All language subtitles for Legends of flight (2010)

It has the largest
wingspan of any bird on earth.

Its thermal efficiency, its soaring
efficiency is almost supernatural.

It can remain airborne
for months at a time.

Quite simply,
I think it's the most

perfect flying machine
ever created.

Boeing's final assembly
line at Everett, Washington.

He's flown gliders, fighters,
biplanes, helicopters, airliners.

Eight thousand hours in more than
130 different aircraft types.

He's an aeronautical engineer,
a flight instructor,

a navy test pilot with
300 plus carrier landings.

Mike Carriker is
a legend in the industry

and a Boeing chief test pilot.

The best part of this job
is that I have a voice in how

our airplanes are
designed and operated.

For a pilot, it doesn't get
much better than that.

It's a better place for the flight
gear, to touch it if it's up there.

If you're willing to go back.

Here in the
largest building on earth,

30,000 people work to assemble
10 new aircraft a month.

The newest in Boeing's family
of airliners is the 777,

an aircraft designed
over 20 years ago.

Hi there.

In the spring of 2001,

we had a very successful lineup
of aircrafts still in production.

But we really needed a new
generation to stay competitive.

We wanted to build something
radical, something exciting.

Something that could bring back

some of the romance
and the joy of flying.

Perhaps more money changes
hands at the Paris Air Show

than any other place on earth.

Gambling in this market can make
or break global corporations.

At every show, there
is a central attraction.

This year, it's the first entirely
new airliner of the 21st century.

The largest ever built,
the Airbus A380.

With a maximum seating of 853,

the A380 will be
the world's most

energy efficient airliner
when it enters service.

So Airbus had played their hand

building an enormous
but efficient airplane.

Frankly, we thought
it was too big.

So we knew we would have
to match or improve

on that energy efficiency
in a smaller airplane.

But how?

All ideas start off as a scribble
on a napkin, if you will.

Or on a blackboard.

Or nowadays, in thin air.

It's the most fun stage of an
aircraft design, in my view,

and maybe the most important.

If you get
the basic concept wrong,

then whatever follows
could be a real dog.

I was chief test pilot on a scribble
we called the Sonic Cruiser.

The concept was to build a
very fast subsonic airliner,

and we all loved the idea.

But it needed
enormously powerful

and thirsty engines
that we didn't have,

and it's a good thing, because it
might have ruined the company.

A very important lesson
in what not to build.

By the way, some of the best
flying requires no power at all.

You watch how the snow
blows off the rocks.

You watch what the birds are doing,
how they handle the updrafts.

You try to use every
possible advantage.

But once you get the hang
of it, it's magical.

It's as close as you can come
to flying like a bird.

Gliders have much to teach us
about efficiency.

Very lightweight composite
materials, smooth, polished skins,

long, thin wings
that bend upwards

that give them low drag
and high lift.

In hindsight, a lot of the
clues as to the airplane

we were about to build.

In December of 2002, Boeing
held internal discussions around

the most critical decision the company
would make in its entire history.

The creation of a radically
new 21st century aircraft.

Just keep working
on it all the time.

We spend a lot
of time at meetings.

And we love to
talk about airplanes.

To me, that's the issue that we got to
work. We've got to understand that.

And if we're gonna be afraid
of every little decision...

Who's gonna add this all up?

Who's gonna add up all these
positives and all the negatives...

We were all over
the place at first.

I get lost in all
these conversations about

this little bit over here,
and this little bit over here,

and this little bit over here,
and then they add 'em all up

and it's like, how do we even add
them up at the end of the day...

Do all that kind of thing.

You know, in retrospect,
the clue we were missing

could be traced back
to the first powered flight.

Early piston engines were a
marvel of ingenuity and simplicity.

They made possible an enormous
variety of flying machines.

A few of them, magnificent.

The power was limited, but
multiple wings, good aerodynamics,

very lightweight fabric,
wooden construction

enabled early aircraft
to get airborne.

