[Prophet in the wilderness]

Hi Nightdriver.

I know the design freeze is frozen yet on the 747-8I, I was wondering ? can Boeing take a 2nd look at that area under the fuselage were the triangle ram air intake ducts are all the way to the landing gears, and some how make it lighter with composite panels ( unless it already is ) and some how ( that is ? if it is safe and feasible to so ) to put fuel tanks in that shroud under the fuselage ?
Would be great to improve the range and economics of the 747-8I even farther.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

opps, typo.
I meant, in line one ( I know the design freeze is not frozen yet on the 747-8I )

[nightdriver]

"...some how make it lighter with composite panels ( unless it already is ) and some how ( that is ? if it is safe and feasible to so ) to put fuel tanks in that shroud under the fuselage ?"

I no longer work at the "Lazy 'B'," but, believe it or not, composits do not always result in lower weight. It all depends on what the structural considerations dictate.

As to adding volume for fuel - the plane has a "wet wing," which means that there are no tanks in the plane, per se. The first 747 model had a dry weight of some 360,000 pounds and could carry some 53,000 gallons of fuel, if need be.

That was utilizing a center main tank which was in the wing section right under the fuselage. The old bird had plenty of available volume for fuel, the limiting factor was weight. If it was completely full of fuel, there wasn't much carrying capacity left over for payload.