I know of an airline that operates 24 full flight simulators to support a fleet of 771 737s. 771/24=32.125 simulators plane. I said earlier that most airlines have 1 simulator per 30-40 airplanes, so the airline cited is right in the predicted spot, with some efficiencies no doubt due to only havin...
Jump to postStory time. Back in the mid 2000's in an effort to save on fuel American Airlines decided to put low drag tail cones on all their MD-80's. The fleet at the time was a combo of the original DC-9 style and beaver tail style tail cones. AA contacted Boeing about purchasing the newer style. Boeing quot...
Jump to postOne day within the last 2 weeks, A321 flights from a US mid continent hub to the west coast (~1850ish miles) were payload restricted/pax limited. This is a common occurrence. That may have something to do with the need to carry extra fuel due to crappy weather hitting the West Coast for the last mo...
Jump to postI recently visited STT/TIST and by-extension EIS/TUPJ in the Virgin Islands, on back to back sailing trips. I flew a 757-200 from DL and a 737-800 from SY, although the later required a refuelling stop in SJU/TJSJ as the 737 either couldn't takeoff with full fuel from STT or needed slightly more fu...
Jump to postOn the one hand, the software is their franchise. They don't just share it. On the other hand, a lot of the data was developed years ago, and it was developed through outsourcing....ie, on the cheap. So they resell it over and over. It's almost corrupt (how much they charge). Let's define clearly ex...
Jump to postThe -100 was 2300nm and the -200 started out at 2650nm I would like to offer that those numbers are a little bit optimistic imho. Airbus marketing numbers. I wouldn't say so. I flew early build 321s with 89t mtow on sector lengths approaching 6 hours. That was with the older engines too. One day wi...
Jump to postall simulators used for training at the airlines in the US have to obtain FAA certification. Here is a list of every active simulator currently certified by the FAA and who owns them https://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/nsp/faa-qualified-flight-simulation-training-devices Our pilot contract prohib...
Jump to post"Never mistake motion for action."
New uniforms = yawn (to me). The only people that care about uniforms don't really influence very much, and those who do exert influence don't care about uniforms.
I'll restate my argument against narrow bodies on the North Atlantic one last time. It has nothing to do with service or comfort. It has everything to do with economics, specifically the number of seats. Both New York and Europe are famous for high costs. The North Atlantic market is fiercely compet...
Jump to postAirlines who have sims will occaisonally keep them and do contract work when they get rid of a fleet type. Sometimes they'll just sell or scrap the sims when the fleet type leaves. It depends on a lot of variables. Most companies that have sims schedule a down time for maintenance. I've seen midnigh...
Jump to postI'm trying to remember the ratios but haven't thought about it in awhile. A lot depends on how hard you can run your sims given your constraints. I want to say that for a domestic airplane, a company needs about 1 simulator for every 30-40 airplanes, and needs 7 pilot crews (14 pilots) for each airp...
Jump to postThis used to be done routinely. A basic scab patch was a basic repair that every mechanic in the USA was trained to do. Standard repairs are in AC43.13. And many airlines also have a bunch of standard repairs. Back in the day, the forward fuselage of DC9s looked like they had been repaired from mach...
Jump to postLH982 wrote:tvh wrote:What was the range of the first A321-100.
The -100 was 2300nm and the -200 started out at 2650nm
Does anyone know how many A330s are sitting in storage or are white tails?
Jump to postIt's interesting to me how the market has "come to" the A321. Airplanes typically grow during their lifetime. They get stretched, they get higher weight options, they get more efficient engines. The A321 was perfectly suited for this phenomenon imho. Just barely large enough to accept the ...
Jump to postThe 737 series fuselage is ~4in narrower than the A320 series. The 320 series sits taller on its gear, allowing the GTF which the 737 series cannot accommodate. How is any version of the 737 "markedly larger" than the comparable version of the A320 series? The A320 series is a little bit h...
Jump to postEmirates had a virtual monopoly for ahwile.....then Turkish started competing....now this. Competition is good for customers.
