We Flew the World’s First Airline 777-9 Simulator

This is the 777-9 and we are among the first ever to fly it in the sims. This right here behind me is the first airline operated 777-9 simulator in the world and we've invited to go inside and check it out. We're going to see how is it different from existing 777s. Is it like a 787? Can you take off with those wingtips folded up? We're going to find out everything. We're going to take it for a spin. This is Lufthansa Aviation Training. Let's head in to the simulator. Boeing's new flagship 777-9 isn't even certified yet but this simulator is ready for training awaiting the first bunch of pilots who will fly this airplane in the real world. Lufthansa Aviation Training has a massive simulator complex here and this is the newest model. First impression, this thing is so brand new and fresh. It has that new airplane smell, kind of. New sim smell, let's call it. And you notice the color is very different. If you've ever been in a traditional Boeing cockpit, especially the older 777s, they have that kind of very special beige, beige brown. This is dark gray just like the 787. It's taking a lot of that kind of design language and everything feels a bit more modern. A lot of this is going to be very similar to what you find on an older 777 but there are some key differences. One of the main ones that you'll notice is that the FMC, you can do touchscreen. Now that's a brand new thing in general in commercial aviation but what's cool about it also is that you still have physical buttons. You're typing in with actual buttons here and then you can also select via touchscreen. Still a lot of traditional standard buttons and levers. All the important stuff is physical and tactile which is good too. You also have these screens as they would look in the real thing. Of course here it's a computer generated image. Of course a lot of people fascinated with this particular selector which is brand new in the 777-9. Very special because it has these folding wingtips and that's because they needed to have a much longer wingspan but they wanted to fit into the same gates that the 777-300ER can. So once it's on the ground, these things come up so it can park at all the gates that 777s are used to parking at and you have this handy little display to show you in addition to the camera view when the wingtips are fully extended as in ready for flight and then when you select fold it'll be in this kind of transition mode and finally when they're fully folded up it will show that as well. Otherwise very very nice kind of nice to the touch but classic Boeing yoke and did you know that 777s have shoulder heaters which we can obviously I don't think they work on this one so it's not really going to give me shoulder heat but we can simulate the experience of turning this down and up and that is not a new feature in the 777-9 actually. Also for feet. So Boeing does care about pilot comfort. Airbus is sort of thought of as the one that thinks more in terms of toastiness of feet and like having tables for eating and things like that but actually you know Boeing does put in some of these features too. Something that you'll notice in a lot of Boeing cockpits is this kind of fluffy furry seat cover and Airbus tends to not have that. The A350 famously has that kind of star pattern on just fabric. Let us know what you what you would prefer to fly with in the comments. Would you like a fluffy furry seat or something a little more basic with star pattern? I think I'm into the fluff. So one thing that's kind of cool to notice about the wingtips selector is that it has quite a different shape from everything else up here. Much more like this kind of extended winglet shape and it feels different to the touch. You also have to pull out to extend or fold unlike the other buttons here like seatbelts where you just flip it on off as you wish. Now obviously this is a more critical selector. This is something that will impact your flight characteristics and so it's much like some of these other levers like the gear which looks and feels a bit like a wheel and the flaps selector which also as you touch it you feel that it's kind of in the shape of a flap. So this is a common design approach for cockpits to make sure that critical selectors, critical knobs and levers, you know what they are just by touch. The 777-9 also referred to as the 777X is Boeing's next flagship and at nearly 77 meters long it's the largest twin-engine passenger jet ever built. It'll seat roughly 375 to 450 passengers and fly up to around 8,000 nautical miles. Boeing promises its enormous composite wing and GE9X engines will cut fuel burn and emissions by around 20% compared with current generation 777s. It features an exceptionally efficient wing thanks in part to that extra span allowed for by the famous folding wingtips. It is also heavily delayed with entry into service originally planned for 2020 but it shouldn't be too much longer now. As of July 2026, the test fleet has completed roughly 1,700 flights and 4,800 hours. That's about half of the planned certification testing with ETOPS demonstrations and several final FAA approvals still to come. Lufthansa is the official global launch customer for the 777-9 and they are no doubt awaiting it eagerly. Thousands of people tracked the first 777-9 destined for the Lufthansa fleet when it flew its first 3-hour 27-minute profile over Washington and Oregon in May 2026. Instead of a test interior, this aircraft is fully outfitted with the airline's passenger cabin. Alongside that, the fact that they now have this sim in place for training is one more nice sign of the aircraft's progress toward actual flights with passengers. We of course cannot wait. Actually the interesting part for us to have a simulator certified already whereas the aircraft is still undergoing the certification process means when the aircraft is certified probably there will be some updates that we have to do with the simulator, some flight model improvements, some parts that are coming out of the certification process of the aircraft. It will have an effect on the simulator for sure. We started this project obviously years ago when the aircraft was planned to be delivered to Lufthansa. It's actually beneficial to have this much of time because