JAL Airbus Deal

[Pépé le Pilot]

I think it would be hard to return to the huge cruise yoke and no tray table...

 

[MikeD]

Screw you, Daffy, I am NOT wearing an ascot and speaking lovingly of my academy days when I was 80 lbs lighter.

Do you have to listen to that stuff already? From all the Canoe U attendees?

 

[derg]

Do you have to listen to that stuff already? From all the Canoe U attendees?

"Colorado School for Wayward Boys" and "Boat Skool" types. Sure. 16 years and rolling!

 

[MikeD]

"Colorado School for Wayward Boys" and "Boat Skool" types. Sure. 16 years and rolling!

They all suck. OCS is the way to go.

 

[derg]

They all suck. OCS is the way to go.

YOU DAMNED RIGHT!

You and your buddy Scott O'Grady from Riddle.

 

[MikeD]

YOU DAMNED RIGHT!

You and your buddy Scott O'Grady from Riddle.

Wasn't he ROTC?

 

[ppragman]

Because if/when the "new generation" of airliners debuts and it's got a significant cost advantage, remember, efficiency is market in single-digit percentage improvements to make phat loot for the operators, it will sell like gangbusters.

Remember, one of the only reasons you have a 737-800 is because Airbus jumped into the 150-seat market after Boeing decided the minimum airframe was going to be a 185-passenger 757 after the retirement of the 727. Then when the Frenchies came up with a 727 replacement that you could pull a plug out of and sop-up the rest of the smaller 737 (classic) lift, flow up to an tickle some of the 757 market and, believe it or not, be nearly type-rating compatible with a 330/340 with variants that compete directly with the 767 and the 777, I think they got caught with their pants down.

The idea that we're playing catch-up with the Europeans when it comes to commercial aircraft should be an American economic emergency. Boeing has to win this thing and it's going to take a lot more than re-engining 737's.

I am a huge Boeing fanboy, but I want our team to get their crap together.

At a much smaller scale, just look at the PC-12's performance up here in AK and in the medevac and corporate world in the lower 48. The Swiss have beat the tar out of Beechcraft simply by making an airplane that's more efficient while doing the same job. The closest "American Product" that can compete is the Caravan, and it simply doesn't even come close in range, payload, or cost per lb per NM.

The future of aviation is efficiency. Look at all the addition of winglets that have been done on airlines in the last decade. Look at all the DC8s and 727s parked. Even Atlas is buying "light twins."

 

[typhoonpilot]

If you're flying a fly-by-wire aircraft, why muck up your PFD's with a big obtrusive yoke designed for hydromechanical leverage for flight control systems?

And why would you design a FBW control system that needs a trim wheel?

Honestly I am ambivalent on the whole sidestick/yoke argument. I have flow the A330 sim and the sidestick is okay. After close to 20,000 hours with a yoke though, it does feel weird not having something there. The one thing, and this happens a lot more than people think, is the awareness of what the other pilot is doing with his sidestick. AF 447 could be a classic example. Had that been a yoke and the PM noticed that the PF had the yoke buried in his lap the accident might not have happened. That is Boeing's rationale for keeping it there, awareness. Same with the moving thrust levers and the need to trim for speed changes. It's all about awareness and keeping the pilot in the loop of what the airplane is doing.



Typhoonpilot

 

[Pépé le Pilot]

Absolutely although you have the Dual Input alarm and the Sidestick priority PB. Problem seems have been addressed in the new generation 'Bus, the 380 has a somewhat different layout that allows you to see what the other is doing, but I agree that in the first gen FBW Airbus airplanes it is a problem. It is kind of like moving from stick shift to auto...