JayDavis From United States of America, joined Jan 2001, 2000 posts, RR: 18 Posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 11112 times:
This is more of a commentary and a question together.
While photographing Southwest Airlines aircraft at Love Field last weekend, I noticed a great deal of the planes with the new scheme already starting to fade. It reminded me of how FederalExpress (before FedEx) had a purple paint scheme and no matter what they did, the purple color began to fade. I am seeing this a great deal already, I believe, on the new Southwest blue paint scheme.
Why in the world would they choose a color such as the blue that they are using, when it will start to fade out pretty quickly over time, compared to their old scheme? Granted, the old scheme wasn't exactly the best in the world, but you didn't notice the fading of the color like you do with this new blue scheme. Surely they could have come up with something better than what they chose, don't you think?
SXDFC From United States of America, joined Dec 2007, 1999 posts, RR: 20 Reply 1, posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 11084 times:
The ones that are fading, are the ones that were painted between 2001-2003 many of the a/c that are in the blue scheme are also right now getting repaints to another fresh coat of canyon blue, many of the -300s are getting it as well as some of the -500s as well. Canyon Blue is currently used to represent a Canyon sunset, which does contain a purple-blue mixture. As far as the old colors called desert gold, well they fade but like you said not as well as the Gold, Just be glad they don't have euro-white well at least not to much longer
Some other a.c that were painted in blue- but then repainted in blue again for a fresher look ( Keep In Mind these are the ones I am aware of) Ships: 401-406-416-432-300-301-302-304-310-508. Again some maybe off.
ALL views, opinions expressed are mine ONLY and are NOT representative of those shared by Southwest Airlines Co.
JayDavis From United States of America, joined Jan 2001, 2000 posts, RR: 18 Reply 2, posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 11069 times:
But my point is this, why paint an aircraft with a color that "shows" fading so much? You'd think that Southwest would have gone with something different and a color that is less resistant to fading than the Canyon Blue.
Nucsh From United States of America, joined Apr 2004, 238 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 11060 times:
Is it just me, or does it look like someone got excited with the clone tool in photoshop? (look under the right wing between the flaps and the right aileron)
If landing is about "kissing" the ground, you just about raped it.
EMBQA From United States of America, joined Oct 2003, 9286 posts, RR: 13 Reply 4, posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 11044 times:
Quoting JayDavis (Reply 2): But my point is this, why paint an aircraft with a color that "shows" fading so much?
Well.. in honesty, 4-5 years is about the average life for an aircraft paint job. I think once Southwest gets the entire fleet painted it will not show as bad as they will be back on a regular paint cycle
...... but yes...... Canyon Blue was a bad choice. Blues-Purples are very prone to fade die to UV light
"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog"
SXDFC From United States of America, joined Dec 2007, 1999 posts, RR: 20 Reply 5, posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 11023 times:
Quoting JayDavis (Reply 2): But my point is this, why paint an aircraft with a color that "shows" fading so much? You'd think that Southwest would have gone with something different and a color that is less resistant to fading than the Canyon Blue.
When Southwest Airlines launched this scheme in 2001, the industry was different, airlines had money to this and to this day Southwest still has the money to support this scheme, while UA for example had to keep its costs down by coming up with a different scheme because of the gray they had, again UA and WN are in two different financial situations, as to why WN came up with this scheme, well maybe the company at the time thought the blue would have suited well, now in 2008 times changed so who knows what WN might have next? FYI Southwest introduced this current scheme in January of 2001, now this part of history is called Pre 9/11 .
ALL views, opinions expressed are mine ONLY and are NOT representative of those shared by Southwest Airlines Co.
Acjflyer From United States of America, joined Aug 2005, 426 posts, RR: 7 Reply 6, posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 10973 times:
From a marketing standpoint it was and still is a great idea. I can stand on my lawn and look at an aircraft at FL340 and see that it is a WN jet with the red belly. As for the canyon blue take this into consideration. I was driving on the interstate only to llok up at a billboard advertising a painting company. On it there were two paint streaks of red and blue. The very first thing that came to mind was Southwest, even though this paint company has nothing to do with it.
It is like flying with hundreds of billboards that are more effective than the competitions.
DL763 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 8, posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 10777 times:
There is a lot of purple in the scheme.... the sun absorbs off of it!
It fades faster than most airlines' liveries!
I learned that from someone else in a post here!
I have noticed that and only flown on two aircraft in the new colors! One was a -700 with winglets TPA-PHL, and the other was a -300 without any winglets installed on PHL-TPA!
They were not faded... at least not in the dark on the second flight home.
DL763
Nucsh From United States of America, joined Apr 2004, 238 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 10618 times:
Quoting ZTagged (Reply 7): Nice catch! I didn't even notice that before.
I know I've seen that photo before, but this time the blue on the wing caught my eye.
