Vanguard737 From United States of America, joined Aug 2001, 674 posts, RR: 5 Posted (7 years 5 months 2 weeks 5 days ago) and read 1722 times:
Why were the DC8 passenger windows as large as they were? This in not a standard Douglas feature, as all other Douglas jetliners feature more conservative, "Boeing-sized" pax windows. Was this used as a selling point? I sure wish more aircraft had windows this large, it would be a dream! Also, in most airliners there are two rows of seats per three windows (in economy), what was the set-up in a DC8? I am guessing one large window per each row of seats? That would be nice, too!
Ptrjong From Netherlands, joined Mar 2005, 3770 posts, RR: 20 Reply 1, posted (7 years 5 months 2 weeks 4 days 23 hours ago) and read 1705 times:
The DC-8 was Douglas' first jetliner, and the windows look rather like the DC-7's, so it seems a leftover from the prop age rather than a selling point.
The large windows are nice, but the distance between windows is also large, so with an alternative seat pitch passengers some passengers can see nothing at all I presume. So, larger numbers of smaller windows give airlines more flexibility. I think.
Peter
The only difference between me and a madman is that I am not mad (Salvador Dali)
57AZ From United States of America, joined Nov 2004, 2550 posts, RR: 2 Reply 2, posted (7 years 5 months 2 weeks 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 1644 times:
Quoting Ptrjong (Reply 1): The large windows are nice, but the distance between windows is also large, so with an alternative seat pitch passengers some passengers can see nothing at all I presume. So, larger numbers of smaller windows give airlines more flexibility. I think.
Don't forget that many DC-8s had lounges located in the forward cabin. With lounge seating, window placement wasn't a big concern. Another consideration is that as originally laid out, the first generation jets had a very low capacity compared to the flying buses that Airbus and Boeing produce now. AA's first 707s were fitted out in a 50/50 arrangement-the numbers of F and Y class seating were the same.
"When a man runs on railroads over half of his lifetime he is fit for nothing else-and at times he don't know that."
Sfomb67 From United States of America, joined Dec 2005, 417 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (7 years 5 months 2 weeks 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 1636 times:
I don't know for sure, but it may have been an engineering thing. I worked on DC-8's, and they were just a heavy duty plane, especially the wings and flaps. Perhaps the Boeing engineers were more on the conservative side.
CRJ900 From Norway, joined Jun 2004, 2080 posts, RR: 1 Reply 4, posted (7 years 5 months 2 weeks 4 days 15 hours ago) and read 1608 times:
I remember flying the DC8-63 with charter carrier Scanair. They packed in 252 seats and I was so disappointed that our seat row on the outbound flight was between two windows - thus we saw nothing of the outside world for the whole flight. Flying home we sat between the overwing exits and there were 2 full rows between the exits and 2-seat rows at the exits...
Ptrjong From Netherlands, joined Mar 2005, 3770 posts, RR: 20 Reply 5, posted (7 years 5 months 2 weeks 4 days 15 hours ago) and read 1606 times:
Quoting CRJ900 (Reply 4): They packed in 252 seats and (...) our seat row on the outbound flight was between two windows - thus we saw nothing of the outside world
Seems to prove my point.
The only difference between me and a madman is that I am not mad (Salvador Dali)
AeroWeanie From United States of America, joined Dec 2004, 1601 posts, RR: 52 Reply 6, posted (7 years 5 months 2 weeks 4 days 9 hours ago) and read 1549 times:
Boeing airliners have fuselage frames at 20" spacing, and the windows are between the frames. I believe Douglas uses similar frame spacing. Thus it looks like they skipped putting windows in every-other frame opening on the DC-8.
LongHauler From Canada, joined Mar 2004, 4281 posts, RR: 36 Reply 7, posted (7 years 5 months 2 weeks 9 hours ago) and read 1391 times:
When the DC-8 was introduced, the windows were spaced at one window per seat row. The actual size of the window was a selling point. I don't think when anyone at the Douglas factory was designing the aircraft in the 1950's, they would have ever dared imagine a 28" seat pitch!!!
When Trans-Canada Airlines introduced the DC-8-41 in 1961, the seat pitch in Economy was actually the same as First Class ... and aligned with the windows. That quickly changed in 1963, with the introduction of the -50s, and the cabins were realigned.
By the time the DC-8-61 and DC-8-63's were introduced (the cabins were identical), even with a 35" seat pitch in economy, there were rows with no windows at all! I would have to dig out one of my old DC-8 manuals with all the seat charts, (AC had about 15 different layouts for DC-8s!), but I recall something like every 7th row had no window.
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