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The Boeing 747 begins its final descent

theatlantic.com

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Re: The Boeing 747 begins its final descent

#51

Post by rbanffy »

Waterluvian wrote: post #45
A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is such an absurd statement. Oh come on, it's hardly "absurd." > What US aerospace has created post 1969 is nothing short of remarkable in comparison. (And we can be proud of the Apollo era too.) What are you referring to? If you want to chart progress over time, consider this: In 1919, people were still flying biplanes and civilian aviation barely existed. Fifty years later, in 1969, you've got the 747 -- con…

The onboard WiFi was terrible prior to 1970.

And no internet access!

Re: The Boeing 747 begins its final descent

#52

Post by rbanffy »

ReptileMan wrote: post #44
A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is such an absurd statement. Oh come on, it's hardly "absurd." > What US aerospace has created post 1969 is nothing short of remarkable in comparison. (And we can be proud of the Apollo era too.) What are you referring to? If you want to chart progress over time, consider this: In 1919, people were still flying biplanes and civilian aviation barely existed. Fifty years later, in 1969, you've got the 747 -- con…

The efficiency and the safety. Modern planes are disgustingly safe to the point that hull loss is almost unheard of. For 50 years the industry has optimized for safety and fuel efficiency. And the modern machines are marvels in that.

True, but still incremental improvements over proven designs - maybe a sign of very strict safety standards making new designs and differentiation more expensive than just the development.

Re: The Boeing 747 begins its final descent

#53

Post by rbanffy »

PaulHoule wrote: post #40
SoftTalker wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah economy class on a 747 sucks as much as it does on any other airliner.

No, it is much nicer than the 737/A320 class. Just thinking of the curve of a 737 makes my neck knot up. Bigger planes like the 747/757/767/777 are much more comfortable as well as modern planes like the A220/E195. 737 class planes are so ubiquitous that many passengers have no idea another experience is possible.

My dislike for widebody airliners is that the odds of getting a window seat are much smaller.

What’s even the point of flying if you can’t look at the world from up high?

Re: The Boeing 747 begins its final descent

#54

Post by rbanffy »

exe34 wrote: post #39
ck2 wrote: post #24

we'll always have QatarForceOne (747-8) well as long as Congress doesn't let him keep it, hopefully BILLION dollars stolen from nuclear missile maintenance program to refurbish it * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_VC-25B_Bridge

It was a private bribe, he's not giving it back. He's probably not even leaving the White House in 2 years either.

Not on his own will at least.

Re: The Boeing 747 begins its final descent

#55

Post by spankibalt »

rbanffy wrote: post #48
spankibalt wrote: post #41

> "[...] the 747 is the only commercial jet that deserves to be called beautiful." Pathetic drivel. There's legion of commercial airliners that are more beautiful than the 747.

At least it’s not an up/down scaled 737… I’d say it looks nicer than the 777 replacing it, or the 380 that tried it.

Concorde, Tu-144, L-1011 TriStar, Il-62, Tu-154, SE 210 Caravelle, de Havilland DH.106 Comet and Vickers VC10 are all much sexier. Just for starters.

Re: The Boeing 747 begins its final descent

#56

Post by elzbardico »

exe34 wrote: post #39
ck2 wrote: post #24

we'll always have QatarForceOne (747-8) well as long as Congress doesn't let him keep it, hopefully BILLION dollars stolen from nuclear missile maintenance program to refurbish it * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_VC-25B_Bridge

It was a private bribe, he's not giving it back. He's probably not even leaving the White House in 2 years either.

At least he is not going to live forever. He seems really fucked up lately.

Re: The Boeing 747 begins its final descent

#57

Post by eastbound »

thesumofall wrote: post #9

It’s such a beautiful plane. Despite having worked for Airbus, the 747 triggers emotions for me that the A380 simply doesn’t. It represents an era of aerospace engineering that will not come back (in many cases probably for the better - but still!)

It’s beautiful because Boeing started, not with the smallest, but with the largest plane possible. Meanwhile Airbus started with Concorde, a completely orthogonal project to round up everyone’s identical patriotism, and both projects were absolutely beautiful in their own way!

Re: The Boeing 747 begins its final descent

#58

Post by elzbardico »

spankibalt wrote: post #55
rbanffy wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least it’s not an up/down scaled 737… I’d say it looks nicer than the 777 replacing it, or the 380 that tried it.

Concorde, Tu-144, L-1011 TriStar , Il-62, Tu-154, SE 210 Caravelle , de Havilland DH.106 Comet and Vickers VC10 are all much sexier. Just for starters.

Maybe the Concord and Comet. For the rest of the list I think you'd spend a very long time finding people to agree with you. The soviet ones are even more complicated, the Tu-144 is basically an Ugly Concord.

Re: The Boeing 747 begins its final descent

#59

Post by philipwhiuk »

anovikov wrote: post #2

But really, it was just about four-engine planes becoming too expensive to run. Two-engine planes won. 777 burns 30% less fuel per passenger and has almost the same cabin width. And top level became a flop because it's too narrow for a first class cabin by today's standards and all other uses for them make no sense. Top floor existed at all because it was Boeing's entry for a heavy cargo plane competition in which C-…

Engines became reliable enough for regulators to allow two engine planes to cross large bodies of water. (ETOPS) That's what really killed 4 engine planes.
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