Simviation Forum - Lufthansa orders 20 updated 747s

Reply #15 - Dec 8^th, 2006 at 2:27pm

Chris_F Offline
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beaky wrote on Dec 7^th, 2006 at 2:41pm:

I'm just happy that my favorite jetliner silhouette will be seen flying for quite a few more years... maybe eventually I'll get to ride in one. Grin

I got a chance to fly Boston-Detroit in one. That's a ride I'll never forget. I had a window seat (of course) overlooking the wing. During taxi the wing looked like it was ready to scrape the ground and the wing tip was sooo far away. I looked across the two seats next to me, then the four or five next to it, then the second isle, then the three to the window and thought "Damn, this is a WIDE airplane, there's no way something this big can fly". Mind you I'm a Mechanical Engineer and know very well the mechanics involved. But somehow the idea that something this wide can be rigid and light enough to neither crumple up or plow like a lead freight train off the end of the runway wasn't fathomable.

The takeoff roll felt similar to what you feel in a typical jumbo, but much cushier. As the plane gained speed the wings were the first to show signs of lift, slowing elevating from the ground until they stood a good 10 feet or so above the level of the windows. When the plane rotated the wings stretched even higher until the wing tips appeard to be about 15-20 feet above the level of the windows. And the whole plane lifted from the runway in a most unbelievable manner: it was typical of a flight on a jumbo (perhaps a bit smoother) and in it's normal-ness it was unbelievable. The giant bird was actually in the air! I'm usually glued to the window during climb out: looking at familiar landmarks from the air, seeing the sights. This time however I couldn't help but look across those rows and rows of seats filled with bored people and think how amazing it all was.

You simply MUST take a flight in a 747. Even if you don't end up at a destination. Just fly somewhere and fly back. Usually you buy a plane ticket to get to a destination. For a 747 though I'd buy a ticket just for the experience of the flight.

As an aside, I don't think a flight in a A380 would be more impressive. Perhaps the same. The amazing thing about flying in the 747 was its width. You don't get a sense of its height and length inside the plane (you can only see as far ahead and back as the curtains dividing the passenger sections). But the width...

Another thing I wonder is how similar a 747-4 or 747-8 is to the original...

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Reply #16 - Dec 8^th, 2006 at 4:14pm

Jakemaster Ex Member

chornedsnorkack wrote on Dec 8^th, 2006 at 10:20am:

Quote:

Regarding the E-Jets, I know they are regional jets but I thought they had pretty good range? Air Canada flys a 170 from Toronto to Houston, a good 1500 miles; according to the Embraer website the 195 gets 2100 miles. It's not as much as the 738 or 739, but I think that Embraer could possibly make a move and base a new aircraft off of the E-Jet series; slightly larger than the current E-Jets, widening the body, lengthening the fuselage, and extending the wingspan to make it hold more people and more fuel to easily compete with the 738 and A320.

Embraer to me seems like the quiet kid in the class. They haven't been making headlines or getting much attention, but their E-Jets are quickly becoming popular and I think its only a matter of time before they take their experience in making regional jets and business jets and move up to larger and longer range aircraft. If they do, it actually might benefit Boeing and Airbus. Both companies already have a lot on their slate, manufacturing the A320 series and 737 series and at the same time developing bigger aircraft. If Embraer makes a move and essentially takes over the market covered by the 737 and A320, Airbus and Boeing can focus more on their larger aircraft.

This is all probably a pipe dream, but who knows. Anything can happen in the aviation business.

Well, let´s see what the list for new big regional jets is - anything wider than E-jets but narrower than 737:

Bombardier C-series
Antonov An-148
Sukhoi Superjet
ARJ-21
Rekkof

5 known projects in various stages of development, here.

Does Embraer plan to enter that market, too? And any updates of what each of the 5 above would be like, what the current state of progress is and when they are due?

First of all, Embraer hasn't announced anything regarding future aircraft besides the Phenom and the Lineage; the Phenom is their new VLJ that I think is almost ready for production and the Lineage is a business jet derived from the 190 (I think).

