Boeing 747 "WHALE" -- a.k.a. The Whale's Tails (sic)

[A4sForever]

View from a Parallel Universe

Just so you know I ain't foolin' you-all ... here is CAPT ALOHA (a.k.a. A4sForever) picking up the "new model" at the factory. Standing behind me are assorted "suits" from aerospace and the company along with some co-worker amigos. I have all television and movie rights to any productions that emanate from the event (please note Hollywood-style camera at right).

Boeing puts on quite a show, a three day event, and the livin' was fine ....

ROGER BALL!!

 

[A4sForever]

YOU CHOOSE !!!

Washington Post Thursday, February 10, 2005 --- The Boeing Co. is assessing whether to prolong the life of the 747 -- in a modified, enlarged version -- to compete with Airbus SAS's new super-jumbo A380, a company executive said yesterday.

The 747 Advanced, as the new model is called, would seat 400 to 500 passengers and would incorporate more fuel-efficient engines and redesigned wings constructed of lightweight materials, Randy Baseler, Boeing's vice president of marketing, told a group of reporters at the company's Rosslyn office yesterday. The plane could be delivered by 2009, a year after another new Boeing aircraft, the twin-aisle 787 Dreamliner, comes off the line.

Orders for the 747 have slipped since Airbus announced plans to build its 555-seat A380 -- the first large aircraft to compete with the 747 since its debut 35 years ago. Boeing had 15 orders last year and 19 in 2003, compared with 53 orders in 1998.

Boeing is asking, "Is it an airplane that airlines will continue to buy over the next 20 years?" If Boeing decides the answer is yes, then it will have to explain what appears to be a shift in strategy. For years, it has claimed that Airbus's ambitious sales projections for a giant plane were out of sync with the market and that the A380 could not be successful.

"Haven't they been asserting there's not a market for this plane?" said Airbus spokesman Clay McConnell. (note: sour AIRBUS grapes ... ??)

Baseler said yesterday that the 747 Advanced would serve a slightly different market than Airbus's new plane. Its 450 seats would put the plane between the A380, with its 550-plus seats, and Boeing's own 777, with 365 seats. Boeing's existing 747-400 has room for 419 passengers.

Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst with Teal Group, said Boeing should move ahead with the 747 Advanced, if only to offer customers competitive aircraft. "It seems poorly thought out" to kill the 747, Aboulafia said. "There's no reason to not keep the line alive as pricing pressure on the A380. The 747 is a superb plane," he said.

THE DEFENSE RESTS .... IF IT'S NOT BOEING, I'M NOT GOING !!

ROGER BALL !!

 

[A4sForever]

A4s,I am sure you have done this. Probably into this very airport. http://www.alexisparkinn.com/photogallery/Videos/Boeing 747 Extreme Landing.mpg

(note: moved from another thread since this is where the old girl wants it ... )

Actually, I have done something disturbingly similar -- 2 1/2 years ago, being chased into Guam by a typhoon. Your clip basically replicates the last 200-300 feet of the approach/landing @ Agana. We should never have been dispatched down there --- we were the first A/C into the field for two days. The wind was still wa-a-a-a-a-a-a-yyy over 50-60 knots when I got close to the ground.

The only way I made it in was because I flew the Whale "like an A4" -- or like an airplane instead of an airliner, if you will. Most of the SOP, sim checks, line checks, ground school, talk, talk, talk, etc, etc, blew right out the window. No joke, not trying to sound "heroic".... you ALWAYS end up doing what you have to do to accomplish the "mission" -- safely (?). As I said, we should never have been dispatched ....

Maybe I will get the courage to post the story on this website -- probably not. Loose Lips Sink Ships and all that ....

THE CREW: SECOND OFFICER, FIRST OFFICER and YOURS TRULY ... can you pick me out of the lineup ... ???

WHALE BALL !! ......

 

[A4sForever]

A4s,I am sure you have done this. Probably into this very airport. http://www.alexisparkinn.com/photogallery/Videos/Boeing 747 Extreme Landing.mpg

My first approach & landing as a "WestPac" F/O on the 747 was the IGS 13 @ Kai-Tak in Hong Kong. I never saw "needles" move across the face of the gauges so fast in my life -- at least that's the way it seemed. About halfway down, dark, in the clag, and the reflections from the lights giving you vertigo -- I wanted to scream "STOP"!!! and start over. Everything fell into place -- including our aircraft on the end of the runway -- but after clearing the runway, we saw the next airplane break out @ 400-500 feet and make his play for the deck. "That's a dangerous approach" was all I could come up with at the time ...

The years passed and so did Kai-Tak. Most guys really got hyper with the IGS 13. For some reason, I never had any problem with 13 (the tough one) or 31. Not sure why, but I just got "wired" for those two approaches (and their respective missed approach-- good grief !!) and always did well -- much to everyone's amazement. It got so bad that I even looked forward to getting the leg down to Hong Kong. I always played the turn to final just right (never overshot -- common) and had a good rate of descent -- what is usually what screwed other guys up. When they came "out" of the cockpit for the turn to final -- most stopped their rate of descent and that caused problems.

I guess I always did better looking "out" of the cockpit rather than being locked inside on the gauges.

Check out this SwissAir on short final 13 IGS @ Kai-Tak -- eyes getting big -- pulse rate increasing -- check his elevators ...

ROGER BALL !!