TWA772LR From United States of America, joined Nov 2011, 762 posts, RR: 1 Posted (7 months 3 weeks 3 days 1 hour ago) and read 22237 times:
The title pretty much says it all. Was it a static test platform? What was the 777 they used to test the wingbox and wingload? It's sad to see my favorite plane in this shape.
Also, the caption says "777-3..." However, there is no exit door over the wings, so is this a 772? Or just a weird 773?
Sorry if this has been posted before.
[Edited 2012-10-03 13:24:50]
There's nothing like the smell of Jet-A in the morning. It smells like... VICTORY!!!
DocLightning From United States of America, joined Nov 2005, 16831 posts, RR: 57 Reply 2, posted (7 months 3 weeks 3 days ago) and read 22077 times:
Quoting Stitch (Reply 1):
There is a collection of them in the northwest corner of PAE (Building 40-40), just to the right of the 787 static test structure.
Why don't they scrap them? they can't be of any further use.
Newark727 From United States of America, joined Dec 2009, 1175 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (7 months 3 weeks 3 days ago) and read 21982 times:
Quoting DocLightning (Reply 2):
Why don't they scrap them? they can't be of any further use.
The only thing I can think of is if they needed to make major modifications to the frame later and needed to do some more static testing, or otherwise development on a frame that doesn't need to be made flyable. But I can't say I'm knowledgeable on the subject. At all.
Viscount724 From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 21498 posts, RR: 24 Reply 5, posted (7 months 3 weeks 3 days ago) and read 21735 times:
Quoting TWA772LR (Thread starter): lso, the caption says "777-3..." However, there is no exit door over the wings, so is this a 772? Or just a weird 773?
It's definitely a 777-200, not a -300. Counted the windows between the 2nd and 3rd doors.
Braniff747SP From United States of America, joined Oct 2008, 2631 posts, RR: 1 Reply 6, posted (7 months 3 weeks 2 days 20 hours ago) and read 20879 times:
What is the story with the rest of the stuff in the back? Same thing?
The 747 will always be the TRUE queen of the skies!
tdscanuck From Canada, joined Jan 2006, 12709 posts, RR: 80 Reply 8, posted (7 months 3 weeks 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 19811 times:
Quoting Braniff747SP (Reply 6): What is the story with the rest of the stuff in the back? Same thing?
Mostly. It's all leftovers from various uses in the past...lots of static and fatigue test articles, I think some production prototypes, probably some paint mockups.
You can see the whole menagerie pretty well on Google:
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=everett,+wa&hl=en&ll=47.935203,-122.281131&spn=0.00221,0.00449&sll=42.036922,-71.683501&sspn=2.508983,4.597778&t=h&hnear=Everett,+Snohomish,+Washington&z=18
The "boneyard" is the white stuff on the right. The big blue lattice is the 787 fatigue test frame.
United727 From United States of America, joined Nov 2010, 384 posts, RR: 1 Reply 10, posted (7 months 3 weeks 2 days 16 hours ago) and read 18733 times:
Tom,
What's the mock-up in what appears to be Retro UAL next to the 772?
Looking for the impossible way to save those dying breeds!!!!
bok269 From United States of America, joined May 2007, 2105 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (7 months 3 weeks 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 17752 times:
Quoting FX1816 (Reply 11):
Looking closely it appears to be an early 747 in the old colors of JAL. The cheatline with the 2 colors seems to match up with their old color scheme.
garpd From UK - Scotland, joined Aug 2005, 2313 posts, RR: 4 Reply 13, posted (7 months 3 weeks 2 days 14 hours ago) and read 17033 times:
Am I the only one who hopes these static test frames will eventually make it across the road to the museum of flight? I'd find looking at these naked, worn out frames fascinating.
ChiGB1973 From United States of America, joined Mar 2004, 1605 posts, RR: 1 Reply 14, posted (7 months 3 weeks 2 days 14 hours ago) and read 16907 times:
INice find, I haven't seen that one before.
In looking at the google link, I find it interesting that there is only one bridge from the factory to Paine Field. I know of several bridge collapses that could shut the crossing down for months. Wonder what the back up plan is?
KAUST From United States of America, joined Jun 2009, 91 posts, RR: 27 Reply 16, posted (7 months 3 weeks 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 14450 times:
For those whom have or have not seen the IMAX film "Legends of Flight", it shows it's primary character/actor, Mike Carriker of Boeing, playing around those a/c with his dog. At one point they are in a 747 static, as well. Kind of neat to see it, especially in 3D, although the 2D DVD's lose a little something, it is still quite nice and a treat to see it.
