Say Good-bye to the DC-9

[Gawain 0]

News story here.

Boeing is going to stop making the 717 (formerly the MD-95, MD-90, MD-80, and DC-9).

Basically, Boeing feels the market won't supporting beyond their current delivery contracts. The charges they will incur to stop production will wipe out profits for 4th quarter.

Boeing is still reeling from an Air Force tanker deal gone bad. Boeing is number 2 behind Airbus right now.

They better not screw up the 7e7 or it's curtains.

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[AggieDave 6]

Maybe the giant is too big for its own good?

It seems that we're seeing a trend towards more aircraft of a smaller nature with better comforts for the business traveler. As for cargo...well, that I'm not sure of, but many carriers with smaller aircraft (grand caravans) have been selling off their fleet...

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Gawain 0]

The 717 is Boeing's smallest commercial aircraft. Airbus is preparing the A380 or whatever, a 550 passenger double-decker, not much bigger than a 747, despite all the hype.

The 7e7 is a "medium" sized commercial liner, 250 +/- (depending on series, 3, 8, or 9), designed to be more fuel efficient and less costly to operate.

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[AggieDave 6]

Quote

The 7e7 is a "medium" sized commercial liner, 250 +/- (depending on series, 3, 8, or 9), designed to be more fuel efficient and less costly to operate.

Ah yes, I hadn't read up on the 7e7, so forgive me for my ignorant post.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[PhreeZone 20]

Go to the Boneyard and you can pick up all sorts of 9's for next to nothing. The DC9/MD80 was a victim of its own success. As it grew in popularity everyone wanted one. Then once everyone had a DC9 the market took off in a few different directions. Its really hard to get a cross country non-stop flight anymore, its usually at least 1 lay over. So that ment the long distance planes can be replaced by either more smaller, more fuel effecent or larger more fuel effecient regional planes. Smaller planes can go to more places so they needed more of them. For the super long, transAtlantic/ Trans Pacific flights people started demanding more comfort so they started designing more luxury and larger planes. You could'nt sell enough tickets to make a large profit margin on 160 seats like you could on a 757 that has way more seats. That small/middle sized market dried up except for cargo haulers.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[larsrulz 0]

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Boeing is still reeling from an Air Force tanker deal gone bad. Boeing is number 2 behind Airbus right now.

The tanker deal is supposed to be back in the works, and the reason Boeing is #2 behind Airbus is because Airbus has the EU subsidizing their every move. Airbus says they can do all the future design work on their own, so why won't the EU let them. The US had to take it to the WTO before the EU would even talk about settling.

I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

[ChasingBlueSky 0]

Guess that means Perris will have plenty of cheap options for parts!

_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

[MC208B 0]

That's to bad, the end of Douglas inspired airplanes. Going the way of Pan Am, Braniff, Eastern, TWA etc.
End of an era (again)

[tbrown 26]

Boeing's problem is that they let a fatass bean counter named Harry Stonecipher take over the operation. The official story is that Boeing bought out McDonnell Douglas, but what really happened is that Douglas staged a palace coup with Boeing's money. Douglas was always a bean counting company with no vision for the future. In the 1950's, when Boeing "bet the store" on developing the 707, Douglas was confident that the airlines would stick with propellers for years to come. Boeing repeatedly bet the store on developing some beautiful new planes. The 747 almost killed Boeing at the end of the sixties, but they toughed it out and it changed world travel. In the nineties they developed another beautiful long range plane, the 777. But all the Douglas boys, and Stonecipher in particular can do, is look at next week's stock price. Douglas could've built an A380 type plane twelve years ago, they had the design and called it the MD-12. But they didn't have the balls to build it. And now that they own Boeing they don't have the balls to build anything new or imaginative. Say goodbye to Boeing, it's gone down the shitter. The 7E7 is already losing orders to Airbus' new A360, which is being developed for the same medium size long range market.

If I sound extremely bitter about it, it's only because I worked for Boeing for ten years and was once proud of working for a great company with real vision. Now that I've been laid off twice I can only watch the bean counters stuff their pockets with what they can pilfer from a once great company. Make no mistake, Bill Boeing is spinning in his grave faster than any jet turbine can turn.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[skydiverton 0]

Quote

Quote

Boeing is still reeling from an Air Force tanker deal gone bad. Boeing is number 2 behind Airbus right now.

The tanker deal is supposed to be back in the works, and the reason Boeing is #2 behind Airbus is because Airbus has the EU subsidizing their every move. Airbus says they can do all the future design work on their own, so why won't the EU let them. The US had to take it to the WTO before the EU would even talk about settling.

The us does the same for boeing, highly payed military contracts, "forget to send tax-bill" etc.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Using your droque to gain stability is a bad habit,
Especially when you are jumping a sport rig

[sfc 1]

Quote

The 717 is Boeing's smallest commercial aircraft. Airbus is preparing the A380 or whatever, a 550 passenger double-decker, not much bigger than a 747, despite all the hype.

Don't think it is hype. The A380 can be configured to hold 840 people if you take out 1st and business class, thats more than double the 747, the wing span is almost 25% wider and it has a range of 15,000km against the 13,450km of the 747.
It will give a new meaning to being cattle in the sky, I can see the budget airlines using them to transport huge numbers of people from coast to coast in discomfort.

[tbrown 26]

It will give a new meaning to being cattle in the sky, I can see the budget airlines using them to transport huge numbers of people from coast to coast in discomfort.

[sundevil777 102]

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In fact a lot of Asian customers have ordered their 747's without the usual long range mods (like winglets) because they won't enhance performance on short commuter hops.

I think the 747-400 is the only version now available, and I think it is only available with winglets.

For SFC,

Quote

The A380 can be configured to hold 840 people if you take out 1st and business class, thats more than double the 747, the wing span is almost 25% wider and it has a range of 15,000km against the 13,450km of the 747.

In an all tourist class config, the 747 can hold about 550, that is how many died in the JAL crash in '85, and that was in an older version without the extended upper deck.

The lazy B claims that the 747-ER has a little longer range than that (14,205 km)

From the Boeing.com site http://boeing.com/commercial/747family/lr_back/lr_2.html
747-400ER Passenger Version

The first 747-400ER rolled out at a special ceremony at the Boeing Everett, Wash., factory on June 17.
The 747-400ER is the Boeing answer to customer demand for a more capable 747-400 with new features yet is easy to integrate into existing fleets.

The 747-400ER has an increased takeoff weight of 910,000 pounds (412,770 kg).

This allows operators to fly about 410 nautical miles (760 km) farther or carry up to 15,000 pounds (6,800 kg) more "payload " -- extra cargo or a full load of 416 passengers.

The 747-400ER passenger airplane has a range of 7,670 nautical miles (14,205 km).

People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am