The General Airplane Thread

  • Thread starter Crash
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Of course, the airlines enjoy advertising their First Class cabins on their widebody jets...but for the rest of us on shorter flights (say, under 6 hours / under 3000 miles), it's another story. Most of the transcontinental or inter-regional flights do not have lie-flat seating, or enclosed personal space with all those trimmings, let alone a meal anymore. To be fair, it's not even an true F/A/J/B-class $2000 ticket, it's usually a $300-600 fare in some lower-tier economy class with a free upgrade presented in the order of one's loyalty status.

Not that I'm complaining, but I get the free drinks / unlimited snacks (no waiting), more seat pitch, width, and legroom. On some flights, at certain times and at just the right distances, they give you an actual meal. Which is all quite good enough; I would get quickly spoiled by the chance to take a real nap on a 90-minute jump, and then worry about clearing the upgrade process if I was dog tired.

As for the meals, they've improved past the stale comedians' joke, but you still get snobs who complain like little children because it didn't meet their demanding standards. While most of the people "sitting in F" are friendly (most of them are frequent flier upgrades like myself - it's probably never 100% monetized), there's always one or two passengers who remind me that snobs really deserve lavatory seats, at best (utter moaners, will judge you on appearances, cut every line, et al).

All in all, it's a nice treat to get to board first, after being subjected to longer lines for several months straight (and I still do, if I fly an airline in which I have no status). There is a slight pleasure in "upsetting" some pushy person who can't follow the boarding rules, or scowls slightly at me because they dressed to the nines, and I'm in a mere polo shirt and slacks.

Also, far lesser chances of sitting next to an owner and her little noisy dog.
 
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U86bXk2wJ60.jpg


Lend-leased P-63 Kingcobra fighters flying above Niagara Falls on their way to USSR. November, 1943.
 
Someone please explain to me why the survivors are suing Boeing :ouch:. They made a vehicle which was safe enough to SAVE YOUR LIVES when hitting a runway and bursting in to flames at 150mph...
 
Alex.
Someone please explain to me why the survivors are suing Boeing :ouch:. They made a vehicle which was safe enough to SAVE YOUR LIVES when hitting a runway and bursting in to flames at 150mph...
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Because a load suffered spinal compressions and that sort of treatment and loss of earnings isn't cheap.

When you've got bills and a family you'll understand.
 
It happened in the US, Boeing is in the US, US courts are famous for "It's their fault, not ours," and Boeing has "deep pockets." Even an out-of-court settlement with no admission of guilt gets them off cheaper than a possible suit, and gets the families lots of moolah.

Were it to actually get that far, and were I someone at Boeing, I would seriously look at the rumors of the pilots' fitness and actions. They may need a[n Air]bus to be thrown under.
 
Alex.
Someone please explain to me why the survivors are suing Boeing :ouch:.
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Because they will make money off it, pretty much for reasons wfooshee gave.

Of course, the lawyers will be the big winners. As usual.
 
And until there's an final report from the NTSB, nothing more will really come out of this.
 
Where in Colorado did you find those? And what's the last plane, the T-tailed one? I'm thinking I should recognize it but for some reason I don't.

For the curious, the other planes are:
Lockheed Constellation (or more pedantically, a C-121)
Convair 404
Grumman F11F Tiger
Northrop F-84 Thunderjet
Lockheed T-33 (or P-80, hard to tell from this angle)

Anyhow, nice pics! Background would be much appreciated.
 
Venom800tt
Compared to that our pilots land our ERJ-145's as if they were carrier based fighters :lol:
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Better add some arresting wires and tailhooks to the runways as well :lol:

BobK
Where in Colorado did you find those? And what's the last plane, the T-tailed one? I'm thinking I should recognize it but for some reason I don't.
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Looks like an Aero L-29 Delfin to me :odd:

And I agree, the -900 looks a little better, now if only they find and sort out those early technical glitches :(
 
I'm working really hard at school to get the grades required for aerospacial engeneering.
I'm an airplane fanatic. I love everything that moves in the air and this passion was born because of two books about fighter jets, from the F-4 Phantom to the F-22 Raptor.
My dreams are working for Airbus in France (closer to home country) and stand near a SR-71 Blackbird.
 
