36 Comments on “Pontifications will return July 18”
When it rains, it pours, had been hearing about a Bridge collapsed or taken down by a rail derailment (non Spirit train), its on the Whithita Renton/Everett route, so Boeing is moving fuselage over by heavy rigs then back on a train.
Not that wold change if Boeing still has the ops in Wichita, but the reality is every foot of travel is a foot of risk to one degree or another.
Up here an outfit decide Fiber Optic was the way to avoid having Microwave sites up and down the pipeline. Washouts, small avalanches , ice breakup in streams and rivers, people diggint, it was a lot of footage of risk and they failed.
Not that Microwave sites are easy but there are a variety of tech ways for power backup and you can build redundancy in and site like that are well understood and Engineering available to deal with mostly snow and ice.
Keep it a common core design and you can stash full spares in a pump station.
I wonder how long it will be before we learn that damage was caused by improper hoisting and/or road-transport of the fuselage portions around the collapsed bridge…?
The process doesn’t look very “sophisticated”… 😉
There is an interesting report:
“An old highway bridge that paralleled the railroad bridge – together, they were called the Twin Bridges – was removed in 2021 after the Montana department of transportation determined it was in imminent danger of falling.”
None of the 13 MAX deliveries (to date) in July was from inventory. Interestingly, 75% of those deliveries were for US carriers.
No 787s have been delivered so far in July.
I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the remaining inventory eventually gets scrapped for parts. A lot of it is 3-4 years old, and much has been stored in (highly) suboptimal conditions. Reminiscent of those 2 787s that were recently scrapped.
I’d guess cost / capacity constraints.
A Dreamlifter would only be able to do one fuselage at a time. It would basically spend it’s entire life going between Wichita and Renton, empty half the time, whereas a train can do a few at a time which must be cheaper overall as the company doing the hauling can amalgamate the fuselages with other work.
It doesn’t matter that Airbus makes big profits after failures of A340-500/-600, and A380.
The French, German, and Spanish taxpayer had paid for the damage out of their own pockets.
What’s surprising not to reproduce two errors at the same time?
Now they set Boeing standards in their latest development 18 years ago. If there are no benefits after 3 attempts with a “standard Boeing aircraft” it would be very serious, don’t you think?
The German, French, Spanish and British taxpayers have done very well out of Airbus. The UK alone still gets tens of millions a year in royalty payments. So what if there was one failure (the A380). The rest more than make up for that. The A340 was done with the same money as the A330 so no losses for tax payers there. How Boeing and their lackeys think that the levies Airbus still have to pay for every A320, A330 and A350 built somehow gives them a competitive advantage is beyond me.
People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
@Russell
Well said. Some are regurgitating the same talking points blindly.
What was the development costs for the A380?
Bryce:
Is that the A350 program that they were given a cheap loan up front as well as local free infrastructure that we don’t know what the repayment terms for are?
Please share with us the financials that break out the fat profit on the A350.
As Russel said, one fuselage at a time and the high rate of production would be 30-50 trips a month.
Airbus does not move whole fuselages at a time. Boeing does not move whole fuselages and did not, parts of them. Airbus is setup as a distributed enterprise to keep all the faction of Airbus happy no matter what the cost.
Spirit ships whole trains of the fuselages on one go. Very economical and environmentally vastly better as locomotives burn relatively little fuel compared to a 747 (or much else)
Its a risk and we have seen the issues where a trainload came undone some years back. Same risk Boeing always took with that building them in Wichita.
It certainly is something to consider for the future and build things next door rather than ship by air.
An entire bride came down in Italy a while back, so infrastructure issues are not exclusive the US though re-building what we have needs to be done.
Interesting how certain parties are quick to point fingers when they can’t even defend their region.
Airbus moves single A350 wing sets per Beluga XL flight — that’s enough for one A350.
But BA just can’t afford such expenditure, because it doesn’t have enough margin.
India has definitively placed an order for (26) Navy Rafale instead of the F-18.
Concurrently ordered another 3 Scorpéne class submarines from France, in a combined deal worth $9.75B. This will bring the total Scorpéne fleet in India to 9.
“…any momentum behind the Super Hornet offer seems to have been lost some weeks ago, with the U.S. reportedly having lapsed at the end of June, leaving the Rafale M as the only contender.”
“Turkey’s Pegasus agrees to take another 36 A321neos”
“The airline’s existing Airbus order, initially signed in 2012 and subsequently amended in 2017, 2021, and 2022, will now be extended to include a total of 150 new aircraft, with the additional 36 A321neo models being the latest addition, according to a statement.
“The A321neo, with a configuration of about 240 seats, will help harmonise Pegasus’s fleet around the European manufacturer, as the discount specialist removes its remaining batch of more than a doze Boeing Co. 737s.
