Intro

The 787 Dreamliner is a long range,low wing, wide body, twin engine commercial jet airliner built byBoeing Commercial Airplanes since 2007 where the first prototype wasrolled out. It was, however not until December 2009 that the Boeing787 had its maiden flight due to several delays.

The 787 is the first commercial airliner primarily made ofcomposite materials and features a four window cockpit, rakedwingtips, noise reducing chevrons on its engine nacelles and ispowered by either two General Electric GEnx-1B or Rolls-Royce Trent1000 high-bypass turbofan engines providing thrust from 64,000 to76,000 lbf depending on the 787-version.

The flight systems architecture is now 'bleedless' and replaces thebleed air with electrical powered compressors. The flight deck is anextended glass cockpit also featuring two heads-up displays and thecontrol system is a 'fly-by-wire' similar to the Boeing 777. Boeinghas kept the yoke instead of a side-stick and the flight controlsystem, guidance and other avionic systems are from Honeywell andRockwell Collins.

General Information And Aircraft Specs

• Produced by: Boeing Commercial Airplanes
• National Origin: United States
• First Flight: December 15th 2009
• Introduction: October 26th 2011
• Role: Wide-body twin-engine jet airliner
• Produced Since: 2007(prototype)
• Built: 957 units as of February 2020
• Status: In production and service

Purchase, Download And Installation

I purchased this add-on directly at Store.FlightSim.Com and thepurchase and download went easy and without any issues. The downloadwas quick due to a really good connection to the download server and Iwas in no time ready for the installation. The file downloaded is azip file which of course had to be unzipped before being able to startthe installation process.

The file is named 'QualityWings_787_v1.21_P3Dv4_vendor.exe' andfeatures a 687 MB installer. The installation also went easily - theinstallation wizard features an auto-find the correct installationfolder which by default is the main P3D folder - please do notice thatLM recommends to install outside the P3D directory which you manuallycan change during the installation process. The version installed andtested for this review is v1.21 for the Prepar3D v4 platform and therequired disk space for installation is 1705 MB. There were no currentavailable updates for this add-on when installed and tested.

The installation was completed within 30 seconds and hereafter Ientered my virtual hangar to check and verify that the installationwas completed with success. I found all models perfectly placed in thevirtual hangar - there is the 787-8, the 787-9 and the 787-10 modelsincluded and each model has two variants - one with RR-engines and onewith GE-engines (Rolls-Royce / General Electric).

There is only included one livery for each model and variant whichis the default house color however, there are many free liveries readyfor download for all models at the QualityWings web site. These canbe downloaded and installed through the included Dispatcher program,so you don't have to install any liveries the old fashioned manual way- very easy installation.

Included in this package there are several documents which are alllocated in the aircraft folder within your P3D directory -P3Dv4/SimObjects/Airplanes... These files can also be accesseddirectly from the Windows start menu under the Flight1 / Quality Wingsentry. The included files are:

The Quick Start Guide provides information about the Dispatchertool (later described) and how to setup a configuration for a cold anddark startup. Furthermore there is also information in regards to theavionics, click-spots, hints, how to display airport maps, the FMC,the electronic flight bag and much more. I would absolutely recommendreading this short PDF file which will answer most of your basicquestions.

The SimBuilders Kit is a guide for the home cockpit enthusiast andit contains superb information about each and every panel in thecockpit, which type of switch is used and the setup values andranges. If you would like to build your own 787 cockpit, then thisguide will be of great importance for you.

The Tutorial & Basic FCOM is a guide providing more in-depthinformation about the simulation. This could be more detailsabout the various stages of flight, the flight planning and alsoin-depth information about the autopilot as well as generalinformation about 'how' everything works in the aircraft. This isa rather long PDF file, so I would recommend isolating the parts thatyou find the most interesting for your flight experience, instead ofgoing through all 187 pages.

The User's Manual is the complete and very comprehensive write-upof the entire simulation - here you can find more or less everythingabout the aircraft with detailed information. The manual is nicelydivided into sections providing a much better overview but reading andunderstanding all 433 pages I'd say would be only for the verydetailed simmer that wants to know everything about thissimulation. You don't need to go through the entire manual - lots ofit is great information but not necessarily need to know information.

