Looking at the KC-46 spreadsheet (BTW thanks so much for whoever has been keeping this data current) https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xPZP2NmigprVBd5dklYcFOGraAn4C8Z4W0z2TPD-eD0/edit#gid=2121076296 it finally seems that the number of KC-46's lounging around PAE is dwindling. Really only 5 of...
Jump to postLooking at the KC-46 spreadsheet (BTW thanks so much for whoever has been keeping this data current) https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xPZP2NmigprVBd5dklYcFOGraAn4C8Z4W0z2TPD-eD0/edit#gid=2121076296 it finally seems that the number of KC-46's lounging around PAE is dwindling. Really only 5 of ...
Jump to postThe F15-EX is a great complimentary plane for the air force. Teamed up with the F-35's the Strike Eagle II can have its big radar blaring providing 'vision' to the F-35's some 10 miles ahead. As the enemy goes for the Strike Eagle II, they become visible targets for the F-35. Further, the F15 can be...
Jump to postIs this a proposed P2F conversion of existing frames, it appears the line has already stopped for new builds. Which airlines would be the expected customers? EK? If 50 planned at $ 10M per conversion for design & certification that's only $ 500M. Is that sufficient to cover certification of such...
Jump to postThis is round 1, round 2 will include several buildings and land around Boeing Field. All part of Boeing getting leaner, they had a lot of staff and buildings that need to be removed from overhead. The Everett plant will soon only have 767 and 777 production, the 747 and 787 spaces are coming availa...
Jump to postNeed to look at the Payload-Range curves available in the Airport Planning Guides. The brochure ranges are cherry picked off of those curves. For an A320 it probably picks 160 passengers, no bags, and the maximum assuming the closest alternate airports etc.
Jump to postOne reason new scope compliant RJ models are not being developed, no latest generation engine. The PW GTF smallest model is too big for the 175 for scope compliance. No other one available, no engine mfg working on one. That has to happed before RJ's come back into play.
Jump to postNearly all low wing freighters have the wing box occupying the full height of the cargo hold. The floor is basically the lowest level that gets over the wing box. Nearly all commercial planes are cylinders or double bubble hulls to be efficient when pressurized. A lot of military aircraft that are n...
Jump to postI'll believe in commercial hydrogen powered aircraft when I start to see the construction of massive amounts of 1000MW + nuclear power plants with matching hydrolysis plants reasonably close to the airports. I believe that Europe will need about 100 such plants, the USA about 200, and likely the re...
Jump to postWhat does WN see in the -7 that the rest of the world misses? Especially among other LCC's, the -8 and its -200 variant seem to be far more popular. Likewise, former larger A319 operators like U2 are switching to the A320neo. As the (nearly) sole operator of the -7, doesn't WN worry about resale va...
Jump to postWell, heli-skiing is fantastic but considered high risk. Most of the risk is in the skiing part, everyone lands on the glacier with limited prior knowledge of the avalanche danger so the guides haven't pre-checked the slope. My uncle ran a Calgary Oil firm which he was able to ski 2 to 3 weeks a yea...
Jump to postNot sure how a GTF engine would work on a bizjet, not optimum at levels above F410. And probably not really good at higher mach numbers they like for marketing. Best regards Thomas Actually, you can make a custom GTF for a business jet. The gearbox though adds $250,000 to the cost of the engine. It...
Jump to postThe big steps in order for a new clean sheet: 1. Cockpit functionality and programming - it needs to meet the new FAA / EASA requirements for here on out, probably a very different architecture. Some benefits - can adapt to single pilot, remote piloting, ground control, and or autonomous flight. Hug...
Jump to postWell A400 sales have been brisk, a huge backlog from countries not in the original group, lots and lots of top off orders.
There were 174 orders by 2011 and there are 174 orders on the books today. Massive sales, just massive.
PW didn't have a lot of problems with their gearbox, but the change in RPM's of the various sections caused different conditions than previous engines, had a number of problems that needed resolution. RR's ultra fan is operating at far higher energy levels, also with sections at different RPM's than...
Jump to postWell the posted info indicates it has a 50MW gearbox, so we have the energy, the thrust is Force, needs a distance. These are big ducted fans, props within a casing. I have always wondered what would be the issues with the shroud rotating with the fan, it could save a good bit of weight. But lots of...
