Boeing 767

THE BOEING 767

(Update): As per David's comment the 767-200 is also a good gliding aircraft. In 1983 Air Canada flight 143 a Boeing 767-200 (C-GAUN) ran outta gas around the Manitoba/Ontario border. It glided all the way to Gimli Manitoba and made a safe landing but the nose gear did not come out for landing being the only malfunction. I remember loading that particular plane Fin 604 but it has since been retired. It was known as the Gimli Glider.

Sitting on an A319 waiting for push back from Terminal 1 at Toronto Pearson. It wasn't much of a walk from my inbound gate as that is the 767 which I rode on from Ottawa. It must have come in from London Heathrow and was being positioned to Toronto because the YOW-YYZ Rapidair is served by mostly Airbus 319-320, and Embraer 175-190's. Since we probably had relatively little fuel, cargo, and passengers we rotated in about 1800 feet and climbed like a homesick Angel to FL280. It was a great ride though as the last time I was on a 767 would be my Air Canada ramp rat days. One particular memorable (well somewhat :) flight on 767 was when 6 of us jumped on the red eye from Calgary to go to St. Johns. We got upgraded to J class which for 6 ramp rats means free booze and lots of it. We drank the front and rear galley clean of all the beer and upon arrival in Toronto at 0600 I wish it hadn't been free anymore. I also got Screeched in on that trip, and became an honorary Newfie (after having to kiss the Puffin's arse !)

The Boeing 767 is my personal favourite Commercial Airplane. It has great lines, powerful engines, great performance, International long haul capabilities and has a great flight deck with loads of room. I have been fortunate to sit jump seat many times on the 767 and it just amazes me how the thing can take off fully loaded and hop into the sky like its empty. The avionics is also my favourite setup. It is a blend of the old with the new. It is the same setup as the PC12 having an EADI (top screen) and EHSI (the one under it) with the traditional airspeed, altimeter, VSI, and RMI. Also with the newer upgraded EFIS it has the airspeed tape along with information such as V1, V2, Vr, flap, MMO and stall speeds. Its truly an amazing airplane.

PC12 Panel

If you are a Microsoft Flight Simulator enthusiast you can purchase an add-on which gives you the 767 panel, fully working FMS and flight tested aircraft performance models tested by 767 pilots. One of the main programmers is a 767 pilot for Delta. It is worth every penny and is amazingly functional. It comes with an overhead panel which is fully functional and allows you to do cross bleed starts and all sorts of realistic scenarios.

Here is a Boeing 767-300 in cruise flight. This airplane has the older style EADI as you can see it just has the fast/slow command on the left side and no airspeed tape. Also you can see the old "steam" gauges surrounding the "new" glass instruments. Personally I love this setup and think it looks great.

Here is a picture of the newer upgraded EADI with speed tape. Another beautiful shot off airliners.net. Not to bash Airbus but I think the look of the Airbus is so plain and the cockpit is like going into a computer lab with a bunch of computer monitors. I have heard from a Captain that has flown both and says the Airbus autopilot is more "capable" I guess you could say and flies it better.

Another day at the office for these fellas working for Qantas. The cockpit is so huge on the 767 and for a two crew operation if you don't like the other guy, once your in cruise you can use one of the 2 jump seats to get away :)

Here is a beautiful shot by an Ottawa area plane spotter. Peter captured the natural beauty of a setting suns light with the clean lines of this bird. I heard from someone that the landing gear hangs forward due to design issue that when it is retracted they could only have it tilted forward as to fit it in the gear wells. Is there any truth to this ?

Just look at this airplane in flight, its truly gorgeous ! The wing flex, the great big engines, and bulky fairly circular fuselage. The 777 is a looker to but it has the newer avionics and I think this is my favourite solely on the fact it is a mix of new and oldish. To read more about the Boeing 767 go to Wikipedia for quick tidbits or here at Boeing.com.