One of my all-time favorites is

the legendary Stearman biplane.

The carbon bonds in the cellulose
of the wood make possible

very strong and fatigue
resistant structures.

After all, a tree can
stand blowing in the wind

for thousands of years
without breaking.

Amazingly,
here was another clue.

Carbon has been
called the enchanted element.

The carbon atom, with four
electrons in its outer shell,

forms a huge variety
of chemicals,

including those that make
possible all life on earth.

Under intense heat, carbon
forms bonds only with itself,

creating crystalline chains
of thin graphite sheets.

Twisted into threads
and then woven together,

carbon fiber can be made
into among the strongest,

lightest materials on earth,

stronger for its weight
than any metal.

What started as a few squiggles

began slowly to evolve into the
big idea we were all hoping for.

A radical new way
to build airplanes.

It was one scary idea
floating in that room.

Do you know any way
to put the fault

in there to see if we
can catch the fault?

Well, yeah. I can introduce
the fault here all day long.

The problem is that it came in
upstream of it, we don't know how.

But, you know, there
was something even scarier,

and that was resting on our
laurels just a bit too long.

So, second order impacts.
I mean, think about it.

Okay. Brakes and
hydraulic system.

Check.

Beacon lights. On.

Radios. They're on.

Transponder. Check.

I remember when I was a
kid, the hot plane,

or should I say the cool plane,

was the Super Constellation,
no question about it.

I never turn down an offer to
fly one of these old airplanes,

because once you get up in the
air, there's nothing to say

that you haven't gone back
in time 40, 50, 60 years.

I've flown several of
these piston airliners,

and the Super Connie
would be my favorite.

There are no computers
flying this plane.

You are connected by pulley and by
cable to all the control surfaces.

So you can
really feel the plane,

and it will do exactly
what you tell it to do.

Good or bad, it doesn't care.

The Super Constellation

caught the imagination
of the flying public

and became a big seller for
Lockheed, but success didn't last.

Lockheed was not prepared
for the coming revolution

in aviation technology.

It just had all
these moving parts.

It had these pistons
going this way,

and then pistons going that way,

and counterbalances and...

Piston engines with
18 cylinders and supercharges

had become extremely complex,

difficult to maintain, and neared
the limits of their power output.

The new technology jet engines
were dramatically simpler

with much greater power
to weight output.

The amount of power
the relatively simple turbine

can produce is almost unlimited,

and with enough power,
you can fly a brick.

This pretty much describes
another one of my favorites.

One of the most challenging and
dangerous airplanes to fly.

The Harrier uses a great deal of

lightweight carbon
fiber to accomplish

the opposite
of what the glider does.

It can come off the ground
on engine thrust alone,

without the help of its wing
and aerodynamics.

No other plane could do that.

Oh, what a great day.

Sir, did we get the brake
accumulator all pressurized?

The British designed
Hawker Siddeley Harrier

manages something
once thought impossible,

a fighter that can fly
both fast and very slow.

Man, what a great day
to go flying.

Hovering one moment, accelerating
to 700 miles an hour the next.

Fighter jets are
great flying machines,

but they use enormous amounts of
fuel and make ear-splitting noise.

Not something
you want in an airliner.

Engine builders
Rolls-Royce, GE and Pratt-Whitney

were already at work on new
engines for a future generation

of quieter and considerably
more efficient aircraft.

In order to reduce stress on
a much longer, thinner wing,

engineers envisioned something
they called the "smart wing."

Sensors will read air currents,

sending data via a series of
computers to wing surfaces

that will react continuously
to dampen turbulence.

In effect, the wing
would act as if alive.

It got more
and more interesting.

With carbon fiber,
the wing could be longer,

thinner, more efficient
like a glider.

We also had a massive
increase in computer power.

We were looking at something entirely
new, an airplane with a huge brain.

With long, thin wings,

the new plane was
starting to look like

one of the most
intriguing birds on earth.

And it's no coincidence.

