Boeing 747 days are numbered

[paulguitar]

Greendubber said:

surveyor said:

Greendubber said:

Flew out to NYC last Wednesday on a BA 747 in premium economy and it was excellent. Loads of room, clean and tidy and everything looked fairly new. In fact it was the best flight I've ever been on.

Some of the 747’s on the ‘better’ routes are getting a cabin refresh. The trashier routes not so much..

My sister flew back from Miami on one a few months ago and she said it was a crate, had the Aircon dripping on her all the way home.

I am coming home on a 747 on Sunday from Miami. I will report back.

[thetrickcyclist]

Always had interesting flights on 747's but always better upstairs..

[paulguitar]

thetrickcyclist said:

Always had interesting flights on 747's but always better upstairs..

My employer only pays for steerage......I will try to enjoy it with the help of a few drinks.....

[r1flyguy1]

aeropilot said:

Air China have 7 x newish 747-8's as well as 3 x 20+ year old 747-400's in their fleet.

Haven’t seen their 748’s yet !!!!! I’ll keep my eye out this week

China is about the only country that can make a brand new plane look 30 years old with their exterior colour schemes

[aeropilot]

r1flyguy1 said:

aeropilot said:

Air China have 7 x newish 747-8's as well as 3 x 20+ year old 747-400's in their fleet.

Haven’t seen their 748’s yet !!!!! I’ll keep my eye out this week

China is about the only country that can make a brand new plane look 30 years old with their exterior colour schemes

I think that honor goes to Lufthansa, with their wonderful retro scheme A321

[r1flyguy1]

I think LH looks ok, nothing more drab than the 777’s parked at the gates in Beijing & Shanghai

[The Moose]

Greendubber said:

surveyor said:

Greendubber said:

Flew out to NYC last Wednesday on a BA 747 in premium economy and it was excellent. Loads of room, clean and tidy and everything looked fairly new. In fact it was the best flight I've ever been on.

Some of the 747’s on the ‘better’ routes are getting a cabin refresh. The trashier routes not so much..

My sister flew back from Miami on one a few months ago and she said it was a crate, had the Aircon dripping on her all the way home.

Miami isn't generally considered one of the "better" destinations.

[r1flyguy1]

thetrickcyclist said:

Always had interesting flights on 747's but always better upstairs..

There’s no better seat on a 747 than the upper deck front two

[halfpenny43]

aeropilot said:

r1flyguy1 said:

ukaskew said:

In Hong Kong at the moment and just did a lovely hike around the coast of Lantau to Tai O. The start of it basically ran the length of the airport, it was interesting that 747s seem to be far more prominent out here, the airport is full of them. Mostly Cathay Pacific Cargo admittedly but also a good number of passenger planes from various airlines.

The Korean Air ones look pretty fresh compared to most.

Cathay have 747-8 747-400 BCF & 747 ERF’s but no Passenger 744’s anymore, so plenty to see,
Korean have 748’s as do Lufthansa,
Orient Thai still operate 747’s as do many of the Asian carriers, lots of people still travelling around asia where capacity is required thus 744’s still busy and in use

Air China have 7 x newish 747-8's as well as 3 x 20+ year old 747-400's in their fleet.

KLM still have 11 747-400's and will have until around end 2020 or beginning of 2021.

[Shakermaker]

Would there be a market for a 747 body with the engines from a 777-300?

Retain the iconic shape, maybe lose a smidge of range but ultimately save on fuel?

(purely asked from a non-technical understanding of how these things work)

[alangla]

Shakermaker said:

Would there be a market for a 747 body with the engines from a 777-300?

Retain the iconic shape, maybe lose a smidge of range but ultimately save on fuel?

(purely asked from a non-technical understanding of how these things work)

The 747-8 is (almost) exactly that - the GE GEnx from the 787 on a 747 fuselage

[aeropilot]

alangla said:

Shakermaker said:

Would there be a market for a 747 body with the engines from a 777-300?

Retain the iconic shape, maybe lose a smidge of range but ultimately save on fuel?

(purely asked from a non-technical understanding of how these things work)

The 747-8 is (almost) exactly that - the GE GEnx from the 787 on a 747 fuselage

Yep, the 787 style saw-tooth edge detail on the engine nacelles is the give-away of the -800.

[smack]

had ham said:

Indeed - when I was resident in Japan and taking regular, short internal flights, 747s were often used.

Japanese carriers used to have specific Domestic 747's. They had high density seating, and in the case with the 747-400 models, shorter wings and no winglets. Winglets actually increase fuel consumed when the aircraft climb, but reduce consumption at cruising altitude, and as the Domestic 747's were going to spend their life doing shorthaul they didn't have them.

BA lost the winglet on a 744 years ago when hit the side of a hanger (or the door) at their LHR Maintenance base, and that resulted in 2.5% extra fuel burn on it's long haul flights until they fixed it.

[GT03ROB]

r1flyguy1 said:

thetrickcyclist said:

Always had interesting flights on 747's but always better upstairs..

There’s no better seat on a 747 than the upper deck front two

There is it's 62A or 62K on a BA 747. Window seat secluded by the upstairs emergency exit.

[Shakermaker]

aeropilot said:

Yep, the 787 style saw-tooth edge detail on the engine nacelles is the give-away of the -800.

What I should have specified...

Would it work with only two engines, rather than four?

[red_slr]

You would have to redesign the entire wing and possibly other flight surfaces. Retrofitting not possible without causing massive issues thus cost.
After all that work you would basically end up with a 777....

[louiebaby]

An airliner is flying across country, when the pilot comes on the PA to announce, "we have some bad news. One of the engines just failed and as a result, we will be delayed by 30 minutes."

A bit later, the pilot returns, "we have some more bad news. Another engine just failed, and we will be delayed an additional hour."

Another bit later, "Sorry folks, more bad news. A third engine just failed, and so, since we will be running only on the one remaining engine, the flight will be delayed by another two hours."

At this point, a disgruntled passenger turns to his neighbour and says, "I sure hope that last engine keeps working or else we'll be up here all night!"

[uncinqsix]

red_slr said:

You would have to redesign the entire wing and possibly other flight surfaces. Retrofitting not possible without causing massive issues thus cost.
After all that work you would basically end up with a 777....

The 777-9X is pretty much that. The capacity is about the same as a 747-400.

[pushthebutton]

GT03ROB said:

r1flyguy1 said:

thetrickcyclist said:

Always had interesting flights on 747's but always better upstairs..

There’s no better seat on a 747 than the upper deck front two

There is it's 62A or 62K on a BA 747. Window seat secluded by the upstairs emergency exit.

i could be wrong, but I think r1flyguy1 meant these two:

[anonymous-user]

smack said:

Japanese carriers used to have specific Domestic 747's. They had high density seating, and in the case with the 747-400 models, shorter wings and no winglets. Winglets actually increase fuel consumed when the aircraft climb, but reduce consumption at cruising altitude, and as the Domestic 747's were going to spend their life doing shorthaul they didn't have them.

Fascinating - never knew that, despite many journeys - every day is a school day!