Posted on 09/01/2007 7:46:18 AM PDT by ConservativeStatement
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — An Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger jet, scraped the tip of a wing on a building at Bangkok's international airport Saturday as it was preparing for a demonstration flight, officials of the aircraft company and Thai Airways said.
The plane, which had been taxiing with journalists and VIP guests on board, suffered minor damage, delaying its planned flight to the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai by just over three hours, they said. There were no injuries.
After more than a one-year delay due to production problems, Airbus is scheduled to deliver its first A380, which seats 555, to Singapore Airlines in October. The plane that arrived in Bangkok Friday from Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France, is making a demonstration tour of Asia. It also will visit Vietnam, Hong Kong, and South Korea.
(Excerpt) Read more at ap.google.com ...
I didn’t know the Klingons made airliners.
So, was Murray head of his class at Bangkok High? Jesus, I need your help after this one....
Close...
...shave.
Then was arrested for lewd behavior.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Head
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn4IqAlDdZY
Actually, the 747 was designed with highly swept back wings so it could fly faster than existing jetliners of the time
I’ve read claims for both. Swept wings certainly do work better for long range, high speed flights. They also allowed the plane to fit in existing hangars.
They do improve efficiency by lessening drag at the wingtip. Here’s a good article
Wingtip devices are usually intended to improve the efficiency of fixed-wing aircraft.[1] There are several types of devices, and though they function in different manners, the intended aerodynamic effect is to modify the aircraft’s wake in some beneficial manner. Wingtip devices can also improve aircraft handling characteristics. From a marketing standpoint, they are also valued for their aesthetic appeal, and aircraft have been equipped with them for cosmetic reasons as well.
Such devices increase the effective aspect ratio of a wing, with less added wingspan. An extension of span would lower lift-induced drag, but would increase parasitic drag, and would require boosting the strength and weight of the wing. At some point there is no net benefit from further increased span. There may also be operational considerations that limit the allowable wingspan.
The wingtip devices increase the lift generated at the wingtip, and reduce the lift-induced drag caused by wingtip vortices, improving lift-to-drag ratio. This increases fuel efficiency in powered aircraft, and cross-country speed in gliders, in both cases increasing range.[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingtip_device
Thank you for the biography.
The original 747's wingspan was 196 feet. The largest civilian aircraft wingspan at the time was the DC-8-63 with a span of 148 feet. Another limiting factor for most hangers is height. The top of the 747's front fuselage section is 32 ft tall. The top of the DC-8-63's front fuselage section is 20 ft tall. For many large aircraft, the tail does not fit into the hanger, to minimize the required size of a hangar.
There were likely very few existing hangars in 1969 the 747 could fit into.
It is unlikely, other than runway and taxiway loading, and runway length, the dimensions of any existing facilities were taken into account in the design of the 747. The 747 was going to change everything, just like the 707 and DC-8 did a decade before (and like the A-380 is doing now). The facilities would have to adapt, and they did. New airport terminals were built to handle the size and passenger load of the 747.
Hangars sizes are rarely a consideration for dimensions of airplanes. When you consider how much a large airliner costs (today a 747 has a list price of $260 million) compared to a hanger (maybe $15 million for a new 747-sized hangar), and the fact there will be many fewer hangars than airplanes, it really does not make much sense to limit the range, capacity, or performance of an airplane just so it can fit into an existing hangar.
There are considerations in the design of new and derivative airplanes for being able to fit into an existing airport terminal gate, which is usually limited by wingspan. But if a aircraft designer is going to try to fit a wing into a given span, he is not going to simply sweep the wings back more. He is going to take into account many things (aircraft size, weight, takeoff performance, speed, range, efficiency, etc.) in the design of the wing.
One case of where a manufacturer designed an aircraft wing to fit into existing facilities was Boeing designing an optional folding wingtip (like the folding wings on Navy carrier aircraft) for the 777. The folding wings would have reduced the span of the 777 to that of a DC-10 when taxiing, parked, or hangared. While offered, no airline purchased this option.
Good response. Thanks. The only thing I disagree with is the A380 changing everything. I don’t think the impact is going to be nearly as great as the 747.
Imagine, a whole country named after a piece of men’s neckware.
Two painful accidents in one headline
[over a month later]
LOL!
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