787 to test the mettle of Boeing's chief engineer FORMER Boeing 787 chief project engineer Mike Sinnett's BlackBerry became the stuff of aviation legend after it was revealed it went off every time a Boeing 787 fault developed anywhere in the world. Nor was it just faults. Any maintenance message that led to a flight-deck status advisory, caution or warning message, as well as take-off and landing data, flooded through the phone.