Jump to postWhat if the tail flipped up 90 Degrees supported by Hydraulics? You would be bringing the COG forward and that would seem to have less of a load path issue. It would also not require any special equipment as everything to open it up would be onboard the aircraft. Might be better, but you would stil...
Jump to postI am first and foremost a Pratt fan, specifically, the GTF. So I will celebrate every competitive platform for the GTF family of engines. That said, in my opinion the A220 is the most competitive platform for the small GTF family that helped launch the PW800 family. In manufacturing, more is better...
Jump to postI am first and foremost a Pratt fan, specifically, the GTF. So I will celebrate every competitive platform for the GTF family of engines. That said, in my opinion the A220 is the most competitive platform for the small GTF family that helped launch the PW800 family. In manufacturing, more is better...
Jump to postThat’s not exactly true. The 717’s were on the Operating Certificate and serviced by both FL and WN mechanics. The Pilots and Flight Attendants were already on the Southwest Master Seniority List. The AirTran flights were still operated as AirTran that’s true, but the employees and maintenance reco...
Jump to postI think what Embraer does is very smart. Build simple, reliable airplanes that still are modern, capable and comfortable. Some manufacturers got carried away by too much innovation at the same time: materials, aerodynamics, engines and manufacturing. Keep it simple like ATR, E2, SkyCourier and such...
Jump to post"simplified for military purposes" is an interesting concept. Sometimes it is the real practical simple and other cases it is the most complicated simple ever seen. Boeing has so much on the line with the T-7 and the MQ-25, separately Boeing Australia's Loyal Wingman. A leap into the true ...
Jump to postThe T-7 trainer system has some great unique aspects, such as a virtual cockpit that controls the underlying avionics. This allows it to mimic a F-16, F-35, F-22, F-15, or F-18 cockpits as to instrument arrangement and performance feel. No the T-7 won't match the F-35 but it will have higher common...
Jump to postThe big question is how Boeing has been treating WN this last decade, but in particular since the MAX grounding. How they take care of WN makes a huge difference. Also, some of the MAX compensation may have been done in this new plane order.
Jump to postBoeing transformed from a great engineering company into a great shorter-term beancounting company. Pretty much. It started with Condit and Stonecipher and really accelerated under McNerney, who learned Welch's bad habits all too well while at GE. If only they'd promoted Alan Mulally. Oh well, Boei...
Jump to postNew EMBRAER 70-100 pax turboprop scope compliant ? I know people are tired of the "scope clause" always coming back into these threads, but... Keep in mind that the scope clauses at the big 3 American carriers are different for turboprops than for jets. < this is important. --------------...
Jump to postDoes the accident affect the FCAS, was Olivier Dassault a leader or just a figurehead. This could take Dassault sideways for a while. Dassault is the president of strategy and development of the family-controlled aerospace and software conglomerate Dassault Groupe. https://www.zerohedge.com/technolo...
Jump to postOption 1: Return of all leased aircraft, with the payments required for early return. Option 2: Swap with the lessor, with the appropriate contract changes and payments, 737's for A320's. In particular, if what is coming back to the lessor is easier to market than what they supply (ie if A320's dema...
Jump to postMost people want to fly non-stop. Now Alaska can fly from SEA to just about every domestic location with a 737. North of MSP is Canada which MSP is well positioned for, but it is difficult for US airlines to do Canada (should be improved). So Alaska, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming are well positioned t...
Jump to postThe T-7 trainer system has some great unique aspects, such as a virtual cockpit that controls the underlying avionics. This allows it to mimic a F-16, F-35, F-22, F-15, or F-18 cockpits as to instrument arrangement and performance feel. No the T-7 won't match the F-35 but it will have higher commona...
Jump to postAll of the agencies need to get together to develop better CVR / FDR requirements for helicopters. It needs to be relatively low cost, low weight, and reliable. But not built like a tank with every bell and whistle known to man. Some consideration: - Instead of a high crash survivable memory unit, a...
Jump to postI think that the 777-9 is the perfect VLA (well, if you consider it a VLA). Also I think that the 777-9 will be the largest aircraft available for a very long time. It may be a bit smaller than an A380 but its so much more efficient -- the step up in size and capacity to make a larger airplane (whi...
