|
Post by railrunner130 on Aug 5, 2011 21:48:19 GMT
Yep. If you remember, a Boeing executive made some cracks at Airbus for the problems they went through in development and said that the 787 won't run into any situations like that. Of course, that's exactly what happened. Now, the F-35 is running into issues and so is the F-22. All of both are grounded pending some fixes.
|
|
|
Post by garryrussell on Aug 5, 2011 23:52:25 GMT
History often seems to forget the lines of 747's outside Everett plant awaiting engines and the many failure in service plus things like losing flap sections. As mention new aircraft have problems....quite why everyone seems to go over the top when the 787 hits a snag is beyond me as that is what testing is about. The biggest mistake they make and Boeing has blundered badly here, is to delve into the unknown, the unknown means just that yet make tight delivery promises with financial guarantees. How can you guarantee a schedule for unknown construction and material revolutionary techniques before you even put the first two pieces together. What is important is taking the time to get it right......Concorde is a good example, far longer to develop that first planned but a good woring machine when it was finally in service. I like the concept of the A.380 as a people mover but am not impressed by the tendency to take a pax number that could fit in a 747 and carry them in spacious luxury. Most large airliners are flying with wasted space gievn over to luxury and wasting resources and impacting the envoironment to a higher percent per passenger than they need to.
|
|
|
Post by aerofoto - HJG Admin on Aug 6, 2011 0:26:12 GMT
I'm sure that'll change .... slowly .... but .... eventually !
Remember when the B747 first entered service ..... and how it's capacity mostly exceeded actual PAX demand at the time. It took a while for PAX traffic to catch up with aircraft capacity. At this time a lot of these aircraft (including those operated by QANTAS) were equipped with upper-deck lounges/bars .... because the space was available .... "THEN". Some DC10's and L1011's featured similar appointments also during the very early 1970's. With the growth of PAX traffic since the 1970's .... "NOW" .... I think one will probably be hard-pressed, today, to find a single B747 that's not been configured with either standard economy, business, or first class PAX seating on its upper deck .... in place of the bars/lounges that once existed up there .... and that's all in addition to these aircraft also being appropriately configured with PAX seating, according to airline class preference, right throughout the remainder of their lower deck spaces too.
The A380's currently entering service, now, may well have have an excess of space .... and other luxurious appointments too .... at the moment .... but trust me .... that'll all begin to change in the future .... as markets slowly grow .... and airlines then/eventually need to convert that space to accomodate additional PAX seating ($$$$) .... and these aircraft "WILL THEN" .... eventually .... begin to carry the PAX/freight loadings they were originally designed for.
A B747 paralell all over again !
Loadings over any route can/do vary, at any time, according to seasonal demand .... or other determining economic factors .... of course.
I've travelled aboard QANTAS B747-400's where I've been virtually the only PAX within a certain cabin section (absolutely fantastic in terms of increased PAX comfort on very long haul routes, but, not exactly a money spinner for the airline) .... and then on other occasions I've cabins filled to capacity with PAX fighting over arm rests. And these observations have all been at around the same time of any particular year too .... at least this's all true on the AKL/LAX route which I fly quite frequently.
Mark C AKL/NZ
|
|
|
Post by Trebor on Aug 6, 2011 4:26:01 GMT
the darn thing is too huge, in my opinion. the A380 is Beast while the 747-8i is Beauty. I choose Beauty
|
|
|
Post by aerofoto - HJG Admin on Aug 6, 2011 5:01:37 GMT
Once again .... that's pretty much what was said about/against the B747 in 1969/1970 too ;D I guess we spectatotor can only watch .... and wait'n'see .... how both "BEAUTY" and "THE BEAST" evolve .... in the future Mark C AKL/NZ
|
|