“Pegasus will take delivery of the new aircraft, powered by CFM engines — a joint venture between General Electric Co. and France’s Safran SE — by the end of 2029.”
Other than the infamous RVS deficiency, there’re plenty of other deficiencies BA has yet to resolve:
-> The “stiff boom” is just one of several non-RVS deficiencies in the KC-46 identified by the Air Force. Another is related to leaks in the fuel system that were first identified in March 2020. Reports indicated seals designed to “flex” and move with the aircraft were insufficient to the task.
@Pedro seems unaware that the A340-500/600 was a major incremental redesign which was a heavy investment. Not just a reengine That’s why I won’t continue to argue with ignorance and a very revealing low level of knowledge
And on what basis do you conclude that “@Pedro seems unaware that the A340-500/600 was a major incremental redesign which was a heavy investment. Not just a reengine”…?
Pedro seems agreed with Russel’s misleading statements.
In this case it seems that they agreed that the A340-500/600 are like the A330 while the A340-200/-300 are like the A330. The A340-500/-600 are other very different birds.
So that doesn’t take anything away from the spend and flops of any widebody Airbus before understanding to copy Boeing standards in the mid-2000s…
“…Airbus moves single A350 wing sets per Beluga XL flight — that’s enough for one A350.
But BA just can’t afford such expenditure, because it doesn’t have enough margin….”
—-
Someone would have understood what is the point of such an absurd comment (as per usual) ?…
Please explain to me…
Looks like Brice is bored. he wants to have fun let him have a little fun in his sandbox. I take advantage of this calm period to relax. It should calm you down a bit
I think the Big Bin of the standard Boeing 777-X could hold a lot of sake bottle Imho… 👍
“China’s Y-12F plane granted European EASA type certificate”
“China’s Y-12F versatile aircraft was granted a type certificate by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on Friday, according to its developer, marking another step forward for its dive into the international market.
“This is the second time the plane has been granted a type certificate by a foreign agency, having also passed evaluation flight tests for its automatic flight control system by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2018, according to China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC).”
“The new European approval for the Y-12F is a successful practice of China-EU bilateral aviation safety between the AVIC and the EASA, with significance to bilateral airworthiness cooperation between China and the EU, said its developer.”
“Y-12F: The latest development with almost everything redesigned: wider fuselage, new wings, retractable landing gear and more powerful PT6A-65B engines. The Y-12F has higher cruise speed, longer range and can accommodate 19 passengers or 3x LD3 containers. Design started in April 2005 and the maiden flight was on 29 December 2010. CAAC type certification was received on 10 December 2015 and FAA certification on 22 February 2016. The Y-12F passed flight tests for its automatic flight control system by the FAA on 30 June 2018. It was demonstrated during the 2012 Zhuhai Airshow.”
“As of July 12, the first C919 in China Eastern’s fleet has completed 87 commercial flights. This includes 85 flights between Shanghai and Chengdu. The average passenger load factor stands at nearly 80 percent, with a total of 11,095 passengers carried, according to China Eastern.
“China Eastern Airlines has been proactive in preparing its crew for C919 operations. The airline provided specific training for eight captains, 46 cabin crew members, and 16 aircraft maintenance personnel when the first C919 was introduced into service.
“Currently, another 21 pilots are undergoing training. Further to ensure a skilled team is available to operate the expanding C919 fleet.”
What a feat for a country learning to design and build a civil aircraft. The wings, empennages are those of the Airbus A320 family and the tail cone the same as the 787 Dreamliner down to the last detail.
When it rains, it pours, had been hearing about a Bridge collapsed or taken down by a rail derailment (non Spirit train), its on the Whithita Renton/Everett route, so Boeing is moving fuselage over by heavy rigs then back on a train.
Not that wold change if Boeing still has the ops in Wichita, but the reality is every foot of travel is a foot of risk to one degree or another.
Up here an outfit decide Fiber Optic was the way to avoid having Microwave sites up and down the pipeline. Washouts, small avalanches , ice breakup in streams and rivers, people diggint, it was a lot of footage of risk and they failed.
Not that Microwave sites are easy but there are a variety of tech ways for power backup and you can build redundancy in and site like that are well understood and Engineering available to deal with mostly snow and ice.
Keep it a common core design and you can stash full spares in a pump station.
Failing infrastructure, crumbling empire.
I wonder how long it will be before we learn that damage was caused by improper hoisting and/or road-transport of the fuselage portions around the collapsed bridge…?
The process doesn’t look very “sophisticated”… 😉
There is an interesting report:
“An old highway bridge that paralleled the railroad bridge – together, they were called the Twin Bridges – was removed in 2021 after the Montana department of transportation determined it was in imminent danger of falling.”
Tax dollars hard at work!
The Seattle Times:
-> About 220 of the [737 MAX] remain in inventory
More than 80 undelivered 787s remain to be reworked
Any noticeable decrease in MAX inventory??
