 implements all of this to meet the legal
communication requirements is also extremely important.

Every aircraft has to follow a strict set of guidelines as to how to communicate with air traffic
control- and they have to communicate via at least 2 radio’s, within a small frequency range
to one of the specified ATC’s that it is provided to them.

First, the pilots must be trained to know how to communicate with an ATIS (Automatic
Terminal Information Service) with provides information about the weather and current
environmental issues that may meet the aircraft. They also need to be trained to communicate
with ATC correctly, and how to use the radios correctly too.

Figure 4- One of the integrated radio’s found on a Boeing 777 aircraft

Figure 4 shows just one of the radios that is integrated into the flight deck that both the pilot
and second pilot would use (one for each), each pat of the radio will do different things, such
as change the frequency mode, or change who can hear the messages being received.

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As a short summary, the communication system of a Boeing 777 is very complex, and uses
fibre-optics mostly to physically send messages around the aircraft, and integrated radios to
communicate with ATC.

Navigation Systems:
The Navigation of any aircraft is by far one of the most important aspects of any aircraft- if
you get it wrong- then your plane won’t be going any further that the it’s taxi spot.

Boeing 777’s usually navigates via IFR (Instrument Flight Rules), where the displays on the
aircraft will follow a flight plan created by the pilots before take-off. It is the pilot’s jobs to
make sure that the IFR is followed as perfectly as possible- as it is very easy to get lost if they
do not, and then they’re at a risk of running out of fuel due to too big a diversion from the
original route.

Figure 5 shows just how

complicated the navigation of
an aircraft can be, this
navigation display which is
found on most Boeing 777’s
shows the altitude of the
aircraft, along with its co-
ordinates in terms of latitude
and longitude of the Earth, as
well as the bearing indicator,
track direction and a
reference point for the
aircraft.

However, sometimes,
particularly on shorter
distance flights, Boeing 777’s
Figure 5- The navigation displays found on a Boeing 777 will navigate via VFR
(Visual Flight Rules), using distinctive landmarks to navigate on the required route. Although
it is worth noting that this is becoming less popular as VOR’s and IFR navigation become a
better practice of navigation for bigger, commercial aircrafts.

ATP (Autopilot) is probably one of the most useful developments for an aircraft since they
first came about from the Wright Brothers. ATP involves the pilot using the co-ordinates and
altitude specified in the flight plan, along with the bearing’s and speed (in knots), to
essentially ‘put in’ the amounts on the dashboard of the 777, and then set Autopilot on, the
777 will then follow these pieces of information provided, and follow the route that the plane
is required to follow.

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Although using Autopilot may sound simple, it is very important that the pilots use the
autopilot as perfectly as possible, as the plane will literally, follow exactly what it has been
told to do, so if the pilot puts in the incorrect altitude increase rate, then the plane may have
too high or low an angle of attack (AOA), which means the plane may not fly properly,
leading to potential issues later on during its journey.

Airbus is one of the world’s biggest aircraft companies, and Boeing’s biggest competition in
terms of revenue and sheer scale, however, they are both surprisingly different, in terms of
how the companies work, their operations across the globe, and how their planes fly, and one
of the strangest differences is how the pilots actually manoeuvre the plane, because it seems
like something so small, but can actually end up leaving a big difference between how the
pilots train.

Figure 6- Boeing 777 Flight Stick

Figure 6- Airbus Joystick

As you can see by Figure 6 and 7, the different ways of manoeuvring each aircraft are very
different, and it also has an impact on the way the plane navigates when in flight. The Boeing
777 Flight stick is a very standard flight stick seen on most aircrafts, and can control pitch,
yaw, and roll of the plane.

The flight stick connects to most of the avionics in the cockpit, providing information
electronically instead of manually (in terms of in a car, the steering wheel would actually
manually move the wheels of the car to go in a certain direction, in a plane, the flight stick
sends electrical information to the main set of avionics- and then that moves the plane.) All of
this is known as Fly-By-Wire navigation (FBW)

This is important as it means the avionics of the 777 have to be constantly checked otherwise
they may stop working, and the aircraft will not fly correctly.

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The debate of whether the joystick or flight stick is better is a big one, in my opinion, the
flight stick is better- it is easier to train with and is more commonly recognised.

