The Boeing 777X has been on the path to certification for a while now and, following delays, is currently slated for early 2025. However, the aircraft has stood for years now thanks to one unique feature: the folding wingtips. Simple Flying has had the chance to get up close and personal with the 777X; here's all you need to know.

A space-saving measure

If you saw a Boeing 777X flying overhead, you wouldn't think much of its wings. However, on the ground, the tips of the wings stick out like a shark's fin out of water. The Boeing 777X's folding wingtips are a space-saving measure. When Simple Flying caught up with one of the 777X's test pilots, Brian Carlisle, at the 2021 Dubai Airshow, he revealed that when the wings are folded, the aircraft falls into the same size category as existing 777 aircraft.

If the wingtips didn't fold, the jet would have a wingspan equivalent to the Boeing 747 and the Airbus A380. Ensuring the plane fits into Code E airport requirements means the 777X can fly to the same destinations as its predecessors. This is key for airlines since secondary airports globally have no Code F (A380/747) gates, and even larger facilities usually have limited spaces for such airliners.

A Boeing 777X flying in the sky.
Photo: Tom Boon | Simple Flying

We've looked at why the 777X needs folding wingtips in the first place. It's all to do with the aerodynamic gains from the larger wingspan and wing surface.

Safety built-in

The American manufacturer's 777X is designed to be familiar to those already flying 777 family aircraft. However, Carlisle said that pilots looking to fly the jet would need to undergo level D simulator training to bring them up to speed with changes to the aircraft, such as the heads-up display (which is optional in the 777X) and the new folding wingtips.

Carlisle revealed that it is possible to set the wingtips to automatically retract once the aircraft drops below 50 knots while landing, with the folding process taking around 20 seconds. The plane won't automatically unfold the wingtips before take-off, though, with the task falling to the pilots.

A Boeing 777X parked at an airport.
Photo: Tom Boon | Simple Flying

Of course, Boeing is well aware of this and has built several safety mechanisms into the aircraft to stop it from taking off with the wingtips still folded. Carlisle explains that it starts with the standard operating procedures developed by the airline using the plane,

"Your airline will develop a standard operating procedure... We're holding number one and we start to take a runway, we'll get a message saying checklist incomplete, meaning that we didn't do the before takeoff checklist because the wings are still [folded]... We'll continue down the runway and start to add power... We get a takeoff configuration warning."

Carlisle added,

"This aircraft goes to 50 knots, now it is going to give you a reject[ed takeoff]."

What do you make of the Boeing 777X's folding wingtips? Let us know what you think and why in the comments!

  • 787-8 Dreamliner
    Boeing
    Stock Code:
    BA
    Date Founded:
    1916-07-15
    CEO:
    Dave Calhoun
    Headquarters Location:
    Chicago, USA
    Key Product Lines:
    Boeing 737, Boeing 747, Boeing 757, Boeing 767, Boeing 777, Boeing 787
    Business Type:
    Planemaker