KLM B777's Nose Cone Painting

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kl5147
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KLM B777's Nose Cone Painting

Wed Aug 23, 2006 4:45 pm

I found 3 recent photo's of KLM Boeing 777's in the database with miss aligned nose cone paintings.
I can imagine they are using spare cones in case of a damaged one. What wonders me, is that it happens on 3 different a/c at almost the same time.
Do the liveries of these Boeing 777 differ from each other  Smile or are there mistakes made by painting the cones before they get attached to the a/c?

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Sorry if this has been discussen before. I did a search on this (KLM B777) subject but got not hits.
I also was not sure where to post this message here in Civil Aviation or in Technical / Operations.
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andrewtang
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RE: KLM B777's Nose Cone Painting

Wed Aug 23, 2006 9:46 pm

The nose cone for B767 and B777 are identical. So they can be interchanged. Since their livery will be in different position for the 767 and 777, that explains the reason why it looks weird when a 767 nosecone gets installed onto a 777.

Infact just to add. The Section 41 of the B767 and B777 is exactly identical. That is why they share common parts in that section.

[Edited 2006-08-23 14:47:33]
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kl5147
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RE: KLM B777's Nose Cone Painting

Wed Aug 23, 2006 10:59 pm

Thank you Andrew for answering.
I did not know the nose cones for B767 and B777 were identical. Your explanation makes sense to me.
However, it leaves me one other question then. Why is then the dark blue line on the nose cone on the first pic (PH-BOA) lower then the body cheat line, while this blue line of the other two cones (PH-BQC and PH-BQH) is higher then the body cheat line?
Bart
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kl911
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RE: KLM B777's Nose Cone Painting

Wed Aug 23, 2006 11:47 pm

Quoting KL5147 (Reply 2):
However, it leaves me one other question then. Why is then the dark blue line on the nose cone on the first pic (PH-BOA) lower then the body cheat line, while this blue line of the other two cones (PH-BQC and PH-BQH) is higher then the body cheat line?

That's because sometimes during maintenance they turn the 777 upside down to clean the tail. I think they changed the cone at that moment........  Wink
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Motorhussy
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RE: KLM B777's Nose Cone Painting

Thu Aug 24, 2006 7:15 am

You'd think the maintenance crew would have better pride in their work than that. It's not very confidence inspiring is it?

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ntspelich
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RE: KLM B777's Nose Cone Painting

Thu Aug 24, 2006 7:21 am

Quoting MotorHussy (Reply 4):
It's not very confidence inspiring is it?

Personally, I'm more concerned about their technical abilities, not whether or not they lined up a cheatline when they put the radome back.
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Silver1SWA
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RE: KLM B777's Nose Cone Painting

Thu Aug 24, 2006 9:47 am

You see this a lot on WN 737s. Nose cones, engine cowls, rudders etc... When it comes to paint, no two airplanes are 100% identical even though they are the same type in the same livery. Therefore, if a plane requires a part from another airplane, the paint may not line up like you see in the photos above.



Quoting KL5147 (Thread starter):
What wonders me, is that it happens on 3 different a/c at almost the same time.

Heck it's possible that the three nose cones belong to the three aircraft but are not on the right aircraft...they could be mix-matched. Aircraft A could have Aircraft C's cone, Aircraft B could have A's cone and so on...

Quoting MotorHussy (Reply 4):
You'd think the maintenance crew would have better pride in their work than that. It's not very confidence inspiring is it?

If you need a part, you use whatever is available. If it doesn't match, oh well. Whatever gets the aircraft back in service making the company money...
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EMBQA
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RE: KLM B777's Nose Cone Painting

Thu Aug 24, 2006 10:36 am

Quoting KL5147 (Thread starter):
What wonders me, is that it happens on 3 different a/c at almost the same time.

You only have two different aircraft there..PH-BQA and PH-BQH. Radome swaps and the associated miss alighment of cheat lines are very common. My guess you would find over 1,000+ pictures here on A.net of just that.

If you look at the data base....PH-BQH's radome was changed between 14 July, 06 and 29 July 06

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Quoting MotorHussy (Reply 4):
You'd think the maintenance crew would have better pride in their work than that. It's not very confidence inspiring is it?

Maintenance has nothing to do with it. It the paint crews....

[Edited 2006-08-24 03:49:07]
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Motorhussy
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RE: KLM B777's Nose Cone Painting

Thu Aug 24, 2006 11:17 am

Quoting EMBQA (Reply 7):
Maintenance has nothing to do with it. It the paint crews....

Are you saying that paint crews swap radar cones at KLM? That's even more worrying. Of course I know that's not what you meant.

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MH
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greasespot
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RE: KLM B777's Nose Cone Painting

Thu Aug 24, 2006 11:22 am

Quoting MotorHussy (Reply 4):
You'd think the maintenance crew would have better pride in their work than that. It's not very confidence inspiring is it?

When that happens you have 2 choices....ground the airplane while they re-paint a nose cone or install one and go fly.....

remember a nose cone is not a reguarly changed part....Usually when something happens to it...struck by lightening or de-laminations etc therfore they do not tend to keep a lot of these on hand...

GS
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JBo
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RE: KLM B777's Nose Cone Painting

Thu Aug 24, 2006 11:40 am

The reason why the cheatlines don't line up is because when they paint the aircraft in the first place, the cheatlines are rarely, if ever, precisely in the same position. Some may vary slightly up or down. It's pretty much a matter of how the aircraft was masked for painting ... it's not necessarily a precision science.

Northwest Saabs are also an excellent example of mismatched radomes.
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AA777223
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RE: KLM B777's Nose Cone Painting

Thu Aug 24, 2006 1:27 pm

I was curious about the section 41 similarity. I know the 767 and 777 are not commonly type rated, and the cockpit of the 777 is surely more advanced. How, therefore, can they use precisely the same fuselage section for two different aircraft? Are they just able to fit two different cockpits in the same space?
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