“Correct me if I’m wrong “
I’ll do :-)
“the -8i variant has a lot of the Dreamliner 787 technology in it.” It’s like the Marines “the few, the good”. Only a few technologies made it into the -8.
The cockpit is based on the 787 look’n’feel and likely most of the avionics.
The engines are more fuel efficient then the good ‘ol GE-CF6. Don’t belive the ‘We used the same engines the 787 uses’ cool aid. The GEnx is not a revolutionary engine. It’s a advanced version of the GE90/EA GP7000. Nothing more, but also nothing less. The GEnx will meet the wings of the following aircraft: 787, 747-8 & A350. The only “bleed less” version will be the one for the 787. A revolutionary engine would have been a large scale “geared fan” from P&W which i doubt P&W is able to produce in the near future.
No the 747-8 does NOT have fly by wire. It still “relies and flies” on oilpressure (hydraulics) and steel ropes. It does have some electric actuators that replace a few hydraulic failover systems, but it’s definetly not FBW. Boeing call it partitial FBW. I call it classic rock solid design way behind the bleeding edge technology. So it’s more a “Electric only if we can’t avoid it”
Neither is it “bleed less”. It uses bleed air for almost everything like the 1969 747-100 including pressurization of the fuselage.
The 747-8i will have the new modern cabin design, like the 787 and the overhauled 737 since last year.
For me the most impressive advantage of the 747-8i is it’s new designed wing. But it simply lacks one thing: It’s basically a 40 - 50 year old design. Rock solid but a gas guzzler. You simply can’t built a modern fuel efficient plane based on a type rating certificate of a 60s design.
P.s. If you want FBW, take a ride on the 777, the 787 or a recent Airbus (A320/A330/A340/A380)
One reason I prefer to ride on the old design. More metal for a greater margin of error.