Jump to postIn retrospect, it seems hard to believe that US airlines didn't jump on the 321 bandwagon sooner. The non transcontinental range doesn't matter imho....it would seem that there would be enough high density routes in the eastern US and to the west coast via the mid hubs (ORD/DFW/ATL). NYC and BOS to ...
Jump to postI don't see a spinoff. The commercial division would fail without the military side. And the military side is a train wreck in itself that depends upon the commercial side for frames (KC46, P8, E7). Boeing is now corporate welfare, too big to fail, and DOD is dependent on Boeing. Codependent like a ...
Jump to postMost of the established carriers have found difficulty making money on the North Atlantic over the long term with anything smaller than a 767. And JetBlue won't be able to steal very many passengers with so few seats. What’s your opinion about AA and UA and their combined 100 XLRs on order? Sounds ...
Jump to postMost of the established carriers have found difficulty making money on the North Atlantic over the long term with anything smaller than a 767. And JetBlue won't be able to steal very many passengers with so few seats. They probably shouldn’t even bother, you know with their inferior product and all...
Jump to postMost of the established carriers have found difficulty making money on the North Atlantic over the long term with anything smaller than a 767. And JetBlue won't be able to steal very many passengers with so few seats.
Jump to postIt sounds like the Bridge Tanker will be cut to 75 frames which IMO makes the existing KC-46 the most likely candidate. Why waste money upgrading it when something stealthy is on the Horizon. If it is 75 frames when does this take the 767 line too in terms of ending production? https://www.defenseo...
Jump to post777 can do a APU to PACK takeoff out of places like DXB where the pack/s are left running off the APU and normal engine bleeds are isolated. Not very common though, most operators would just do a packs-off if need be. https://www.infinidim.org/apu-to-pack That's surprising given the temps. I would ...
Jump to postMethinks the reason for the MD-11 design to shut the packs off routinely is that the airplane was at the very limits of what it could do, payload/range wise. In fact, AA cancelled their remaining orders because it never made the range specification. I think MDC was trying to get the thing off the g...
Jump to postThanks so much for referencing the FIRM and the FIM. I hadn't even gotten to them yet. Lockheed had great technical documentation imho, FAR better than any other manufacturers. Douglas was so bad, Mr. Lamm had to create his famous schematics.
Jump to postThe vacuum like whoosh sound of the slats/flaps is music to my ears. Lots of great memories flying AA MD-82/83s and undoubtedly a unique nuance to the DC-9 family. Now, apologies for getting off topic but some misinformation above needs to be corrected: It’s very hard to make a valid case that the ...
Jump to postMethinks the reason for the MD-11 design to shut the packs off routinely is that the airplane was at the very limits of what it could do, payload/range wise. In fact, AA cancelled their remaining orders because it never made the range specification. I think MDC was trying to get the thing off the gr...
Jump to postRight off the top of my head, I'll mention that the horizontal stabilizer on the 1011 was only 2 feet less in span than that of the 747. The tail was huge. So it had very good pitch authority, very stable. I've heard many pilots say that it was the best flying airplane they ever flew. And the DLC m...
Jump to postThe L1011 did have some problems with rear spar cracking, along with some other large Lockheed airplanes. I'm not sure that adding a six wheel or a widely spaced 4 wheel gear would have worked without major spar work. Regarding the two man cockpit, getting the 767 and A300 certified were huge hurdle...
Jump to postIMO 220-244 pax on any version of A321 is a human rights violation that should be punishable by expulsion from ICAO.
Sarcasm, but still, thats a lot of people on a narrowbody airplane.
Roger the center gear issue. That and the financial difficulties of RR/no second engine option on the L1011 have long been described as major limitations of the program, along with not having any other airplanes in their product line.. However, my creation of these systems threads was not to dwell u...
Jump to postSharp observers may note that on the picture of the 747 Flight Engineer panel there is a switch labeled "essential power," and that that switch has 4 positions. Gen1, 2, 3, and normal. Thus, it would appear that selection of what powered the essential bus was a totally manual selection. D...
Jump to postSharp observers may note that on the picture of the 747 Flight Engineer panel there is a switch labeled "essential power," and that that switch has 4 positions. Gen1, 2, 3, and normal. Thus, it would appear that selection of what powered the essential bus was a totally manual selection. Do...
