Although Boeing has started deliveries of its three-years-late 787 Dreamliner, launch customer ANA is grousing about another costly hiccup in the timeline. Boeing touted the ease of transition to the 787 as a selling point, saying 777 pilots could make the switch in about a week. ANA says it’s spending five weeks to train Dreamliner pilots and it’s not finished reworking the curriculum set forth by the manufacturer. “We added what we thought was necessary,” Capt. Hideaki Hayakawa told The Wall Street Journal. “We will be adjusting the content of the training, rather than its duration.” It’s up to airlines and the regulators of the country in which the aircraft are registered to determine the training required and the Japanese are notoriously conservative, but Airbus apparently wasted little time capitalizing on the training issue.
Airbus salespeople have hit the streets touting the commonality of their aircraft’s cockpits and systems and the normally short transition training periods. However, Hayakawa said the 787 has some features, like the head-up display, not found in previous models and he wants to make sure his pilots are comfortable with them. “Getting accustomed to landing with this new technology is a big focus of our training,” he said.