If landing is about "kissing" the ground, you just about raped it.
N766UA From United States of America, joined Jul 1999, 7976 posts, RR: 27 Reply 10, posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 1 day 4 hours ago) and read 10589 times:
Quoting ZTagged (Reply 7):
Nice catch! I didn't even notice that before.
Apparently, neither did the screeners! And it's such a neat little circle, too.
OPNLguy From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 11, posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 1 day 4 hours ago) and read 10577 times:
Quoting Nucsh (Reply 3):
Is it just me, or does it look like someone got excited with the clone tool in photoshop? (look under the right wing between the flaps and the right aileron)
NWADC9 From United States of America, joined May 2004, 4857 posts, RR: 10 Reply 12, posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 1 day 4 hours ago) and read 10492 times:
KELPkid From United States of America, joined Nov 2005, 5929 posts, RR: 4 Reply 13, posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 1 day 3 hours ago) and read 10462 times:
Quoting NWADC9 (Reply 12): Quoting OPNLguy (Reply 11):
What am I missing here?
Dar be a hole in da wing...
Can't believe this got through!
Sure your company didn't pick this one up from Iraqi Airways?
Celebrating the birth of KELPkidJR on August 5, 2009 :-)
JayDavis From United States of America, joined Jan 2001, 2000 posts, RR: 18 Reply 14, posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 1 day 3 hours ago) and read 10436 times:
I wonder if and when that photo will be removed from the database? You know how tough the screeners are on this site!!
Silver1SWA From United States of America, joined Mar 2004, 4535 posts, RR: 26 Reply 15, posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 1 day 3 hours ago) and read 10387 times:
Quoting JayDavis (Reply 14): I wonder if and when that photo will be removed from the database? You know how tough the screeners are on this site!!
Well, a start would be to email the screening team and it will be taken care of. Just keep it away from the photog forum. They will throw a fit at the screeners for allowing such a mistake to go unnoticed for 3 months!
ALL views, opinions expressed are mine ONLY and are NOT representative of those shared by Southwest Airlines Co.
Nucsh From United States of America, joined Apr 2004, 238 posts, RR: 0 Reply 16, posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 1 day ago) and read 10198 times:
Quoting Silver1SWA (Reply 15): Well, a start would be to email the screening team and it will be taken care of. Just keep it away from the photog forum. They will throw a fit at the screeners for allowing such a mistake to go unnoticed for 3 months!
Hmmm... So many rejections for dust spots, but a wing hole/clone job gets through
[Edited 2008-02-26 20:32:16]
If landing is about "kissing" the ground, you just about raped it.
Skyharborshome From United States of America, joined Dec 2005, 273 posts, RR: 2 Reply 17, posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 1 day ago) and read 10140 times:
Silver1SWA From United States of America, joined Mar 2004, 4535 posts, RR: 26 Reply 18, posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 23 hours ago) and read 10088 times:
Quoting Nucsh (Reply 16): Hmmm... So many rejections for dust spots, but a wing hole/clone job gets through
Among other things. Frustrating, I know. But I guess the best answer is screeners are only human.
ALL views, opinions expressed are mine ONLY and are NOT representative of those shared by Southwest Airlines Co.
Mike89406 From United States of America, joined Mar 2007, 1266 posts, RR: 3 Reply 20, posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 10022 times:
I wouldn't be suprised if WN uses too much A/C soap solution when washing planes. I know when we used too much soap on plane washes during MX scheduled inspections or whatever it would burn the paint and wouldn't take long to loose the luster or color of the paint job.
A/C soap is no joke I got some of that crap in my eye once by accident that was the worse burning of my eye I have ever experianced.
Virgin Blue have the same problem with their red painted aircraft but they have since found a protective coating to use on them. In an interview that was in DJs onboard mag the CEO said that it helps reduce the fading of the paint. Maybe Southwest should look at the below solution.
"The Permagard process cleans and completely seals the aircraft's outer surfaces without using water, creating a permanent barrier between the aircraft's paint and the extreme flying conditions in the Southern Hemisphere.
The treatment involves the application of a sophisticated polymer fluid, which cleans the surface of the paint and restores it to the original colour. Once cured, the clear protective polymer layer provides UV filtering and high resistance to water and corrosive substances which damage aircraft paint.
"Our treatment is a totally green solution, designed specifically to protect high-performance painted surfaces," said Mark Pettitt, Managing Director of Permagard Aviation.
"Currently, Virgin Blue is required to wash each of its aircraft every 60 days," said Mr Pettitt. "Our programme eliminates the need to wash the planes, replacing this process with a reapplication of protective coating every 12 months."
He continued: "By reducing the amount of grime which sticks to the aircraft and by extending the life of the paintwork, we can reduce exterior cleaning time, defer major repainting and exterior restoration and increase the time in which the aircraft are in the air."