Jump to postWN may take a look at Alaska's recent experience. They bought Virgin which flies A320's and A321's several years ago, now they are returning to BA except for the A321's. This move is without any acquisition costs and entails conversion of those stations from Airbus to Boeing - pilots, attendants, m...
Jump to postWN may take a look at Alaska's recent experience. They bought Virgin which flies A320's and A321's several years ago, now they are returning to BA except for the A321's. This move is without any acquisition costs and entails conversion of those stations from Airbus to Boeing - pilots, attendants, ma...
Jump to postSome questions &/or comments to your excellent but simple model. It really fleshes out the potentials of various sides. 1. Your 3D for the nose, that is 3 diameters ahead of the first seat row, but includes the pair of doors, the galley and closets as well as the cockpit and nose. Is there the w...
Jump to postIt seems no one realizes that Boeing has an engineering department well into the thousands that a third are the Crown Jewels, those great engineers that are needed to do the next program. So might as well buy something from that, a continuing cost of $100M a year over several years at the bare minim...
Jump to postI agree, management can not install a good or new company culture, but I am certain it can destroy an existing good company culture. In the end company culture depends on the management leading by example, hiring and promoting people that are naturally compatible with the desired system and this on...
Jump to postRepeated activation and unchecked authority is 4th year college level stuff. No culture involved, just dreadful engineering. My first ever FORTRAN lab program crashed because it was missing exit condition. Never made that mistake again. My first ever FORTRAN program was back in the days of punch ca...
Jump to postIt’s hard to fathom having a pilot flying passengers around who had no rating, and no proficiency. He had the instrument instructor rating, but did not have proficiency. Ref: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremybogaisky/2020/01/29/pilot-in-kobe-bryant-helicopter-crash-wasnt-allowed-to-fly-by-instrum...
Jump to postIt took Boeing at least 4 years from EIS to get the production running smoothly but still < 10 /month. Doing the NMA first gives a good dress rehearsal for getting NSA right. It's like the difference between the 788 and 789, the original 788 had a number of band aid type of fixes to get it out, then...
Jump to postMaybe because the Fuselage weight penalty is not that big - especially when you consider that it could be 2x2x2 in the front which saves a lot of length (vs 2x2) - plus the extra seat in width in Y. Yes it might be slightly heavier - but Boeing may take that cost for the benefits of the 2x aisle (b...
Jump to postCan’t think of a more perfect replacement for Air Cargo Carriers than this. Also, for those in the know, is this replacing the Caravan at FedEx? No. This will be for expansion and right-sizing. I believe the first bunch are headed to the Europe operation. Around the time of the first assembly and t...
Jump to postReality is this. COVID has decimated air traffic, and it will not recover soon. All airlines are struggling for survival, and some weaker ones will fail. Practically all airlines have more planes than they can use, and orders that they are legally committed to that right now they cannot use or pay ...
Jump to postI believe they only have the Fedex order here, but it is for 50 + 50 options.
I see a market in particular for the freighter, but the 19 passenger also has promise.
Just saw this Textron article in FG, over 400 hours in the flight test program, deliveries expected to start 2nd half 2021. If these are good planes there will be a lot going to Alaska, British Columbia, and areas with islands. It is just a workhorse, no glamour, but the operators want reliable econ...
Jump to postThe 'NSA' must be a plane that has a very automated assembly line. CFRP barrels and CFRP wings both can be built in a very automated fashion. It is smart to have two sites doing production - Everett at first for the dress rehearsal, then SC for the primary line. It has to be differentiated from the ...
Jump to postWell Boeing could be doing this new cockpit design, software and the like for the 779. This system should be able to be the basis for any further airplanes. No mention of the MAX 10, all quiet on the western front, could this mean the MAX10 is too big of a hurdle. Certification for any new derivativ...
Jump to postAhh, the Q400, we hardly knew ye.... A cautionary tale about airframers' allocation of engineering resources. The Q and C-series will always be inextricably linked but for reasons most may never realize. Strange how things unfold. Also a business case study. BBD played the same game on the rail sid...
Jump to postMany operators of A380s have sizable fleets of 777s and/or 787s so it would be an even better fit. Is Boeing still perusing sales of the type? I am unaware that Boeing has stopped their sales campaigns for the 779, why would they. The real question is "Which airline has the desire or resources...
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