We are looking for
some of the same things

the albatross does better
than any other bird,

unbelievable range and
extraordinary energy efficiency.

But we were also
hoping to give it

just a bit of the genius
of other living flyers.

Advanced navigation capability.

Collision avoidance.
Improved aerodynamics.

All things that
nature has been doing

masterfully for
millions of years.

It has been calculated
that a bumblebee

could fly around
the world 200 times,

nearly five million miles,
on a gallon of honey.

The monarch butterfly navigates
by a circadian clock

and arrives at exactly the same
spot as its grandparents once did.

Talk about software!

Geese and ducks fly in formation to
benefit from each others' wings,

improving aerodynamics and reducing
fatigue over long flights.

A lot of what nature does is still a
mystery, and I find that wonderful.

So everyone got pumped up, and we decided
to join the world of carbon flyers.

And lose the larger bus,
you've got...

When the going got tough...

In the fall of 2003,

Boeing made the momentous decision
to go ahead with the 787.

It is the point beyond which
there is no turning back.

The entire future of
the company will now

ride on the wings of
a radical new aircraft.

But I really appreciate it.

In one of the largest
industrial gambles in history,

the company and hundreds of subcontractors
will undertake to construct

a series of entirely new
manufacturing facilities,

transitioning from aluminum
to a new age of carbon fiber.

First, the carbon fiber threads
are woven into long strands

and impregnated
with epoxy resins.

This tape is then
laid into a wing pattern

by computer-controlled machines.

Woven fabric subassemblies of various
parts are next covered by plastic,

then baked under
vacuum pressure,

thus curing the epoxy resins
and bonding the carbon fiber.

The bottom line is we had
our bird in the incubator,

while the other guys were getting
ready to spread their wings.

As the new Airbus A380
prepares for its first flight

at the Paris Air Show,

it has caught the imagination
of the industry and public

like no other
plane in recent memory.

Boeing sought
manufacturing partners

from around the world
among more than

40 countries and hundreds
of subcontractors.

Using four specially modified
747s named Dreamlifters,

major assemblies will
be flown from Japan,

Italy and
locations around the US.

New handling systems
were designed and built

just to get subassemblies on and
off the transport aircraft.

All part of a vast
industrial strategy

to build aircraft on a global
scale in an entirely new way.

"You're almost there."

"Ready to turn."

Designers first assemble the
aircraft's millions of parts

using computer-generated
graphics

long before the real aircraft
begins to take shape.

The carbon fiber design
has all kinds of advantages.

It doesn't
corrode like aluminum,

so the cabin can be more humid.

And higher pressure
for passenger comfort.

The windows can be much bigger.

Electronic systems
will replace pneumatic,

all intended to make a more energy
efficient, longer lasting airplane.

Here we come. Here we come.
There we go.

Good?

That'll work. I'm ready to pit
down, if that's what you like.

"Pick it up."

Watch the fuselage.

Slowly.

Steady. Good.

Looking good.

Good. All right.

Come in. Come in. Good.

Marketing is always in a rush
to get the plane rolled out.

And so, we are never quite as far
along as we would like to be.

Yeah. That's good, I like that.

Yeah, I can get up there.

I can't hardly decide if I want
to come here early or not.

Is your whole family
coming out with you? No.

Okay, take her up.

The company is
under intense pressure

to get its first
aircraft completed

and rolled out to
customers before

the competition
gets too far ahead.

There. Moving. To the left.

And good morning
from the management

and the employees of
KHI in Nagoya, Japan.

The working
together spirit of the 770

in Seattle and all
the global partners.

For all of you that have
made this dream a reality,

I am proud to premiere the Boeing
787 Dreamliner. Thank you, all.

As of rollout, nearly
700 Dreamliners have been sold,

worth over $100 billion.

On the shop floor,
there are rumors circulating

that the first aircraft
is an illusion,

an empty shell, months, if not years
away from the end of the runway.

There are two sides
to this business.

