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Boeing 767

1981 COLD WAR MODERN AIRCRAFT

The history of the Boeing 767

Boeing developed its 767 as the twin-engine wide-body successor to its four-engine wide-body 747 jumbo jet. Work began in the mid-1970s, when the 747 was already gaining a foothold in the commercial aircraft market. The new long-haul model is designed to compete directly with Lockheed's L-1011 TriStar model and McDonnell Douglas' DC-10 family of models.

Boeing is partnering with Italy's Aeritalia and Japan's CTDC in what will be its first international joint venture.

It turned out to be a successful wide-body aircraft, first flown as a prototype on September 26, 1981. It was officially launched with the United Airlines (UA) launch vehicle on September 8, 1982, and more than 1,100 have been produced since then and are still in production today.

The 767 also forms the basis for several military-focused products: the E-767 early warning aircraft platform, the KC-46 air tanker, the KC-767 air tanker, and the E-10 early warning aircraft platform.

The 767 has a traditional passenger design: it has a short nose cone and the cockpit/cockpit sits directly above for a good sense of what's to come. The passenger area is located amidships and occupies most of the length of the hull. The empennage has a vertical fin, which is low in the horizontal plane and located on either side of the rear of the fuselage.

The main-wing planes swept back, each supporting the engine nacelles below. The chassis is designed for heavy duty operations, with each leg receiving multiple wheeled bogies in its tricycle arrangement.

The first model delivered to United Airlines was the 767-200, followed by the commercial freighter 767-2C Mark. The 767-200ER originated as an "extended range" model (hence the name) and appeared in 1984 with increased MTOW and range, the latter thanks to the addition of a new fuel tank. The 767-300 features an elongated fuselage that accommodates more passenger seats and debuted in 1986 - becoming the final 767 fuselage style.

Its freighter form is the 767-300F, which was introduced in 1995. The 767-400ER is another extended-range variant, followed by a longer fuselage and wider wings.

Internally, the aircraft family has evolved over time from its original form in the early 1980s. While the original cockpit design included CRT displays, subsequent cockpit redesigns added six large LCD displays and simplified the instrument panel for the two crew members. More work has been done in the cockpit, merging the six LCD displays into three, further simplifying the dashboard.

The 767 can be arranged in a 1, 2 or 3 class passenger seating configuration, which directly determines the total available seats.

Depending on the model, it is powered by a Pratt & Whitney, General Electric or Rolls-Royce turbofan. At least 1,200 767s have been committed to date (2017) and more than 1,100 have been delivered (2017) to various local and global customers.

Fifteen were ordered in 2017 and seven were delivered - a far cry from the 100 ordered in 1989 and the 63 delivered in 1992.

767s are operated by various owners around the world, with as many as 740 in airworthy service today over Africa, Asia, North America, the Pacific, Europe and South America. These are operated by civilian, government and military owners, demonstrating the inherent versatility of this Boeing product.