Additionally there is a small tool included which can aid withthe installation of new liveries as well as performing loadingmanagement, configuration and calculation of fuel quantities forspecific flights. This tool is named 'Dispatcher' and is really aninteresting tool which I would recommend to have a look at.

The main screen is seen here below and here you can select theplatform, the aircraft type and the units - you can make some minoradjustments in regards to SLI-graphics and resolution and you can alsoadd or remove cargo and passengers as well as set the fuelload. Additionally you can also here install the free downloadedliveries from QW web site. Installing the liveries are super easy,just select your aircraft type, click the 'Install Repaint' button andselect the downloaded livery from the folder where you have placed it- Now the 'Dispatcher tool' does the rest.

Changing the input in the loading manager is done either byclicking the Max Load, the Random Load or the Empty buttons or you canmanually use each of the five individual sliders to add more or lesscargo or passenger in specific areas or classes.

Setting the fuel load is done by clicking the 'Set Fuel Tanks' -this opens up another window where you can click the fuel percentage ormanually use each slider for both the left/right and center tank. Itis also here that you can have the tool calculate the fuel load simplyby providing the flight distance and flight altitude information.

Additionally there is also included a detailed paint kit for thesimmers that would like to create their own personal liveries. Thispaint kit features several effects and many option layer sets so thatanyone should be able to create a unique livery.

External

I started my test of the external models with a walk around eachmodel like a pre-flight inspection to get a full view of theaircraft. The aircraft is beautiful and certainly very true to reallife with a superb realism and an abundance of unique details.

The aircraft is huge and features the very special andaerodynamic wing design with the raked wingtips as well as the noisereducing chevrons on the engine nacelles - similar to the BoeingB747-8 and during this walk-around I really felt kind of a majesticatmosphere looking at this awesome bird with the early morningsun-rays glaring off the fuselage and the wings. The atmosphere isreally great and the aircraft appears very realistic and veryimpressive.

Looking around the aircraft it appears to be almost brand new,nicely polished and with no noticeable wear and tear - this is reallygood and in accordance to what I believe the current state of the 787should be, since this aircraft is fairly new.

The textures used - here both the default house liveries as well asthe free downloadable extra liveries, are high quality multi-layertextures that shows off the aircraft perfectly. There are an abundanceof makings, texts, the small rivets, etc. all over the fuselage, thewings and the tail and the aircraft looks really amazing.

There are several animations included in the models, actuallyaccording to QualityWings there are more than 100 animations on theexterior models such as the control surfaces like the ailerons, therudder and the elevator as well as the landing gear, gear suspension,rotating wheels, turnable nose wheel, flaps, slats, speed brakes,reverse thrusters, engines (turbine blades rotating), APU inlet, doors- both passenger and cargo, etc. All animations are nicely created witha smooth and realistic motion. Additionally there is also a good andrealistic wing-flex animation primarily seen during takeoff and inflight, but if you taxi over a rough surface or bumps the wing-flexwill also be activated.

According to QualityWings they have incorporated differencesbetween each variant - this e.g. the main landing gear which is verydetailed as well as the flight dynamics. This I of course had tocheck and verify and yes I found that e.g. the main landing gear wasdifferent from the 8 to the 9 and 10 version. This is really awesomeand shows into what details this add-on is created. The quality isoutstanding and there has been kept a superb focus on everything evendown to very small details.

There are a few effect included in the models such as the smokeeffect when starting up the engines - the smoke comes as a short burstof light grey low density smoke which is quickly blown away by theengine. No smoke during flight or takeoff as you'd see on older jetairliners, but these high efficient engines are utilizing or burningthe fuel better providing no visible smoke which I think is very wellin accordance to real life.

Another effect is the very comprehensive external light effectcovering all external lights and the lights all have their own uniquesetup. The quality for all external light are really good and theyprovide a realistic environment when flying at dusk, dawn or nighttime or even when just performing a pre-flight inspection on an earlymorning. I tested each external light individually and what I foundwas the following:

Strobe--White lights located one on the tail and one on eachwing. The light is a bright and clear flash.

