bmacleod From Canada, joined Aug 2001, 2081 posts, RR: 0 Posted (10 months 1 week 3 days ago) and read 4965 times:
An article in June edition of Air and Space Smithsonian highlighting 787 production specifically refers to production of the new 747-8 as 'ear-splitting' referring to rivet fastening, I guess. One 787 worker in the article mentions referring to the 747-8 area "they're the noisy ones, we're the quiet ones"....
Was production of 747-400 and earlier versions just as noisy?
The engine is the heart of an airplane, but the pilot is its soul.
AA737-823 From United States of America, joined Mar 2000, 5336 posts, RR: 11 Reply 4, posted (10 months 1 week 16 hours ago) and read 4317 times:
Quoting LH707330 (Reply 3): The 747 guys would probably retort that they are actually building the planes, instead of taking pre-fab lego blocks and putting them together....
Indeed. But not so much pre-fab lego blocks, as pre-fab plastic tubes!!!
BoeEngr From United States of America, joined Feb 2010, 312 posts, RR: 33 Reply 5, posted (10 months 1 week 14 hours ago) and read 4271 times:
I've spent quite a bit of time on the 787 and 767 factory lines. The 787 line always seems eerily quiet to me. 767 line is much louder, and the 747 line even more so. The riveting is very loud.
bmacleod From Canada, joined Aug 2001, 2081 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (10 months 1 week 5 hours ago) and read 4146 times:
Quoting LH707330 (Reply 3): The 747 guys would probably retort that they are actually building the planes, instead of taking pre-fab lego blocks and putting them together....
The 787 guys might be propping themselves up says "Hey, we getting a lot more orders than you are (comparing to 747-8I pax version...not cargo which has lots of orders). They would criticize the 747-8 for not adopting a more composite structure...the A380 has more composites than the 747-8....
I guess it's more of a PR (public relations) stunt....
The engine is the heart of an airplane, but the pilot is its soul.
bikerthai From United States of America, joined Apr 2010, 1588 posts, RR: 4 Reply 7, posted (10 months 6 days 23 hours ago) and read 4006 times:
It's also a matter of how much work is being done in Everett.
The 777 also have panels assembled in to tubes at Everett. I believe a lot of those fasteners are rivets. For fuselage section joins there would be more bolts and fewer rivets. For the 787 these would be all bolts.
The 737 main line would be much more quiet because most of the fuselage build in in Wichita. Although, the wing line is probably pretty noisy.
bmacleod From Canada, joined Aug 2001, 2081 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (10 months 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 3271 times:
My point is the circulation of the Air and Space Smithsonian is very wide and articles that portray airliners in a negative fashion often lead to less interest in the aircraft and thus less orders.....
Elizabeth Lund, program manager of the 747-8 predicted more orders in 2012. Well it's more than halfway through 2012 and we have yet to see new 747-8 orders.
How much longer can Boeing wait before making a decision on future 747-8I production?
[Edited 2012-07-23 09:50:02]
The engine is the heart of an airplane, but the pilot is its soul.
Roseflyer From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 8737 posts, RR: 52 Reply 9, posted (10 months 1 day ago) and read 3224 times:
Quoting bmacleod (Reply 8): My point is the circulation of the Air and Space Smithsonian is very wide and articles that portray airliners in a negative fashion often lead to less interest in the aircraft and thus less orders.....
Is there a connection between loud production and a negative opinion towards an airplane and less orders? I don’t really see why the manufacturing method relating to noise has anything to do with the final product.
If it is claiming that rivets are old technology, then I guess 95% of aircraft production is old technology. The 777 is a riveted airplane too, although it doesn’t take as many as the 747-8.
If you want loud, take a walk into the 737NG wing production building or Spirit’s 737NG fuselage factory in Wichita. That’s far louder than Everett Final assembly. With the number of wings they put through the 4-21 building, the riveting is excruciatingly loud.
Quoting bmacleod (Reply 8):
How much longer can Boeing wait before making a decision on future 747-8I production?
Are you referring to Boeing considering going down in production rate? What decision are you asking for? They will keep trying to sell them, and keep building to the orders that they already have.
If you have never designed an airplane part before, let the real designers do the work!
cargolex From United States of America, joined Apr 2010, 1154 posts, RR: 9 Reply 10, posted (9 months 4 weeks 20 hours ago) and read 2838 times:
You know, having been on the factory floor at Everett, it is loud, but I wouldn't say it's ear-splitting. The 747 line does currently seem the loudest to me, but then, I never saw the 767 line at it's peak production rate in person.
Ear splitting, however, is working in the pits at a NASCAR race. Go without ear protection for very long there and you'll hurt yourself for sure. Everett is more like working at a moderately noisy construction site (not a really noisy one). Which is fitting, because these aircraft are the size of small buildings.
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