you have the time to really dig deep in the system. Also in the architecture of the simulator, I mean every simulator is like a unique one of a kind and when we have the time to participate in the qualification process or in the acceptance process on site and we have the opportunity to insert our ideas how to build it, how to create it. One nice thing about being in these proper simulators is that you'll notice the sound effects are really on point. So as I turn off the seatbelt sign you get that chime that really makes you feel like you're in the aircraft. Same of course with the sound effects you get when you're in flight. It's not just simulating the look and feel, the touch and the motion, it's also giving you that audio input to sort of feel like you're really doing the thing which is an important part of doing this kind of training. Also this airplane comes with a shaver so in case you feel like mid-flight you kind of need to trim the beard. No worries. When I filmed at the Dubai Airshow and went inside the 777-9 a lot of you who watched that were asking about whether it's possible to take off with these wingtips folded up and so we're going to answer that question today. What happens right now we have them folded as if we're parking after landing and we're lined up to take off. So let's say I forgot somehow and I'm going to try and take off. So we're going to release parking brake and we're going to take off. Let's see what happens. So you see we get this config wingtips warning. It did not like it. Very loud aural warning as well. So it's designed obviously to not let you make that mistake. Good to know. So if I were to sit here I could. Oh that was so sick. Oh look the first the first one is actually red. That's pretty cool. It's very nice. All right so I get to fly now so let's see how that goes. Wingtips are extended so we're good to go. And you can put it like a little bit more down. Okay. Okay. And you would have your arms on the armrest you know and then. Yeah okay. We would rotate at a speed of 133 knots. So 60 percent is roughly here. Yeah roughly. And then you can push them up here. Up here. Okay. Yeah just one of them. You can push them both. Okay. And it should accelerate automatically. Yeah. Nice. Okay. You should remember that from 747 it has the same system. Yeah. Yes. Do not remember that. Okay ready when you are. Parking brake. Parking brake is off. 60 percent. 60 percent. Okay. And go time. That's okay. Checklist. Okay cool. So we keep going. And then I'm at 60 and now I. Yeah. And rotate. Rotate. You can take your hands off the. Excellent. Nice. Water thrust. Nice. Flaps up. You can can do a left turn to 066. Yep. I stay at the same pitch. Yes. We go to like 5 000. Okay. Not too steep. Yeah. Bank angle. Oh yeah. Bank angle. So where are we flying to today? First officer Daniel. Wow. From Frankfurt to Frankfurt. Excellent. Sightseeing flight. 5 000 feet cruising altitude. There's the airport. Oh yeah. What's the landing speed usually of this? We have 141 knots. Give it a left turn to 340. Okay. Airport. Yeah. Airport inside. So have the localizer armed and you can start do the turn for the final. Yeah. Oh yeah. I see the runway. We take the center one. The center one. I'm a bit low on the glide. Yeah. But that's okay. That's okay. Help you a little bit. Yep. Now I should be on the localizer. Yeah. That's okay. Yeah. Perfect. So now I just need to get the glide slope centered again. Yes. Localizer looks good. So we flare at around 30. 30 feet. 400. 300. Too steep. Approaching minimums. 200. Minimums. 100. That looks good. Okay. 50. 40. 30. 20. 10. All right. Okay. So now I would also brake with the brakes. Yes. I mean I have the auto brake on but you can do manual brake if you want. Brake to vacate. All right. And I would say pretty centered. Yes. Yeah. Perfect. All right. Welcome to Frankfurt. Wow. That was so intense on the controls. Like I've had to trim so much. Like wow. Yeah. So that's that's the most used button on the descent. That was pretty cool. Very, very cool. All right. Pretty nice landing by Sophia. I'm gonna see if I can do any better. We'll see. We're gonna do it with motion though. Something a little different. That means everyone has to sit down now. You can throw me some surprise turbulence. All right. Ready when you are. Go. And rotate. You can remove that. Left turn 066. So I'm not following flight director at this point. Yeah. It should be. Altitude. Yes. We're a little bit too high. Both are the same thing. Yeah. Okay. So. Yeah. Roughly this. For some reason the flight director. We are flying without it at the moment. Yeah. I think you can feel the slower we get the more the aircraft is pulling you down. Yeah. Over the nose. So means as if we want to stay on the same altitude we have to increase the pitch. Yeah. Via by just pulling on the yoke or give it a trim. Yeah. Give it also a turn 2340. A left turn. 1400. 300. Approaching minimums. Minimums. So we flared 30. 100. 50. 40. 30. 20. 10. All right. Good. But also again perfectly on the center line. Did you get more perfect than me? I don't know. You both were perfect. I mean I've mostly flown Airbus simulators and it's such a difference with having to trim. That's the biggest by far the in terms of like learning curve for non-pilot. You know like just having to deal with that the whole time. This is a beautiful beautiful simulator. Beautiful airplane. The lowest certain speed after landing the 777-9 will fold up its own wing tips so that you don't have to remember and then you can go park at the gate and not not hit anything. Yeah. You can see the switch rotate to fold. Yeah. And that happens automatically. Yeah. Cool. All right. Thank you in a simulator. Full motion simulator. Amazing and so cool of Lufthansa Aviation Training to invite us back once again to check out this. I mean what a beautiful. It's a beautiful airplane as we all know in this simulator. Like I've never been in such a fresh nice beautiful smelling one. Although we heard there was a what's it called? Wunderbaum. We heard it was delivered with a Wunderbaum. An air freshener for cars and it had the new car smell. No evidence of that remaining but it smells amazing anyway and it's such fun to fly that thing. Thanks for joining. For Flightradar24, I'm Gabriel Leigh.