Posted on 02/13/2011 6:33:31 PM PST by djwright
video only
Boeing's answer to the A-380 was the Sonic cruiser. A smaller airplane that was faster. 9/11 killed the sonic cruise and the 787 was born. A smaller airplane with the range of the larger airplanes.
The -8i is set to hold on to the 400 seat market. The freighter already has a ton of orders (and did kill the A-380 freighter)
Correct me if I’m wrong but the -8i variant has a lot of the Dreamliner 787 technology in it. No bleed air environmental system (other then engine anti-icing). Each power using component has it’s own redundant hydraulic system. Electric everything! Fly by wire. Did I miss anything? Call in ErnstStavroBlofeld -— he’s always posting those Aviation Week articles!
Too close in for me but I was tempted to make a cot out of the side lockers. Riding in the nose is pure bliss.
“I have flown on the -400 (Cathay Pacific) and enjoyed the ride. I’d love to plant my backside in one of the -800’s seats”
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I flew as well on a -400, on Korean Air, to Seoul in July 1997. Only a few weeks later Korean Air Flight 801 crashed into a hill while landing in a rainstorm on Guam.
Newsweek did an after action expose on Korean Air that, after reading, would have given me serious thoughts of switching airlines.
I flew business class and it was, IMHO, comparable to first class on US domestics. I was in the lower deck to Kor and
the upper deck on the return. I didn’t care for the upper deck at all. It was hot and they couldn’t seem to cool it
down.
However, my flight attendant was a young Russian girl who was “HOT” too. She could see that I was uncomfortable and could not sleep, so she plied me with little snacks and drinks all night. She was gorgeous. reminded me of Julie Christie. That made her being Russian even more perfect.
I don’t know if she was on 801. I sure hope not.
I agree about the comfort of business class on the -400. I was jolly comfortable on that loooooong flight.
I recall the proposed MD-12 - never got beyong the proposal stage. The line drawings that I saw looked a lot like the A380.
Boeing and Airbus studied the New Large Airplane as a joint venture.
Basically the result was that the market wasn’t big enough for 2. So Boeing dared Airbus to build it and they did. (now try to make money on it)
Boeing’s response is the 787.
It’s orderable for 5 years already and only got 33 orders. Shelf warmer.
Time will tell. Other models have started slowly and then taken off.
The 737 was a slow seller for the first 20 years. (and of course is now the biggest seller of all time).
Time will tell. Other models have started slowly and then taken off.
The 737 was a slow seller for the first 20 years. (and of course is now the biggest seller of all time).
It also has a new wing design that’s supposed to make it even more efficient.
I’ve seen the 1st 2 747-8’s parked in front of the test hangar at Boeing Field while driving along I-5. Impressive plane.
No...it appears to be the new Boeing paint scheme. I had no idea they were changing colors. Maybe the changed it to market it TO China?
As an addendum...I went to the Boeing website and viewed the recorded roll-out ceremony. After they dropped the curtain and did the ‘big reveal’, one of the VP’s for Boeing got up and explained the paint job.
He said “reds and oranges have been a symbol for many cultures of prosperity and good fortune”. So, the new livery is designed to market to “other cultures”.
I also went through Boeing’s website and looked at the promotional pictures for the new plane. One of them showed a woman in a first class seat. She was wearing a hajab.
In the rollout ceremony, they also had several aircraft models with liveries from different airlines. One of them was the livery of the BBJ...the Boeing Business Jet.
Excuse me? They plan to use a 747 as a private business jet??? Who in the bloody blue blazes would need that much space for a private jet?
A possible answer: The regular BBJ’s are customizable. Several Middle Eastern oil execs have bought BBJ’s, including several Saudi princes. I saw a news report one time about one particular prince who demanded a special compass be designed so that no matter where he was in the world, the device would always indicate where...you guessed it...Mecca was.
“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)
“No...it appears to be the new Boeing paint scheme. I had no idea they were changing colors. Maybe the changed it to market it TO China?”
No, reminescence to the first 747-100, which was also red/white.
P.s. Do you think that the red marked states on the maps on polls symbolize a affinity to china ? It’s a color, not more not less.
“Excuse me? They plan to use a 747 as a private business jet??? Who in the bloody blue blazes would need that much space for a private jet?”
Those who can’t afford a A380 as a private business jet. :-)
P.s. Al’Waeed will get both, a private A380 and a 747-8i for traveling with less luggage on shorter trips :-)
One reason I prefer to ride on the old design. More metal for a greater margin of error.
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