31–40 of 103 posts
I have never heard or read the word "cowling" before, but just finished watching a video saying that Apple's repair guide refers to the tiny metal covers within the phone this way. Cowling cowling cowling.
What I find interesting is that the plane wings are modular enough to actually do stuff like this. Pretty cool!
>the plane wings are modular enough to actually do stuff like this Not really. The 5th pylon is an original design item and is only on the the left wing. When the 747 first started operating, IIRC there were no cargo aircraft big enough to transport fully assembled 747 engines so there was a real logistical concern about transporting spare and faulty engines to and from far flung destinations. It's kind of a relic of…
No idea whether any twin engine jet has a 3rd pylon. My guess would be the asymmetry would be much more difficult to handle for offering regular passenger flights.
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It should be noted in context that original the 747 could, like the 737 before it, service airfields too small to have service centers. Therefore, it was important that another 747 could ferry in all parts needed to service a potentially damaged 747 at these locations, including an entire engine. Most aircraft with such capability are identified by the inclusion of built-in stairs for passenger ingress/egress, which…
The 737-200 had an optional gravel kit for unpaved runways! A few -200s still in use because of that feature
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There has been a lot of terrorist activity continuously in europe since the 60s. In the 60s/70s it was mostly far left terrorism (red brigade, baader-meinhof gang, etc) and some independence movements (FLN or the opposite like OAS). In the 70s/80s independence movements (palestinians, IRA, ETA, etc), and state sponsored terrorism (Iran, Libya). In the 90s it became islamists. The far right committed continuously rare…
> But the reaction it created is kind of curious (security in airports, army in the street, state surveillance) Not sure about the other examples, but the "Red Brigades" (Brigate Rosse) and other terrorist acts in Italy lead to special laws that extended considerably the powers of police (you can be searched without a warrant if there's the suspicion you have a weapon, you would potentially be arrested for wearing a…
The most famous operation of GSG 9 was the storming of the hijacked Lufthansa aircraft "Landshut" at Mogadishu airport (Somalia) in 1977, freeing all 86 passengers. (The crew's captain had been executed by the terrorists before.)[1]
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I had a similar reaction when I first read about it. kind of crazy how no one was ever really held responsible and then 9-11 just kind of pushed it out of most of the public's collective memory, or at least that's how it seems to me.
There has been a lot of terrorist activity continuously in europe since the 60s. In the 60s/70s it was mostly far left terrorism (red brigade, baader-meinhof gang, etc) and some independence movements (FLN or the opposite like OAS). In the 70s/80s independence movements (palestinians, IRA, ETA, etc), and state sponsored terrorism (Iran, Libya). In the 90s it became islamists. The far right committed continuously rare…
Ok, given its flying just the core, and not the fan, why doesn't it fit in the cargo hold? I mean they wouldn't have to worry about the extra drag/etc in the hold. It also seems odd that they would do this on a plane carrying commercial passengers since it seems more of an "experimental" modification even if the manufacture has approved it.
The "fifth pod" thing was designed in from the start.
Isn't that an intended standard design use of a 747?
Ok, given its flying just the core, and not the fan, why doesn't it fit in the cargo hold? I mean they wouldn't have to worry about the extra drag/etc in the hold. It also seems odd that they would do this on a plane carrying commercial passengers since it seems more of an "experimental" modification even if the manufacture has approved it.
It isn't experimental or unique even if it's rare. It has been done before. I'm not sure why this instance alone got such attention. Regarding the cargo hold problem, the aircraft wasn't carrying just the engine core. The 'pod' is most likely the engine nacelle itself. I wonder if the entire thing would fit through the cargo door (mere speculation). While it's true that the 747 was originally meant as a cargo carrier…
I was surprised by this so I consulted Wikipedia. Apparently when the 747 was designed they were convinced enough that passengers in the future would not want to travel subsonically, so they designed the 747 to convert to a freighter, to not have to throw the design away when it's hard to attract passengers due to the "low" 0.8 mach speeds!
No big deal. External payloads seem strange, but 747s have carried much larger ones, such as the Space Shuttle. Worse things have been carried under wings.[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_United_States_Air_Force_n...
Yes but the Shuttle Transporter has several modifications and reinforcements, so it's not really a "stock" 747 Flying it is also more complicated
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Though interesting, this is completely OT to this discussion.
I suppose you could say the same thing about cm2187's comment from a few minutes ago about the history of terrorism. Personally, one thing I enjoy about HN is the tangents that discussions sometimes take. If there is something I can learn from a comment, I'm not too worried about whether it is strictly on topic.
