page_title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner
section_title: Flight systems
hierarchical_section_title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner / Design / Flight systems
caption_attribution_description: English: Flight deck of the Boeing 787-8 N787BA (cn 40690/1)
context_page_description: The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a wide-body jet airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
  After dropping its Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the conventional 7E7 on January 29, 2003, focused on efficiency.
  The program was launched on April 26, 2004, with an order for 50 from All Nippon Airways, targeting a 2008 introduction.
  On July 8, 2007, the prototype was rolled-out without major systems, and experienced multiple delays until its maiden flight on December 15, 2009.
  Type certification was received in August 2011 and the first 787-8 was delivered in September 2011 before entering commercial service on October 26, 2011, with ANA.
  At launch, Boeing targeted 20% less fuel burn than replaced aircraft like the Boeing 767, carrying 200 to 300 passengers on point-to-point routes up to 8,500 nmi, a shift from hub-and-spoke travel.
  The twinjet is powered by General Electric GEnx or Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 high-bypass turbofans, it is the first airliner with an airframe primarily made of composite materials, and makes extensive use of electrical systems.
context_section_description: Among 787 flight systems, a key change from traditional airliners is the electrical architecture. The architecture is bleedless and replaces bleed air with electrically powered compressors and four of six hydraulic power sources with electrically driven pumps, while completely eliminating pneumatics and hydraulics from some subsystems, e.g. engine starters and brakes. Boeing says that this system extracts 35% less power from the engines, allowing increased thrust and improved fuel efficiency. The total available on-board electrical power is 1.45 megawatts, which is five times the power available on conventional pneumatic airliners; the most notable electrically powered systems include engine start, cabin pressurization, horizontal-stabilizer trim, and wheel brakes. Wing ice protection is another new system; it uses electro-thermal heater mats on the wing slats instead of traditional hot bleed air. An active gust alleviation system, similar to the system used on the B-2 bomber, improves ride quality during turbulence.
  The 787 has a "fly-by-wire" control system similar in architecture to that of the Boeing 777. The flight deck features multi-function LCDs, which use an industry-standard graphical user interface widget toolkit (Cockpit Display System Interfaces to User Systems / ARINC 661). The 787 flight deck includes two head-up displays (HUDs) as a standard feature.  Like other Boeing airliners, the 787 uses a yoke instead of a side-stick. Under consideration is future integration of forward-looking infrared into the HUD for thermal sensing, allowing pilots to "see" through clouds. Lockheed Martin's Orion spacecraft will use a glass cockpit derived from Honeywell International's 787 flight deck systems.
  Honeywell and Rockwell Collins provide flight control, guidance, and other avionics systems, including standard dual head-up guidance systems, Thales supplies the integrated standby flight display and power management, while Meggitt/Securaplane provides the auxiliary power unit (APU) starting system, electrical power-conversion system, and battery-control system with lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO₂) batteries by GS Yuasa. One of the two batteries weighs 28.5 kg and is rated 29.6 V, 76 Ah, giving 2.2 kWh.  Battery charging is controlled by four independent systems to prevent overcharging, following early lab testing. The battery systems were the focus of a regulatory investigation due to multiple lithium battery fires, which led to grounding of the 787 fleet starting in January 2013.
  A version of Ethernet (Avionics Full-Duplex Switched Ethernet (AFDX) / ARINC 664) transmits data between the flight deck and aircraft systems. The control, navigation, and communication systems are networked with the passenger cabin's in-flight internet systems. In January 2008, FAA concerns were reported regarding possible passenger access to the 787's computer networks; Boeing has stated that various protective hardware and software solutions are employed, including air gaps to physically separate the networks, and firewalls for software separation. These measures prevent data transfer from the passenger internet system to the maintenance or navigation systems.
  The -9/10 hybrid laminar flow control (HLFC) system delays the critical transition from laminar to turbulent flow as far back as possible on the vertical tail by passive suction from leading-edge holes to mid-fin low-pressure doors, but was dropped from the tailplane due to lower benefits than the extra complexity and cost.
caption: The Boeing 787 flight deck has fly-by-wire controls
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