Boeing Reveals Its Cargo Loader

SpeedNews ^ | June 16, 2006

[skeptoid]

***********BOEING REVEALS ITS CARGO LOADER ********************

Boeing has unveiled the first cargo loader to be used to transport large 787 Dreamliner assemblies.

The loader, the longest in the world at 118 ft., 1 inch, was designed and built by TLD at its facility in Sherbrooke, Quebec. Boeing will use the equipment to load three specially modified 747-400s that will allow Boeing to transport major Dreamliner components by air.

"Designing and building a cargo loader of this magnitude is a unique proposition," said Scott Strode, 787 vice president of Airplane Development and Production. "A robust transportation system is essential to meeting the unprecedented customer demand for the Dreamliner, and a safe and efficient cargo loader is critical. We couldn't be more pleased with the result."

An operator seated in a cab atop the giant loader will drive the machine to the parked Large Cargo Freighter (LCF). Sensors will perfectly align it to the LCF's cargo-handling system to ensure safe loading and unloading.

The LCF fleet will ferry 787 wings and fuselage parts from partners in Wichita, KS; Charleston, SC; Grottaglie, Italy; and Nagoya, Japan, to Boeing's Everett factory for final assembly. A cargo loader will be based at each facility. The first loader, and a second to be completed this month, will be disassembled and delivered by ship to Nagoya and Grottaglie for reassembly.

Two of the three LCFs are undergoing modification at Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corp. in Taiwan. The third will follow later. The freighter will make its first flight this summer and be certified by the end of the year. The first two airplanes begin supporting 787 final assembly in 2007.

747 LCF Cargo Loader Fun Facts: Length: 118 ft., 1 inch (36 meters) Width: 27 feet, 6 inches (8.4 meters) Overall height in full "down" position: 13 ft., 9 inches (4.2 meters) Height of cargo deck in full "down" position: 5 ft., 10 inches (1.78 meters) Overall height in full "up" position: 33 ft., 1 inch (10 meters) Height of cargo deck in full "up" position: 25 ft., 4 inches (7.7 meters) Loader Weight Empty: 220,000 pounds (100 tons, 100,000 kilograms) Loader Weight Capacity: 150,000 pounds (68 tons, 680,000 kilograms) Maximum speed: 10 mph (16 kilometers) Number of tires: 32 Number of steerable axles: 16 Number of steering modes: 6

You can view the Cargo Loader at http://www.speednews.com/a/cl/

[USNBandit]

Now that's comedy.

[norton]

I was directly below a Guppy (C97 mutation) when they dropped the flaps on approach - nearly stopped my heart seeing the wing area appear to decrease. In fact, I believe it did/does gain lots of lift from the expanded fuselage.

On another note, the modified 747 should also cut into the business' using Soviet era Antonovs to haul oversize cargo - I know Boeing sometimes hires them today.

[GSlob]

Wouldn't it be less trouble for everybody to build the whole thing in one place - Everett - and not to fly in anything much larger than the engines?

[norraad]

.."oh,my God, the king has no cloths on!",

[ThomasThomas]

These reminded of the thread about a converted 747 made with tanks to fight fires. Then the thread about sweatiest city. What would you do with a jet with (65,000 ?)gallons of sweat?

Iraq?

[VOA]

bump

[dalereed]

" What would you do with a jet with (65,000 ?)gallons of sweat?"

Dump it on a Mosque

[hattend]

There is a DC-6 Freighter that flies in here that does the same thing.

So, it's been done before...just have to engineer it a bit stronger and bigger for the 747.

[skeptoid]

That's the Evergreen International Aviation 747 Supertanker which just completed a month-long demonstration tour.

Check the FAQ page for some unique chacteristics of this AC. It apparently operates within the normal passenger 747 envelope and will always be 75 tons below normal gross weight.

And that's seven of the next largest tankers.

[Robert A Cook PE]

You know, I wonder if some of this is exactly that "corporate I'm not going to let Airbus carry Boeing hulls" one-up-man-ship?

[skeptoid]

Not really.

That would take a lot of new infrastructure and a lot more new jobs/new hires in an area that has seen huge boom and bust. This allows the utilization of work forces in far away locations, but allows them to stay in their own homes with their families and lets their kids grow up in their own schools. It spreads prosperity.

Boeing is looking for previously unimaginable production rates. Their goal is 3 days for final assembly. Durrent 737 assembly is about 11 days. By spreading component manufacture around, they spread risk, allow for natural competition and refinement of the process, and can achieve much higher production and delivery rates.

Eli Whitney, Henry Ford, Henry J Kaiser, et al would be extremely proud of this development of their method.

Did I tell you they plan on assembling a 787 in three days?

[sharpee]

I think it might be turn around time. They need to load and unload as quickly as possible. What is the flight time from Seattle to Italy and back? How many hours do they need for maintenance. The plane can only carry one of these assemblies at a time and with a 3day assembly time every hour counts.