Boeing 7J7
| Boeing 7J7 | |
|---|---|
| Type: | Twin-engine wide-body aircraft |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
Never happened |
| Commissioning: |
Development stopped in 1987 |
| Production time: |
Was never produced |
| Number of pieces: |
0 |
The Boeing 7J7 was a project of a short and medium-haul aircraft of the US aircraft manufacturer Boeing in the late 1980s , which however never left the project stage. The 7J7 should be able to carry 150 passengers and was intended as the successor to the successful 727 . The liner service should start in 1992.
technology
The 7J7 was intended to use many of the then-advanced and new technologies, including
- Fly-by-wire control from Bendix Corporation
- Honeywell - glass cockpit with LCD screens
- modern, integrated avionics equipment
- extensive use of resilient composite materials such as carbon fiber reinforced plastic
- two mounted on the rear General Electric -Triebwerke GE-36 UDF (UDF = unducted fan, unducted rotors so-called propfan ) with two rearward, counter-rotating propellers
This should reduce fuel consumption by more than 60% compared to the aircraft used up until then. The cabin of the 7J7 - similar to that of the Antonov An-180 - was to have 2 - 3 - 2 seats per row and two central aisles. She would have had a very wide and spacious cabin for her class.
Development partner outside of the US
An unprecedented amount of foreign development work was planned for the 7J7 - among other things, Japanese companies were to take over a total of 25% of the project. Potential customers, however, had concerns about the cost-effectiveness and noise development of the new propfan engines, which ultimately led Boeing to abandon the 7J7 project in 1987 due to a lack of customer interest and concentrate on further developments of the 737 and 767 models .
The Japanese companies involved were initially not satisfied with this decision, as the 7J7 was intended to serve as a gateway to the lucrative market for civil aircraft for the Japanese. As compensation, however, they received large shares in the production and development of later Boeing projects (around 15% for the Boeing 767 , 21% for the Boeing 777 and finally around 35% for the Boeing 787 ).
competitor
Together with the 7J7, projects by the two Boeing competitors Airbus and McDonnell Douglas also competed for the interests of the airlines. On the one hand the A320 and on the other hand the McDonnell Douglas MD-94X (also equipped with prop fans) . The A320 was to have similar advanced technology and electronics as the 7J7, but was powered by conventional turbofan engines . After Boeing stopped developing the 7J7 and McDonnell Douglas stopped developing the MD-94X, the A320 sold very well (over 3,600 orders for all members of the A320 family by August 2005), helping Airbus achieve its final breakthrough in the civil aircraft market. Only with the next generation Boeing 737 model series (the 737-600 to -900) did Boeing regain ground in this segment. Many of the technological improvements planned for the 7J7 were eventually used in the 737 Next Generation and especially the much larger 777 .