Taxi--White lights located on the nose gear. The light issoft yet powerful enough to illuminate the runway straight ahead.

Runway Turn-Off--White lights located at the wing roots onthe front edge of each wing pointing about 30-45 degrees to the leftand right side hereby illuminating the runway and runway-edges betterand providing a wider curve of lights. The light is as the taxi light,soft but still powerful enough to illuminate the runway.

Landing--White lights located on each wing root pointingforward along the fuselage and additionally there are mounted a seton the nose gear. The lights have a very powerful and bright shinethat nicely illuminated the ground or runway from a greater distancethan the taxi and runway turn-off lights.

Beacon--Two red lights, one is located on the belly and theother is located on top of the fuselage. They feature a bright andvery clear flash.

Navigation--Two lights, one red and one green, located oneach wingtip. The lights have a soft shine downward.

Logo--White lights located one on each side of the tailpointing upwards. The light has a very bright shine that illuminatesthe vertical stabilizer nicely.

Wing--White lights located on the fuselage just in front ofeach wing pointing at the front edge of the wings. The light ispowerful and with a clear shine hereby illuminating the front edge ofthe wings perfectly.

Additionally you also have a visible (from the outside of theaircraft) and changeable cabin light effect using the pop-up window'Shift+2' - here you can e.g. turn on/off the cabin light but alsochange in three levels of intensity as well as actually changing the lightfrom a white shine to six other colors. Quite an interesting additionwhich probably is not something that you are going to use much - I setthe lights to a medium intensity and with a white shine which I thinkis perfect for external view flying at night, dusk or dawntimes. Using the same pop-up window you are also able to open thevarious external passenger doors as well as the cargo doors and alsoset on/off the external power supply and the wheel chocks.

Internal

Going from the external models and into the cockpit I now foundmyself sitting in a very realistic and beautiful environment. Also inregards to the cockpits there are differences modeled into eachcockpit as well, and which of course is according to the real life -8,-9 and -10 versions. In general the -8, -9 and -10 versions areextremely similar with only a few noticeable differences - the easiestway is taking a look at the flaps lever. The -8 version has a total of7 flap positions from 'Up, 1, 5, 15, 20, 25 and 30 whereas both the -9and -10 version have three additional flap positions which are 10, 17 and18. The reason for the extra flap positions on the -9 and -10 versionsis due to the increased weight and range of the aircraft. Thisspecific difference is of course visible in the flight deck which Ithink is really awesome and which again tells you something aboutwhich level of detailing and realism QualityWings has put into thisadd-on.

There are no full 2D cockpits included only a few limited 2D panelssuch as the electronic flight bag, the tuning control panel and allthe various display units - all panels can easily be activated usingthe 'Shift+number keys' which creates a pop-up window of the specificpanel. In my opinion you don't need a full 2D cockpit since thequality of the virtual cockpit is really good.

The detailing is stunning, the environment is very realistic andlike on the external models I can easily see that QualityWings hashad a superb focus on everything within the entire flight deck fromthe very small details to the overall environment, the lighting, thetextures and of course also all the various systems.

The textures used high quality multi-layer textures showing offthe cockpit as being in excellent shape with a minimum of wear andtear - as expected from a fairly new airliner. The 3D performance isperfect and you can really feel the environment with an absolutelyawesome and realistic atmosphere and an abundance of details.

There are several animations added in the cockpits like thecontrols being the yoke and the rudder and furthermore also all thevarious levers, buttons, switches and other movements. All animationsare beautifully rendered with realistic smooth motions and the cockpitjust screams of quality.

Additionally, the cockpit features realistic and in-depthsystems - here every system from the FMC including the SID and STARSto the accurately simulated autopilot also featuring auto-landcapability and to the comprehensive EICAS system, which by the waymatches the differences when selecting either the Rolls-Royce or theGeneral Electric engines.

You can also click each multi-function display which then becomes apop-up display. Hereby you can now manage and move the displays to asecondary monitor - this could be useful if you want to build your own787 simulator.

One of the things that I in real life also like about the 787 isthe modern heads-up display - this feature is also added to thevirtual cockpit in both the captain's and the first officer'sside. Excellent!