Jump to postIf anyone enjoys this type of thing, please let me know. I can post more minutiae. There's interesting stuff all over this airplane. If you have the time and inclination to post more it'd be fantastic. Any details about the flight control system, particularly the DLC and all flying tail plane? Rega...
Jump to postOk, disclaimer: this is nitpicking. I greatly appreciate what you have started and I have no idea how you get the information, however your categories for the 330 are "awaiting conversion/stored, and "in service" with the dates that the conversion was apparently done. Do you have any ...
Jump to postBigger issue is how much funds the Air Force intends to invest in a platform that the original designer / user has already stated is end of life and are already looking for a replacement. https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/details-emerge-on-australian-wedgetail-replacement This is a rec...
Jump to postSince my first post was so verbose, there were other items I didn't add. "No break power transfer," has become fairly common on the latest generations of airplanes. On the older jets, when you switched electrical power from ground power to the APU, the lights flickered. (On the 727 there w...
Jump to postDL_Mech wrote:SteelChair wrote:
I assume you are talking about auto paralleing thr main engine generators....not the APU.
Yes.
That's my understanding too. The IP or LP bleed ducting is often equipped with a check valve specifically to prevent HP discharge air from back flowing into the IP or LP compressor. Page 44 of 389 of the following confirms the above; https://www.smartcockpit.com/docs/a350-900-flight-deck-and-system...
Jump to postOn the prior airplanes, the actual process of “paralleling” the generators could be problematic. There are technical things beyond the scope of this post that I will mention but not describe: The phases of 3 phase alternating current have to be “in phase.” There was an art to managing these systems...
Jump to postOn most airplanes today, you're in either LP/IP or HP, no mixing That's my understanding too. The IP or LP bleed ducting is often equipped with a check valve specifically to prevent HP discharge air from back flowing into the IP or LP compressor. but on the A350, the "low pressure" bleed ...
Jump to postMax Q wrote:Very interesting, another remarkable and highly advanced feature of the superb L1011
Incidentally while the DC10 only had three hydraulic systems the 747 did have four
I couldn’t agree more with your last two sentences
In the 1960s and 70s, it was not uncommon for commercial airplanes to have “load sharing,” electrical systems. In other words, all generators could be “paralleled” onto all electrical busses simultaneously. This could be problematic. In the event of a generator or engine failure, the remaining gener...
Jump to postThere was talk a few years ago about a stretched A330 neo F for bulk lower density freight. Amazon and UPS were in discussions. Nothing happened at that time. https://simpleflying.com/amazon-airbus-a330neo-freighter/ Something doesn't add up. Amazon and UPS are power players. If they wanted it, it ...
Jump to postSomething doesn't add up. Amazon and UPS are power players. If they wanted it, it would happen. And Airbus could use some 330NEO orders for that tepid order book. They might just be shopping around for a cheap solution. I guess Airbus gave it in the form of the A330 P2F programmes that are now comi...
Jump to postHappy that you all like it! @HTCone Thanks, added. @SteelChair Done. @Articuno Thanks, added. SmartLynx has A333P2F on order, maybe it's for them? @Bert65 Thank you for the overview and additions, that helps a lot! I think the Cubed A320 will be an "A320CCF". They call it that on their we...
Jump to postThere was talk a few years ago about a stretched A330 neo F for bulk lower density freight. Amazon and UPS were in discussions. Nothing happened at that time. https://simpleflying.com/amazon-airbus-a330neo-freighter/ Something doesn't add up. Amazon and UPS are power players. If they wanted it, it ...
Jump to postOperating both engine versions side by side for awhile also allows the USAF to harvest as much engine time as possible on the old engines prior to scrapping. I know, economics isn't even a consideration, but using as much of the remaining engine life as possible makes economic sense. Has anyone see...
Jump to postOperating both engine versions side by side for awhile also allows the USAF to harvest as much engine time as possible on the old engines prior to scrapping. I know, economics isn't even a consideration, but using as much of the remaining engine life as possible makes economic sense. Has anyone seen...
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