Boeing 747 days are numbered
Discussion
pushthebutton said:
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 
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.
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.
Fascinating. I can't imagine that their domestic ones have a particularly long life. How many compression cycles can one plane go through before it has to be scrapped?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.
I always assumed they would move them on to freight to get some long haul hours out of them before they ran out of flights.
Rostfritt said:
Fascinating. I can't imagine that their domestic ones have a particularly long life. How many compression cycles can one plane go through before it has to be scrapped?
Depends on the designed service life. Obviously short-haul aircraft have a much higher cycles/hours ratio, the 747 was never designed for that mission but the SR version for Japan would have been beefed up in that respect (landing gear/airframe). The standard service life was 35k cycles, not sure what SR versions were but standard aircraft often went to almost 100k hours. A DC-9 by comparison for example would have managed up to 80-100k cycles.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 r1flyguy1 said:
pushthebutton said:
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 smack said:
IVB in Miami. It's a Mid-J 744 with old cabin/IFE which is unfortunate - I'd be making the most of the drinks service in that case so you can sleep....
Yes indeed, sitting here waiting to depart and the aircraft is very old and tired on the inside.I made good use of the ‘admiral’s club’ prior to boarding and intend to relieve the F/A’s of as many red wines as I can get as we head into this 8 hour pond-crossing 😊
smack said:
IVB in Miami. It's a Mid-J 744 with old cabin/IFE which is unfortunate - I'd be making the most of the drinks service in that case so you can sleep....
Yes indeed, sitting here waiting to depart and the aircraft is very old and tired on the inside.I made good use of the ‘admiral’s club’ prior to boarding and intend to relieve the F/A’s of as many red wines as I can get as we head into this 8 hour pond-crossing 😊
Polite M135 driver said:
paulguitar said:
Just about to board:
looks like a cut and shut job, you can see where the fuselage is a different colour at the back than it is at the front.have a good flight.
I was speaking to a close friend who's a BA Captain and discussing the 747's and their age etc. and he is totally confident the aircraft can fly for the next 10-15 years with no issue - they are apparently built like brick s
thouses and the actual airframe is incredibly strong.However, he concluded that he wouldn't trust the wiring further than he could see it smouldering and for that reason he thinks they need to retired shortly.
Polite M135 driver said:
paulguitar said:
Just about to board:
looks like a cut and shut job, you can see where the fuselage is a different colour at the back than it is at the front.have a good flight.
...waste not, want not...
Polite M135 driver said:
paulguitar said:
Just about to board:
looks like a cut and shut job, you can see where the fuselage is a different colour at the back than it is at the front.have a good flight.
I've never got why BA do this - if you're ever on Flightradar and it brings up pictures of the aircraft, BA ones seem to have mis-coloured radomes, engine covers (e.g. different colours each side) and various other bits all the time. I realise they need to keep them in service as much as possible, but they end up looking like cars where someone has fixed collision damage with a miscoloured part from a scrappy. Other airlines (Thomas Cook!!!) are occasionally guilty of this as well, but BA seem to be the worst. Can't be that hard to keep a stock of parts sprayed in the full range of colours, surely?
When I worked on aircraft our fleet had a number of different paint jobs.
There was always the odd door radome flight control wingtip etc fitted that didn't match the aircraft it was fitted to.
This was usually down to damage picked up in service and parts robbed from aircraft that were on maintenance.
There was always the odd door radome flight control wingtip etc fitted that didn't match the aircraft it was fitted to.
This was usually down to damage picked up in service and parts robbed from aircraft that were on maintenance.
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