Furthermore you also have an electronic flight bag including adynamic chart system as well as weather radar system integration,however the weather radar system integration currently only works forinterface with theActive Skyproducts but it is stated by QW that an interface with REX is in thepipeline and will come later on.

There are many other systems integrated into the cockpits which arenicely described on the spec list from QW, and one of these featuresare the Quality Wings 'Jump-Ahead' feature and the 'Approach Config'feature - these are some very interesting features which enables thesimmer to jump to another waypoint on the flight plan or set aspecific position of the aircraft if you want to e.g. practiceapproaches and landings. This I have seen in XP11 as a default tool,but not in P3D but now available through the 787 add-on.

Inside the cockpit there are also some effects - here primarily thevarious light effects. You have the dome light which nicelyilluminates the entire cockpit and which is an on/off light. You alsohave the glare-shield light which lights up the glare-shield andwhich features a dimming function - together with this glare-shieldlight you also have the MCP-Text light which lights up thelegends/texts on the MCP and glare-shield. This light also features adimming function.

The same text light effect you also have on your overhead panelwhich also features a dimming function. The internal lights are reallygood and do provide a superb and realistic base for the overallenvironment especially when flying at night, dusk or dawn times.

The 787 also features a 'Storm' light switch found on the lowerpart of the overhead panel - when activating this light, all lightsare turned on with the max powerful setting so that everything in thecockpit is perfectly illuminated.

One thing I noticed though was the HUD - when using the HUD youhave a set of flight information data provided by green digitsjust in front of your eyes, and normally an HUD also features adimming function. What I found in this cockpit was a modeled rotatingswitch included in the overhead panel, but it was not animated and itwas not working either. I know this is a small detail, but I wouldhave assumed that this feature would be working as well.

During my view around the various switches and buttons I alsostumbled upon the switch for controlling the contrast to the lowerdisplays - this is found on the lower overhead panel only on thecaptain's side, and the switch was modeled but there were no animationand the switch was not working.

The quality of the cockpits are superb and the environment isrealistic and complex, however still fairly logical if you are used tofly airliners. For a full understanding of the various systems I wouldof course recommend going through the manuals to get the outmost ofthis beautiful and complex add-on.

QW has included the rain effect technology from TFDi named'TrueGlass' - this provides the simmer with a more realistic raineffect on the windshield and a more realistic experience of thevisibility disrupted by rain.

One comment for the electronic flight bag is that the text is a bitblurry which decreases the quality and the experience using thisfeature in the virtual cockpit, however using the electronic flightbag through the pop-up 2D panel, the quality is much better - stillnot perfect but better. The electronic flight back features a lightdimming function which also makes the usage a bit more friendly - Idid notice that the electronic flight bag seemed to have a huge numberof built-in tools however I was not able to use more than three of themunfortunately. If I was incorrectly using the electronic flight bagor if these additional function just are not working, I am a bitunsure of. The entries that I were able to use were the 'Dispatch',the 'Performance' and the 'Terminal Charts' - these functions are fairand I do like the last entry which features a lot of charts forexample the SIDs and STARS.

Sound

The sound sets for this aircraft are truly amazing - they are highquality sounds that were recorded on real 787 aircraft. It is notjust a single sound set but several sound sets which also differs fromthe variant meaning that the variant equipped with the Roll-Royceengines activate the RR-sound sets and the variant equipped with theGeneral Electric engines activate the GE-sound sets. That is reallyimpressive and I of course just had to check and verify if I couldhear the difference. There is a slight difference in the sounds whenswitching from RR to GE and vise versa, but for the ordinary simmer Idon't think you will actually notice it.

It is not just the complete engine sound sets featuring all thevarious rpm settings as well as the start up and shutdown that areincluded, but you also have a comprehensive environmental sound setwhere you can hear the humming sound of the electrical systems, youcan hear the click of buttons, the movement of switches, the hydraulicpumps, fan noises from the air conditioning as well as the flapsmovement, the gear up/down including the bump when the landing geardoors closes. You also hear the noise created when activating thespeed brakes.

