Originally Posted by
sailingfun
Delta airlines ordered the 767 with a flight engineer position. We were the one of the few if not the only airline to order the 767 this way. The aircraft started down the production line configured for a FE. Boeing at some point told Delta that they would not build the aircraft with a FE station. Ship 101 was on the line built for the FE. Subsequent airframes the FE station was deleted however they did not move the cockpit bulkhead fwd until the 300 came out. That is why the 200's had the huge cockpit. Ship 101 since it was set up for a FE on the production line was shunted off to a mod line to be reconfigured. Ship 102 became the first 767 delivered to Delta and became the Spirit of Delta instead of ship 101 because of this.
I worked in Boeing flight test during the 757/767 certification programs and if I remember correctly the 767 was built with a FE station because it was required by the FARs at that time. There was an expectation that the requirement would be done away with sometime in the future but not in time for the initial 767 deliveries. Boeing was pushing 3-crew 767s out the factory door during the flight test program when the FAA gave it's ok for the 2-crew airplane. Almost all the airlines who were supposed to get 3-crew airplanes wanted to switch to the 2-crew version. After much moaning and gnashing of teeth Boeing decided the best way to make the customers happy with minimal disruption to the production line was to build the airplanes with the FE station then push them out on the ramp where hoardes of people (me being one of them) would rip out most of the flight deck and electronics bay and make the conversion. If I remember correctly we converted 30+ airplanes. I think there was maybe one other customer other than Ansett that stayed with the FE.
Delta's ship 101 was used for the 767 certification program, primarily to certify the CF6-80A engine. Once Boeing was done with it it was refurbished and the 2-crew flight deck installed. 102 was also converted by Boeing.