The glamour and the theater
of a gleaming new aircraft,

and then a few feet away,

behind the curtain,
behind the wall,

are the airplanes not so lucky.

They get poked,
prodded, almost tortured.

Before the first
aircraft can fly,

several others are
taken off the line

and sacrificed in
static and fatigue testing.

Okay.

And make sure that we put
that in the logbook tonight.

Okay, you got it.

These tests subject
the airframe wing and fuselage

to repetitive bending and pressurizing
cycles equivalent to 165,000 flights.

Just make sure it's off straight
and everything's tight.

By the spring of
2008, the program began

to fall months behind schedule.

Here on the production line,
engineers and technicians

surround the first 787s.

Once you fall behind
on the production line

and have trouble assembling, say

an electronic or
ventilation system,

you gotta tear things apart,

redesign the system
and reinstall it,

on not just one,
but six or seven planes.

In the end, it hits everything.

It doesn't matter
what path you're on.

Well, we haven't seen that
fault yet, though. He's right.

Most of the problems were
pretty routine at this stage.

But then, almost out of nowhere,
we had a much bigger issue.

On the static test
rig, engineers discovered

a number of
deformities in the wing

that indicated
unpredicted weakness.

Titanium brackets
will have to be added

to the aircraft
already assembled

in order to
strengthen their wings.

It will delay the first flight of
the 787 by another six months.

You know, I'm not
really sure, I think...

We have kept many of the original
test birds out behind the plant.

A lot of the younger
folks don't remember

the problems we had on the 747,

the 767 and even the 777.

They all had
issues to work through,

but every one of them went on
to have great careers.

Come on.

Look at this cockpit. Up here. Come up.
Oh, look. Look at that.

In the middle of trying
to do something difficult,

you can forget how
hard it was in the past.

That's why it's called a gamble,
because it is a gamble.

This business is not
for the fainthearted.

The program has huge potential,
but we're not there yet.

As airlines prepare
their new A380s for service,

they are anxious to capitalize
on the public's fascination

in the largest airliner ever.

At the same time,
hoping to rekindle

some of the romance and glamour
long absent from air travel.

But as the A380 enters service,

it too is years behind schedule.

The stakes in this gamble
to reinvent the airliner

are vastly higher than first
envisioned by either Airbus or Boeing.

It has now been six years since
the go ahead of the 787 program.

The project has fallen two and
a half years behind schedule.

But the first six aircraft
rolling off the production line

are now ready to begin

a long and intensive
test flight program.

Well, it's the first time I've
actually seen the PECs pump.

There was a silver
lining to all the delays,

at least from a test
pilot's perspective.

We had two extra years to develop
the aircraft and its software,

the brains of the airplane.

It was like the airplane was as
anxious to get airborne as we were.

Stick it up. Left.

Okay. We're clear to go.

In a tradition
as old as aviation itself,

the first flight of a new
aircraft is a milestone

for the builder
and its employees.

This feels good.

Okay, camp, I'm setting up.
Okay, I'm rolling left 10.

Okay, right 10.

People often ask,
"What makes a plane great?"

Well, responsive controls,
good balance,

lots of power for safety,

but there's that
intangible, too.

Great planes seem
to enjoy flying.

Rarely has there
been a first flight

with so few problems.
It flew perfectly.

It is but the first step
in a long test flight program,

but a triumph nonetheless.

This morning,

we executed the test plan,

we flew a great jet, and we
came back in here and landed.

I thought the landing was pretty
good, I don't know about you guys.

The journey has only just begun.

The real test of
the 787 will come

as it endures the daily
rigors of airline service.

But perhaps one day,
40 or 50 years from now,

it too will have an honored place
among the legends of flight.

I love to see airplanes
filled with people.

I imagine those little kids on their first
flight, like me those many years ago.

Kids often say to me, "You're so
lucky to have flown everything"

"and worked on so many planes,"

"but now everything has been
invented, everything is done."

I tell them,
"Not at all, not at all."

"We are only just
getting started."