There is also included a set of warnings from the EICAS aswell as from the TCAS system together with various chimes and generalflight deck environmental sounds from the QualityWings Crew AlertingSystem (the QWCAS).

Another sound set that I discovered was the QualityWings PassengerAlerting System (the QWPAS) - this sound set is really fun andprovides you feedback from the passengers such as the passengersstart screaming if you bank aggressively like more than 75 or 80degrees - great sound detail for sure, so do remember to flyproperly. I also tried making a very hard landing to see if thepassengers would give me some feedback there with maybe some 'ouch' orsimilar, but apparently the suspension is superb because I didn't hearanything from the passengers there.

Flight Dynamics And Characteristics

Taking the aircraft to the skies was absolutely the best part oftesting this beautiful jet airliner. I started by powering up theengines and preparing for a taxi from the apron to the runway. Theview from the flight deck is a really good panorama view whichprovides the pilot with a great overview when taxiing.

To get the aircraft in motion you do need to apply a fair bit ofthrust but after the aircraft starts to roll you can reduce power toalmost idle and the aircraft will keep a nice comfortable taxiingspeed. The wheel brakes are very efficient and will quickly force theaircraft to a stop when applied and steering the aircraft on ground isprimarily done using the nose wheel which can twist itself so that theaircraft is able to turn on a very short radius - you can also use thewheel brakes individually to turn the aircraft but that will not domuch more than what you can gain from turning the nose wheel to themax.

In general, maneuvering the aircraft on ground is fairly easy andif you are used to taxi other airliners, then going to the 787 will bean easy transition. Do remember that the 787 is a large bird similarto the size of the 777, so when turning the aircraft you need morespace than e.g. the smaller 737.

After I got clearance for takeoff I slowly increased power settingto max and the aircraft quickly started moving. The acceleration thatI experienced was for me very realistic and like what I had imagined -controlling the aircraft blasting down the runway was also very easy -the view is great and the rudder is very responsive so I could controlthe entire takeoff with just tiny adjustments.

Reaching rotate speed I softly pulled back on the yoke and liftedthe nose gently - the aircraft is very steady also after the wheelshad lifted off the runway. I had several flights where I alsoperformed takeoff in hard and stormy weather conditions as well asheavy crosswind scenarios, and the aircraft continued being easy tohandle and very steady - of course you could feel the impact from theweather on the aircraft and you had to use more energy controlling theaircraft during takeoff in these conditions, but that said, the pilotwork load was not that severe. I also tested the built-in protectivefeature to avoid a tail-strike which is also a feature in the realaircraft, and this was working nicely - I didn't encounter anytail-strike even if I provoked this greatly.

Handling the aircraft in flight is much like flying other jetairliners - the controls are smooth and very responsive and theaircraft feels steady and with a great stability. According to QW thefly-by-wire flight control system is simulated with great precisionand accuracy to reflect the real 787s spiral stability logic and thisis also my immediate experience.

I also noticed that another protective feature had been implementedinto the flight dynamics - the bank angle protection which aids thepilot to not overbank the aircraft unintentionally - you can stilloverbank the aircraft however, the quick roll rate and smoothness youhave on the first app. 25 degrees changes when you continue to bank -now the roll rate rapidly decreases which I think is an awesomedetail, however if that is true to real life I cannot say. One thoughtwould be that this was a way for QW to simulate the force-feedbackwhich real pilots would feel, but which sim-pilots would not feelunless they have a force-feedback joystick.

According to QualityWings each variant comes with its own set offlight dynamics meaning that each variant will fly differently and thefeeling and handling will be different experiences - this I found tobe a bit hard to test. In my opinion each variant was very similar tothe other but of course taking into consideration that e.g. the -9 and-10 version had extra flap settings, then yes maybe on the finalapproach I would feel a difference but nothing reallyextraordinary. When taxiing the -10 version which is quite a lotlonger than the -8 version, you need to be careful when turning theaircraft during a taxi because you would require more space for theturn.