None of the 13 MAX deliveries (to date) in July was from inventory. Interestingly, 75% of those deliveries were for US carriers.
No 787s have been delivered so far in July.
I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the remaining inventory eventually gets scrapped for parts. A lot of it is 3-4 years old, and much has been stored in (highly) suboptimal conditions. Reminiscent of those 2 787s that were recently scrapped.
Delta exercised 12 A220-300 options
Update: Delta added 1 A330-900 to its orderbook, and exercised 12 A220 options in the second quarter.
Why don’t they stuff the 737 fuselages into one of those modified 747 freighters that are used to haul Dreamliner pieces. Can’t be rocket science…
I’d guess cost / capacity constraints.
A Dreamlifter would only be able to do one fuselage at a time. It would basically spend it’s entire life going between Wichita and Renton, empty half the time, whereas a train can do a few at a time which must be cheaper overall as the company doing the hauling can amalgamate the fuselages with other work.
Airbus ferries just one pair of A350 wings per Beluga XL…and it still makes a (fat) profit on the program…
It doesn’t matter that Airbus makes big profits after failures of A340-500/-600, and A380.
The French, German, and Spanish taxpayer had paid for the damage out of their own pockets.
What’s surprising not to reproduce two errors at the same time?
Now they set Boeing standards in their latest development 18 years ago. If there are no benefits after 3 attempts with a “standard Boeing aircraft” it would be very serious, don’t you think?
The German, French, Spanish and British taxpayers have done very well out of Airbus. The UK alone still gets tens of millions a year in royalty payments. So what if there was one failure (the A380). The rest more than make up for that. The A340 was done with the same money as the A330 so no losses for tax payers there. How Boeing and their lackeys think that the levies Airbus still have to pay for every A320, A330 and A350 built somehow gives them a competitive advantage is beyond me.
People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
@Russell
Well said. Some are regurgitating the same talking points blindly.
What was the development costs for the A380?
Bryce:
Is that the A350 program that they were given a cheap loan up front as well as local free infrastructure that we don’t know what the repayment terms for are?
Please share with us the financials that break out the fat profit on the A350.
Here’s the Boeing subsidy tracker.
Now at $75B
https://subsidytracker.goodjobsfirst.org/parent/boeing
Sam W:
As Russel said, one fuselage at a time and the high rate of production would be 30-50 trips a month.
Airbus does not move whole fuselages at a time. Boeing does not move whole fuselages and did not, parts of them. Airbus is setup as a distributed enterprise to keep all the faction of Airbus happy no matter what the cost.
Spirit ships whole trains of the fuselages on one go. Very economical and environmentally vastly better as locomotives burn relatively little fuel compared to a 747 (or much else)
Its a risk and we have seen the issues where a trainload came undone some years back. Same risk Boeing always took with that building them in Wichita.
It certainly is something to consider for the future and build things next door rather than ship by air.
An entire bride came down in Italy a while back, so infrastructure issues are not exclusive the US though re-building what we have needs to be done.
Interesting how certain parties are quick to point fingers when they can’t even defend their region.
Airbus moves single A350 wing sets per Beluga XL flight — that’s enough for one A350.
But BA just can’t afford such expenditure, because it doesn’t have enough margin.
@TW
Good examples to follow I guess 🤣 :
https://www.reuters.com/world/india/india-suspension-bridge-collapses-second-time-2023-06-05/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/bridge-suspension-inida-collapse-1.6634995
Ten people were injured January 28 when the snow-covered Fern Hollow Bridge collapsed just hours before President Joe Biden was slated to speak in Pittsburgh about infrastructure.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/04/us/pennsylvania-bridge-repair/index.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2023/06/11/bridge-collapse-philadelphia-interstate-95/
India has definitively placed an order for (26) Navy Rafale instead of the F-18.
Concurrently ordered another 3 Scorpéne class submarines from France, in a combined deal worth $9.75B. This will bring the total Scorpéne fleet in India to 9.
“…any momentum behind the Super Hornet offer seems to have been lost some weeks ago, with the U.S. reportedly having lapsed at the end of June, leaving the Rafale M as the only contender.”
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/india-clears-the-way-for-naval-rafale-fighter-purchase
“Turkey’s Pegasus agrees to take another 36 A321neos”
“The airline’s existing Airbus order, initially signed in 2012 and subsequently amended in 2017, 2021, and 2022, will now be extended to include a total of 150 new aircraft, with the additional 36 A321neo models being the latest addition, according to a statement.
“The A321neo, with a configuration of about 240 seats, will help harmonise Pegasus’s fleet around the European manufacturer, as the discount specialist removes its remaining batch of more than a doze Boeing Co. 737s.
“Pegasus will take delivery of the new aircraft, powered by CFM engines — a joint venture between General Electric Co. and France’s Safran SE — by the end of 2029.”
