I realize it's not a 747.
Posted on 12/07/2006 8:55:12 AM PST by lowbuck
After air traffic fell sharply following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, the Boeing 747, that humpbacked icon of the skies, appeared to have run out of lives.
snip. . .
"The 747 has turned into the Energizer bunny of airplanes," said Byron Callan, an aviation analyst with Prudential Equities Securities.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
You wonder how much money that cover-up has cost our aircraft industry...
Center fuel tanks explode only with application of high enough heat..... now where that heat comes from.....
I keep hearing that the A380 delivery schedule is two years behind. But it's much worse than that, isn't it?
The initial delivery is delayed by two years. But the production rate has also been cut. If you were scheduled to take delivery of an A380 in 2009, your aircraft has not been pushed back two years to 2011, but back to 2013 or beyond, because Airbus is decreased the production rate forcast by half, even after (or if!) the wiring problems have been solved.
I like the 747, I still think it's one of the most comfortable planes to fly on. I've never flown on the upper deck, but I'd love to. That must seem nice and private.
Any body know what that's like? I've flown Club World on BA once to the UK from DFW and that was wonderful.
I'm amazed that somehing more than twice as big as my house can actually take off and fly around the world. That's amazing. What a great country we are to be able to conceive and make something like that.
Boeing is a great company.
"The 747 is on its last legs," McArtor said during an interview. "It doesn't have any legs to stand one. Boeing is trying to breathe life into a 1960s era design," he said.
"There is only so much you can do with a plane," McArtor added. "But it is irritating. Boeing is getting orders only because of our inability to meet demand. Had we not stumbled with the A380, there would not be orders like the Lufthansa order for the 747-800."
These kind of comments tells a lot as to Airbust's management problems.
Allan McArtor, chairman of Airbus North America, called the new 747-8 "a brand new Edsel," a reference to one of the most famous flops in automotive history.
"The 747 is on its last legs," McArtor said during an interview. "It doesn't have any legs to stand one. Boeing is trying to breathe life into a 1960s era design," he said.
"There is only so much you can do with a plane," McArtor added. "But it is irritating. Boeing is getting orders only because of our inability to meet demand. Had we not stumbled with the A380, there would not be orders like the Lufthansa order for the 747-800."
great minds think alike...
A variety of Boeing airliners have had accidental center fuel tank explosions.
I realize it's not a 747.
Just imagine the can of whoop ass Boeing would be opening on Airbust if Boeing had a 747 replacement available.
Sitting on the upper deck of a 747 is wonderful and as you assumed there is added privacy. You get a head (bathroom) only used by the few seats in the upper deck. You get your own stewardess to attend to fewer people so the service is always beteter. The seating is usually first class (upper class on Virgin) and immensely comfortable.
If I fly in a 747 on business I always try to get on the upper deck. It is a great way to fly.
LOL, the clown at airbust calling the 747 an Edsel was just too much to pass up.
Must hurt to get your @ss kicked by an Edsel...
7 -4 +7 =10
There, managed to make it a 747.
You mean like the airbust A380?
A friend of mine who designs aviation hydraulic pumps tells me that some of the hydraulic systems on the 747 use the fuel tanks as a heat sink for the hydraulic oil. Heat is imparted to the hydraulic fluid as it is compressed during the act of being pumped and the fluid is routed to heat exchangers in the fuel tanks where the heat is then transferred to the jet fuel. His speculation is that Flight 800 experienced a runaway hydraulic pump (flight crew couldn't get it off line) and the hydraulic fluid got exceedingly hot which in turn heated the fuel in the center tank to it's flash point.
I don't know if this would be possible however I do know that deadheading a pump will cause whatever fluid is being pumped to get REALLY hot in a short period of time.
Airbus saying the 747 is a 1860s-era design is like an IBM OS2 salesman calling Microsoft Windows XP a redesign of a 1960s product (DOS).
The fact is, IIRC, that the 747-8 (747-800?) flies more passengers faster, cheaper, and with more room.
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