I had read in other reviews of the QW787 that the autopilot attimes would go rogue, however this I did not experience at all. Onevery flight that I had during my test, the autopilot worked nicelyalso even if I were using simulation rate 8. Though, I did experiencesome minor differences such as setting a heading to be 090 on theautopilot and the aircraft would turn to a heading 091 or similarmeaning very close to the actual selected heading but still a tiny bitoff.

Reaching a selected altitude the autopilot nicely sends out awarning/indication sound prior to reaching the altitude and slowlysettles on the selected altitude. If I used simulation rate 8 as anexample, the aircraft would overshoot the selected altitude by a fewhundreds of feet and thereafter slowly settle on the correct selectedaltitude.

I also tried stalling the aircraft both straight out and during a40 degree bank angle with the nose high - the aircraft will stall andthe stall warning will also kick in, however the aircraft remainseasily controlled during both types of stalls and was easy torecover.

I am in this review not going into detailed explanations of all thevarious systems that are found in the 787 flight deck - here I wouldrecommend reading the manuals instead, however as a quick overview Iwould say flying the aircraft systems-wise is quite similar to otherBoeing jet airliners and the various systems and e.g. the autopilot isvery intuitive. If you are used to fly commercial airliners and usingthe FMC etc. then you will quickly catch on the 787 however, if youare not used to fly commercial airliners then you will experience arather steep learning curve.

When coming in for approach and landing you can hear and also seeon your IAS that the gear and flaps are producing drag when lowered -this is perfect and add to the realism. Activating the spoilers alsoproduces drag and this you can also hear from the cockpit. The dragfrom the spoilers is not super efficient but they do enable for asteeper descent.

Flying the approach and performing a soft landing is straightforward - the aircraft is steady and easy to control and this also onthe final. Also during approaches and landings in stormy weather theaircraft is remarkably steady, of course performing a landing incrosswind will be a bit bumpy, but nothing really serious. Theaircraft is in my opinion great fun to fly and also very pilotfriendly.

Conclusion

To wrap up my experience of the Quality wings - Ultimate 787Collection, then this is certainly a beautiful rendition of a moderncommercial jet airliner from Boeing, which is filled with quality bothin regards to systems, flight dynamics, modeling, textures andrealism.

The aircraft pack features three models that are accurately modeled andwhich individually feature unique and specific details. The texturesused are high quality multi-layer textures, that show off theaircraft beautifully and help create a very realistic aircraft.

The cockpit is accurately created with almost everything working -the textures used here are also high quality multi-layer textures. Theexperience sitting in the cockpit is very realistic and the atmospherewhich QualityWings has been able to create is superb - realisticenvironment and a perfect sound environment to complete theexperience.

There has certainly been great focus in the creation of a veryrealistic rendition both in regards to modeling but also in regards tosystems, sounds and flight dynamics. The aircraft has been tested byreal world 787 drivers to make sure the flight experience is as realas possible.

I absolutely also like the protective features like making thepassengers scream if I overbank the aircraft but also the smoothnessand elegance it is flying this huge bird.

Quality Wings has created a superb aircraft rendition and I ratethe 787 with a 5/5-star rating. Thank you QualityWings for creatingthis awesome add-on.

Raymond Andersen

Rays Aviation

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Technical Requirements and Review Computer Specifications

System Requirements (recommended by Quality Wings):

• Windows 7 or higher, 64-bit
• Lockheed Martin Prepar3D v4+
• CPU 3.0 GHz Quad Core
• Memory min. 3GB - recommend 6GB or higher
• VGA memory 1 GB - recommend 2GB or higher

Review Computer Specifications:

• Windows 10 (64-bit)
• Windows 7 (32-bit) (secondary system)
• Intel Core™ i7-4790K 4x4.00 GHz (Turbo 4x4.40 GHz)
• Asus Maximus VII Ranger (ROG-series)
• Antec Kuhler H20 650 Water Cooler
• Kingston HyperX Beast-series 32 GB DDR3-2133 RAM
• 500Gb Samsung 850 EVO SSD
• 3Tb Seagate Barracura (7200 rpm, 6 GB/s)
• Asus GeForce GTX 980 Strix OC 4 GB
• 1000/1000 Mbit Fiber Internet Connection
• Prepar3D v4+
• REX SkyForce3D