Luv2cattlecall From United States of America, joined Sep 2007, 1648 posts, RR: 2 Reply 22, posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 20 hours ago) and read 9923 times:
Quoting Acjflyer (Reply 6): From a marketing standpoint it was and still is a great idea. I can stand on my lawn and look at an aircraft at FL340 and see that it is a WN jet with the red belly. As for the canyon blue take this into consideration. I was driving on the interstate only to llok up at a billboard advertising a painting company. On it there were two paint streaks of red and blue. The very first thing that came to mind was Southwest, even though this paint company has nothing to do with it.
It is like flying with hundreds of billboards that are more effective than the competitions.
I kind of get what you're saying...but for marketing to truly pay for itself, it has to increase sales. True you were able to identify a WN jet flying overhead, but did it cause you go suddenly book a ticket to ABQ or MDW or somewhere else they fly to?
Quoting Mike89406 (Reply 20): I wouldn't be suprised if WN uses too much A/C soap solution when washing planes. I know when we used too much soap on plane washes during MX scheduled inspections or whatever it would burn the paint and wouldn't take long to loose the luster or color of the paint job.
A/C soap is no joke I got some of that crap in my eye once by accident that was the worse burning of my eye I have ever experianced.
I wonder how Air France keeps the blue "Air France" logos from fading despite all the Av-Soap that they use during the twice-weekly bathings they give their jets?
When you have to breaststroke to your connecting flight...it's a crash!
Silver1SWA From United States of America, joined Mar 2004, 4535 posts, RR: 26 Reply 23, posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 18 hours ago) and read 9857 times:
Cloning is a process in Photoshop that is usefull for patching portions of a photo. Most commonly here at airliners.net, the photographers might have to clone out a dust spot that is visible before it will have a chance at getting accepted here. They do so by selecting a source on the photo, and cloning that source and placing it on top of the dust spot for example. It is usually done pixels at a time. In this case, a small area near the aileron has been cloned and placed to the right under the wing for some reason.
Anyway, back to the topic, I remember a few years ago someone from WN, possibly a mechanic stating that the canyon blue scheme has a shorter life-span than the old scheme. I want to say the new scheme was expected to last in the 5-6 year range where as the old scheme lasted 7+ years.
ALL views, opinions expressed are mine ONLY and are NOT representative of those shared by Southwest Airlines Co.
NWADC9 From United States of America, joined May 2004, 4857 posts, RR: 10 Reply 24, posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 15 hours ago) and read 9129 times:
Quoting Luv2cattlecall (Reply 22): I wonder how Air France keeps the blue "Air France" logos from fading despite all the Av-Soap that they use during the twice-weekly bathings they give their jets?
They...WASH...their planes?
Flying an aeroplane with only a single propeller to keep you in the air. Can you imagine that? -Capt. Picard
25 Soon7x7: Jay, Reds and purples fade faster than all other colors in all paint medium...however, polyurethanes used on aircraft, resilient that they are...do h
26 Mike89406: If the right amount of AV soap and water is used then it shouldn't burn the paint. The problem is when they add too much soap to the water which is a
27 Barney Captain: From the "heard it from some guy - Department"......apparently it was the wax used to clean certain aircraft that was causing premature fading (isn't
28 GSPSPOT: Bring back the peanut butter-colored a/c!! That's WN to me.
29 SFOnative: I agree. Even as a young child visiting SFO and sitting at the now defunct viewing lot at the end of the "1"s (as I noticed they are affectionately r
31 GSPSPOT: I just hate the new scheme. Try as I might, I just can't get into it.... PHILBOS is right about the Herb Kelleher one-off.
32 Surfrider1978: Couldn't agree more. I miss the old colour scheme too, as it was truly a one of a kind color. Wonder if they would ever change it back since the blue
33 PHLBOS: Worth Noting: WN has 2 other planes (one them being N714CB) painted in the Speckled Gold and titled Classic. Having recently seen N714CB at PHL w/the
34 NA: Red fades fastest in the sun, so much is true. Thats why NW abolished the red-topped bowling-shoe scheme I liked so much.
35 SXDFC: FYI N792SW will also be repainted into the old colors as well: I don't think shes gotten a face lift yet after looking at her latest pic : View Large
36 TranStar: Actually, the "horrid shade of green" WAS the original color used from 1971 to 1984 and was not an anomoly. The greenish color was actually ochre, wh
37 SWABrian: I've heard a few longtime Employees describe the original color as "baby puke green."
38 KELPkid: I thought that was a generic term for many greenish colors from the 1970's, especially as applied to cars, appliances, and linoleum floors from the e
39 TranStar: I always though the desert tan color looked very appropriate in the context of New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada, but an odd choice for Texas, which act
40 SFOnative: Ah yes, Avocado green. I would love to know the origins on that idea! Google, here I come.....
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