The Engine:
All Commercial aircrafts use an engine to fly in the air, and, although engines are
complicated, they can be explained in easier terms to understand.

The requirements of an aircraft engine are vast, and in fact, some engine requirements
contradict themselves, making it very difficult to design an engine as best as possible.
However, it is worth noting that when designing an engine, companies usually prefer
reliability over performance, due to just how expensive the engines can be.

The table below will show most of the major requirements of an engine.

Requirement Number The Requirement How is this achieved?

The engine should be maintained well, with constant checks

Requirement 1 Reliable
for any flaws or issues.

Instead of using radiators to heat up and cool down the

Requirement 2 Lightweight
engine, they could use the air around it to cool it down.

Engine should be large and have an increased number of

Requirement 3 Powerful turbofans (or similar) within the engine to move the air
through it.

Well-designed aerodynamically, small, little change in

Requirement 4 Streamlined
diameter throughout the engine.

The Engine should be easy to access and easy to take apart,

Requirement 5 Repairable
therefor any issues can be checked during maintenance.

You could potentially use a different type of fuel, one that is

Requirement 6 Fuel Efficient more efficient with use, so using the same amount of that
gives more power than using the same amount of another.

The Engine should be designed to not require as much air at

High Altitude
Requirement 7 certain altitudes, so it needs to be able to vary in the power it
Operation
emits to the plane.
Table 1- Requirement list for most aircraft engines

The Boeing 777 aircraft are all twin-engine planes, but each model vary in what engine it
uses, for example, the 200, 200ER and all 300 models use either the GE90 engine (General
Electric 90), Pratt and Whitney PW4000 or the Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engine. However,
these engines are only useful for aircrafts travelling a shorter distance, so, for the long-
distance Boeing 777-300ER, the ultra-long distance Boeing 777-200LR and the Freighter
777F, a high output GE90 Engine is used. The new 700X models that are in development

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plan to use the GE9X Engines, which are even more powerful and advanced than any of the
current engines.

I am going to explain the GE90 engine for this assessment, which is the most used engine of

Figure 8- The GE90 Turbofan engine

the current 777 models.

The spinner on the tip of the engine is controlled by the avionics in the cockpit of the aircraft,
and is controlled via electronic signals, the fuel the aircraft uses is used to power the spinner
to the RPM required. The spinner then directly moves the fan blades which are designed and
made to ‘suck’ air into the core of the engine.

Once the air is in the engine, it travels through the Low-Pressure compressor, increasing the
speed of the air flowing through it, and then it enters the high-pressure compressor- which
increases the pressure of the air, allowing a better ignition of the air when it reaches the high
temperatures of the combustor.

After this, the air is pushed out both the high and low pressure turbines out of the engine at
high speeds and pressure due to the temperature increase of the air.

GE90 Type Certificate Data Sheet[28]

Variant -76B/-77B/-85B/-90B/-94B -110B1/-113B/-115B

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Type Dual rotor, axial flow, high bypass ratio turbofan

Compressor 1 fan, 3-stage LP, 10-stage HP 1 fan, 4-stage LP, 9-stage HP[29]

Turbine 2-stage HP, 6-stage LP

Length[a] 286.9 in (729 cm) 286.67 in (728.1 cm)

Max. width 152.4 in (387 cm) 148.38 in (376.9 cm)

Max. height 155.6 in (395 cm) 154.56 in (392.6 cm)

Fan diameter[30] 123 in (310 cm) 128 in (330 cm)

Weight[b] 17,400 lb (7,893 kg) 19,316 lb (8,762 kg)

-76B: 81,070 lbf (360.6 kN)

-77B: 81,700 lbf (363 kN) -110B1: 110,760 lbf (492.7 kN)
Takeoff thrust -85B: 88,870 lbf (395.3 kN) -113B: 113,530 lbf (505.0 kN)
-90B: 94,000 lbf (420 kN) -115B: 115,540 lbf (513.9 kN)[c]
-94B: 97,300 lbf (433 kN)

LP rotor speed 2,261.5 RPM 2,355 RPM

HP rotor speed 9,332 RPM

Bypass ratio[6] 8.4 - 9 9

Pressure ratio[29] 40:1 42:1

Thrust-to-weight ratio 5.59 5.98

Table 2- The specifications of the GE90 Engine

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Table 2 shows the specifications that the GE90 and other GE engines have, it is important
that these are noted when designing an aircraft as the engine power and thrust dictates how
far the plane can travel in terms of distance and time, and what altitude it can work at.