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/pegasus-airlines-bolsters-fleet-with-36-a321neo-aircraft-order-1.1945688
Looks like the storied “shortage of slots” isn’t having much effect on new orders…
An interesting perspective on the KC-46A vs the A330MRT, I always like the reports from the people who operate the gear vs the pundits.
https://breakingdefense.com/2023/07/from-cargo-to-cockpit-a-kc-46a-crews-thoughts-about-the-planes-potential-tanker-rival/
https://www.airandspaceforces.com/boeing-works-to-solve-kc-46-deficiencies-one-by-one/
Other than the infamous RVS deficiency, there’re plenty of other deficiencies BA has yet to resolve:
-> The “stiff boom” is just one of several non-RVS deficiencies in the KC-46 identified by the Air Force. Another is related to leaks in the fuel system that were first identified in March 2020. Reports indicated seals designed to “flex” and move with the aircraft were insufficient to the task.
@Pedro seems unaware that the A340-500/600 was a major incremental redesign which was a heavy investment. Not just a reengine That’s why I won’t continue to argue with ignorance and a very revealing low level of knowledge
It’s a waste of time…
And on what basis do you conclude that “@Pedro seems unaware that the A340-500/600 was a major incremental redesign which was a heavy investment. Not just a reengine”…?
Has he argued that somewhere above?
@Bryce
Glad to see you playing the trainees lawyer.
Pedro seems agreed with Russel’s misleading statements.
In this case it seems that they agreed that the A340-500/600 are like the A330 while the A340-200/-300 are like the A330. The A340-500/-600 are other very different birds.
So that doesn’t take anything away from the spend and flops of any widebody Airbus before understanding to copy Boeing standards in the mid-2000s…
Another plea maybe?…
Bryce
“…Airbus moves single A350 wing sets per Beluga XL flight — that’s enough for one A350.
But BA just can’t afford such expenditure, because it doesn’t have enough margin….”
—-
Someone would have understood what is the point of such an absurd comment (as per usual) ?…
Please explain to me…
Couldn’t follow the thread above…?
Lol!
Looks like Brice is bored. he wants to have fun let him have a little fun in his sandbox. I take advantage of this calm period to relax. It should calm you down a bit
I think the Big Bin of the standard Boeing 777-X could hold a lot of sake bottle Imho… 👍
https://youtu.be/AdFnSnQguU0
“China’s Y-12F plane granted European EASA type certificate”
“China’s Y-12F versatile aircraft was granted a type certificate by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on Friday, according to its developer, marking another step forward for its dive into the international market.
“This is the second time the plane has been granted a type certificate by a foreign agency, having also passed evaluation flight tests for its automatic flight control system by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2018, according to China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC).”
“The new European approval for the Y-12F is a successful practice of China-EU bilateral aviation safety between the AVIC and the EASA, with significance to bilateral airworthiness cooperation between China and the EU, said its developer.”
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2023-07-15/China-s-Y-12F-plane-granted-European-EASA-type-certificate-1ls8TylBY5O/index.html
***
“Y-12F: The latest development with almost everything redesigned: wider fuselage, new wings, retractable landing gear and more powerful PT6A-65B engines. The Y-12F has higher cruise speed, longer range and can accommodate 19 passengers or 3x LD3 containers. Design started in April 2005 and the maiden flight was on 29 December 2010. CAAC type certification was received on 10 December 2015 and FAA certification on 22 February 2016. The Y-12F passed flight tests for its automatic flight control system by the FAA on 30 June 2018. It was demonstrated during the 2012 Zhuhai Airshow.”
Next up: C919
-> 2nd C919, rego. B-919C, for China Eastern ferried from Shanghai Pudong to Shanghai Hongqiao today.
https://twitter.com/FATIIIAviation/status/1680429684939702272
“As of July 12, the first C919 in China Eastern’s fleet has completed 87 commercial flights. This includes 85 flights between Shanghai and Chengdu. The average passenger load factor stands at nearly 80 percent, with a total of 11,095 passengers carried, according to China Eastern.
“China Eastern Airlines has been proactive in preparing its crew for C919 operations. The airline provided specific training for eight captains, 46 cabin crew members, and 16 aircraft maintenance personnel when the first C919 was introduced into service.
“Currently, another 21 pilots are undergoing training. Further to ensure a skilled team is available to operate the expanding C919 fleet.”
https://aviationa2z.com/index.php/2023/07/16/china-eastern-airlines-acquires-second-new-c919-and-first-served-10k-passengers/
Step by step..
“it’ll never amount to anything.” 😉
What a feat for a country learning to design and build a civil aircraft. The wings, empennages are those of the Airbus A320 family and the tail cone the same as the 787 Dreamliner down to the last detail.
Neither impressive nor interesting