Or...maybe I'm just biased having an uncle who worked with Carriker at Boeing.
Nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
KAUST
"Houston, this is Apollo 8. We are now in Lunar orbit."
Polot From United States of America, joined Jul 2011, 1502 posts, RR: 0 Reply 17, posted (7 months 3 weeks 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 12689 times:
Quoting FX1816 (Reply 11): Looking closely it appears to be an early 747 in the old colors of JAL. The cheatline with the 2 colors seems to match up with their old color scheme.
IIRC it is an old 747 they bought from JAL to see if the condition of real world 747s were matching what was expected based on the static test frame.
Braniff747SP From United States of America, joined Oct 2008, 2631 posts, RR: 1 Reply 18, posted (7 months 3 weeks 2 days 8 hours ago) and read 11147 times:
Quoting tdscanuck (Reply 8):
Mostly. It's all leftovers from various uses in the past...lots of static and fatigue test articles, I think some production prototypes, probably some paint mockups.
You can see the whole menagerie pretty well on Google:
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=everett,+wa&hl=en&ll=47.935203,-122.281131&spn=0.00221,0.00449&sll=42.036922,-71.683501&sspn=2.508983,4.597778&t=h&hnear=Everett,+Snohomish,+Washington&z=18
The "boneyard" is the white stuff on the right. The big blue lattice is the 787 fatigue test frame.
Tom.
Very interesting--thanks.
The 747 will always be the TRUE queen of the skies!
AA777223 From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 1113 posts, RR: 7 Reply 19, posted (7 months 3 weeks 2 days 8 hours ago) and read 11068 times:
Quoting ChiGB1973 (Reply 14): INice find, I haven't seen that one before.
In looking at the google link, I find it interesting that there is only one bridge from the factory to Paine Field. I know of several bridge collapses that could shut the crossing down for months. Wonder what the back up plan is?
M
Man, I thought the EXACT same thing! I also took a virtual tour of the flight line, identifying as many aircraft as I could.
Navion From United States of America, joined May 1999, 981 posts, RR: 1 Reply 20, posted (7 months 3 weeks 2 days 8 hours ago) and read 11032 times:
For those of you who've taken the Boeing factory tour, you've seen the crossection of the 747 showing all 3 decks (upper, middle, lower cargo). That sample was taken from that JAL 747 from what I've heard. If you look at the JAL 747 carcass, you can see where the slice was taken out.
bikerthai From United States of America, joined Apr 2010, 1601 posts, RR: 4 Reply 22, posted (7 months 3 weeks 2 days 8 hours ago) and read 10758 times:
I guess if the overpass collapsed, the alternate route would be head west through the parking lot. Hop on the highway and make your way to the North West Entrance of Paine. You would stage all your frames and make your move at night when you can shut down the freeway.
If such a situation would occur, I wouldn't think you'll need to move more than one frame a day.
bikerthai From United States of America, joined Apr 2010, 1601 posts, RR: 4 Reply 23, posted (7 months 3 weeks 2 days 8 hours ago) and read 10714 times:
Quoting tdscanuck (Reply 8): I think some production prototypes, probably some paint mockups.
Had a chance to walk through that yard once. As I recall, some of the mock-ups are for wire routing. Before the use of CAD/CAM on the 777, they had to create these mock-up to pre-route wiring to get the lengths correct.
IDAWA From Italy, joined Aug 2004, 301 posts, RR: 0 Reply 24, posted (7 months 3 weeks 2 days 7 hours ago) and read 9990 times:
Quoting Polot (Reply 17): IIRC it is an old 747 they bought from JAL to see if the condition of real world 747s were matching what was expected based on the static test frame.
Which makes a lot of sense, given it is a sister-ship to JA8119 that broke up in mid-flight (although this was due to a faulty repair)
25 tdscanuck: In addition to all of the above, they might have picked that up back when the 747 was having crown cracking issues, but I'm not sure about that. That
26 Stitch: The Future of Flight Museum used to have a test frame next to it - I think it was a 767.
27 tomcat: One more question about this: which taxi way is followed by the test aircrafts from the 40.2x assembly lines to the test area? Between all the buildi
28 777ord: Although off topic, your statement sounds so very familiar to a flight attendant I had on a DEN-ORD A320 flight a month ago while commuting back to w
29 tdscanuck: I think the only way it can be done is to come out the south side of the 40.2x buildings (final assembly), go west around 40-51, then along the west
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