Well, I've touched both an SR-71 and an A-12, if that makes you feel any better. There's an SR-71 less than 50 miles from me.

Also, F-22s fly out of the local air force base, and F-35s are being tested at the next base west. I've seen a pair of the -35s coming in on approach to our base.
 
I will mention that the SR-71 nearby is "special." It is the only long-tailed airframe, with an extended fuselage at the back to carry more gear. None of the others were built this way, as the equipment got more compact with time, and the aircraft's balance was affected by hanging stuff way out the back.
 
The one at Duxford has probably got 2 wee patches of rust where the oil from my fingers is reacting with the titanium skin...
 
Duxford is an amazing museum.
I once set the alarm off by leaning (still had my legs behind) over the little piece of rope whilst looking at an exhibit. :guilty:
 
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You lucky bastards... I've always wanted, at least, stand a meter away of one SR-71 but where I live there are a handful of F-16 and they barely do things, like flying.
 
lbsf1
Pictures of the first 787-900 as it rolled out of the boeing factory to start ground tests before hoping to have its maiden flight late this year.

I prefer it hugely to the 787-800...
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I'm new to this aircraft thing, but don't the continuing sub-classifications usually go with a lower number, like -2 or -200, -3 or -300, et al?
 
BobK
Where in Colorado did you find those? And what's the last plane, the T-tailed one? I'm thinking I should recognize it but for some reason I don't.

For the curious, the other planes are:
Lockheed Constellation (or more pedantically, a C-121)
Convair 404
Grumman F11F Tiger
Northrop F-84 Thunderjet
Lockheed T-33 (or P-80, hard to tell from this angle)

Anyhow, nice pics! Background would be much appreciated.
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It's actually a small air museum between Williams and Grand Canyon national park in Arizona. Sadly we got there too late to get a closer look, they had already closed.

And yeah, that confusingly F104-looking plane indeed is Delfin.
 
AlvaroF
I'm working really hard at school to get the grades required for aerospacial engeneering.
I'm an airplane fanatic. I love everything that moves in the air and this passion was born because of two books about fighter jets, from the F-4 Phantom to the F-22 Raptor.
My dreams are working for Airbus in France (closer to home country) and stand near a SR-71 Blackbird.
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I studied Aerospace engineering and have friends at Airbus. Anything you need to know?

Something you should know is that Airbus look back to your GCSE grades when you apply in the UK.
 
ExigeEvan
I studied Aerospace engineering and have friends at Airbus. Anything you need to know?

Something you should know is that Airbus look back to your GCSE grades when you apply in the UK.
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That's why I'm working as hard as I can to make my dreams come true. We have one good university here for that with an airplane and everything (the only one in the entire country) and grades are high, real high. In a scale 1 to 20 I need at least 18 in every discipline. I'm avereging 16 in first high school year, two years left. My highest grades are maths, physics and english (but sometimes it doesn't seem to be any good) and as far as I now the first two are the important ones for college application here in Portugal
 
AlvaroF
I'm working really hard at school to get the grades required for aerospacial engeneering.
I'm an airplane fanatic. I love everything that moves in the air and this passion was born because of two books about fighter jets, from the F-4 Phantom to the F-22 Raptor.
My dreams are working for Airbus in France (closer to home country) and stand near a SR-71 Blackbird.
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Good luck on your studies. As you've got the idea, study and work hard. Do you have an idea if you want to go into any particular concentration yet (aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, avionics and control, etc.)?


Pupik
I'm new to this aircraft thing, but don't the continuing sub-classifications usually go with a lower number, like -2 or -200, -3 or -300, et al?
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For some reason, Boeing decided that the first 787 would be the 787-8 instead of the traditional 787-100. This being the first derivative (stretch in this case) is now the 787-9, while the next derivative is the 787-10. It looks like newly introduced airplanes from now on will drop the x00 nomenclature and simply be identified by the first number (-8, -9, etc.).
 
Crash
Good luck on your studies. As you've got the idea, study and work hard. Do you have an idea if you want to go into any particular concentration yet (aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, avionics and control, etc.)?
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Not yet, but aerodynamics and propulsion are the ones I like the most. If had to choose, it would be between these two and they are both my favourites.
 

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