An Alternate Engine?
The Pratt and Whitney JT9D is the engine that is used for a large quantity of the Boeing 747
models- but- what is the difference between this engine and the GE90 engine, and why isn’t
the JT9D engine used on the 777?

The JT9D engine is one of the first high-bypass jet engines ever to be used for commercial
airlines and was first used back in December of 1966, it features more fans than the GE90
however, due to the smaller size in comparison, it only produces around 41000 pounds of
thrust, hence on the 747- there are 4 engines, so overall, they produce an amount of thrust that
is roughly the same, as the GE90 produces around 80000 pounds of thrust.

The last thing that would impact the use of either engine is the cost- the JT9D engine costs
around $5,600,000 or around 4.4 million pounds. The GE90 costs a whopping $27,500,000 or
21.4 million pounds, so there is a huge difference in the cost of the engines, you need 2 of the
GE90 engines, costing a total of around $55million, and you need 4 of the JT9D engines,
costing a total of roughly $17.6million.

It is worth noting that the JT9D engine went out of development in 1990, and is no longer in
production, and since the first 777 made was in 1994, the engines were not available for the
777 models- but I can still make a comparison between the 2 engines.

The JT9D weighs 3905kg, whereas the GE90 weighs around 7893kg, around double the
amount of the JT9D. The diameter of the fan on the GE90 is 310cm, and the diameter on the
JT9D is 234cm, so the GE90 is bigger in diameter. The length of the GE90 engine is 729cm,
and the JT9D is 326cm, around half the length of the GE90.

The Thrust to weight ratio of the engine is very important, the bigger it is, the more ‘efficient’
it essentially is, provided more thrust per amount of weight of the engine- the thrust to weight
ratio of the JT9D engine is between 5.4 and 5.8 and the GE90 engine is between 5.6 and 6.0,
which is significantly better than the JT9D, since it weighs a lot more than that engine.

As a summary, although the GE90 engine is

much more expensive, I would still use this
engine over the JT9D engine due to it’s
much better thrust to weight ratio, its higher
amount of thrust, its bigger size, and its
better known reliability over the JT9D, so,
although they are both very good, and useful

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for very large commercial airliners, the GE90 in my opinion is the better sub-system of an
aircraft to use.

Conclusion of Avionics:
As a conclusion, the avionics of an aircraft are vast, and the Boeing 777’s are no exception,
the communication systems are very important, and the 777 is very advanced in this, using
Fibre optic networking throughout the aircraft. It navigates very similarly to other aircrafts,
using dashboards with all the information provided, and using a fly-by-wire system to fly the
aircraft. And the engines on the 777 are some of the biggest and most powerful in the world,
which they need to be for the sheer size of the aircraft.

References:
Figure 1- https://www.womeninaerospacehistory.com/tag/boeing-777-200lr-worldliner/

Figure 2- By Julien.scavini.

Figure 3- http://www.connectorsupplier.com/copper-or-fiber-in-commercial-aircraft/

Figure 4- http://www.meriweather.com/flightdeck/777/ped/radio.html#

Figure 5- http://www.meriweather.com/flightdeck/777/fwd/nd.html

Figure 6- http://meriweather.com/flightdeck/777/deck/stick.html

Figure 7- https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-71624153ec2260c5a85cbb7cd3bda07e-c

Figure 8- https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/383931936962468831/

Table 2- www.airweb.faa.gov

Figure 9-. The Deutsches Museum, Munich, Germany

Acknowledgements:
I would also like to thank the following people and sources for helping provide some of the
information within this article:

Dr John Holding BSc (Hons), ARCS, PhD

The Boeing Company

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R.B.Kerr- Conference Paper · December 1995 DOI: 10.1109/DASC.1995.482805 · Source:

IEEE Xplore · Conference: Digital Avionics Systems Conference, 1995., 14th DASC

www.ksaria.com

Jerome Meriweather

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