Regarding your list, I believe Bombardier cancelled the C series, althought I may be thinking of something else. The AN-148 is more like a BAe-146, and it is intended for European markets for short routes going into places with shorter runways (It has STOL capabilities, the wing is much like that of their larger aircraft). From what I've read, the Superjet is still a ways off and althought it might be successful, most likely it will remain only in the former communist block and other European markets, and if it does make its way to North America or South America it will prbably take a while. The ARJ-21 poses no real 'threat' to Embraer as it is a government project and is pretty much limited to China. It is scheduled to fly in 2008 and supposedly they are only going to make about 10 a year beginning in 2010. Rekkof is just a company that's going to update the Fokker 70/100, and all thats going to do is possibly replace certain airlines current fleet of 70/100s.

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Reply #17 - Dec 11^th, 2006 at 5:24am

chornedsnorkack Offline
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Posts: 363

Quote:

chornedsnorkack wrote on Dec 8^th, 2006 at 10:20am:

Quote:

Regarding the E-Jets, I know they are regional jets but I thought they had pretty good range? Air Canada flys a 170 from Toronto to Houston, a good 1500 miles; according to the Embraer website the 195 gets 2100 miles. It's not as much as the 738 or 739, but I think that Embraer could possibly make a move and base a new aircraft off of the E-Jet series; slightly larger than the current E-Jets, widening the body, lengthening the fuselage, and extending the wingspan to make it hold more people and more fuel to easily compete with the 738 and A320.

Embraer to me seems like the quiet kid in the class. They haven't been making headlines or getting much attention, but their E-Jets are quickly becoming popular and I think its only a matter of time before they take their experience in making regional jets and business jets and move up to larger and longer range aircraft. If they do, it actually might benefit Boeing and Airbus. Both companies already have a lot on their slate, manufacturing the A320 series and 737 series and at the same time developing bigger aircraft. If Embraer makes a move and essentially takes over the market covered by the 737 and A320, Airbus and Boeing can focus more on their larger aircraft.

This is all probably a pipe dream, but who knows. Anything can happen in the aviation business.

Well, let´s see what the list for new big regional jets is - anything wider than E-jets but narrower than 737:

Bombardier C-series
Antonov An-148
Sukhoi Superjet
ARJ-21
Rekkof

5 known projects in various stages of development, here.

Does Embraer plan to enter that market, too? And any updates of what each of the 5 above would be like, what the current state of progress is and when they are due?

First of all, Embraer hasn't announced anything regarding future aircraft besides the Phenom and the Lineage; the Phenom is their new VLJ that I think is almost ready for production and the Lineage is a business jet derived from the 190 (I think).

Regarding your list, I believe Bombardier cancelled the C series, althought I may be thinking of something else.

They talk about putting the project on hold, and then again of continuing with it. Last I heard was them decreasing the range of C-series.
Quote:

The AN-148 is more like a BAe-146, and it is intended for European markets for short routes going into places with shorter runways (It has STOL capabilities, the wing is much like that of their larger aircraft). From what I've read, the Superjet is still a ways off and althought it might be successful, most likely it will remain only in the former communist block and other European markets, and if it does make its way to North America or South America it will prbably take a while.

When is EIS due?
Quote:

The ARJ-21 poses no real 'threat' to Embraer as it is a government project and is pretty much limited to China. It is scheduled to fly in 2008 and supposedly they are only going to make about 10 a year beginning in 2010. Rekkof is just a company that's going to update the Fokker 70/100, and all thats going to do is possibly replace certain airlines current fleet of 70/100s.

What are the updates to Rekkof?

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Reply #18 - Dec 22^nd, 2006 at 1:05pm

C Offline
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Earth

Posts: 13144

KDSM wrote on Dec 6^th, 2006 at 7:56pm:

Boeing 1 Airbus 0

[Cough][bump]Can't help noticing that everyone's been mighty quiet about the news that Singapore Airlines have ordered another 9 A380s, as reported on the SimV frontpage, with options for another 6, and the lease of 19 A330s...

So, I take it that it's now 1-1? Wink

Qantas also signed a firm agreement on their 8 extra A380s and 4 new A330s yesterday...

« Last Edit: Dec 22^nd, 2006 at 3:33pm by C »

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