Posted on 08/31/2016 9:19:54 AM PDT by EveningStar
Joe Sutter, who was dubbed Father of the 747 by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, has died at age 95. As the former chief engineer of Boeings 747, Sutter is credited with leading the birth of the first widebody airliner, which ushered in the globe-shrinking age of mass air travel.
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Notice anything peculiar about these aircraft? Points to anybody (else) who knows what's going on here.
Veered off the runway?
Yes. The engine closest to the pilot is much larger than the other three? What did I win?
I had got promoted and needed to fly from DC to the West Coast in 1970.
My new boss’s secretary made reservations for me. She and my new boss said it was like sitting in a theatre and having the theatre take off.
They were right, and it was an incredible round trip flight.
Later, we relocated to the west coast, and my family flew out in a 747. My wife and kids ages 4 and 3 @ that time, and they still remember that flight in 1971.
Since, then air flights have become like cattle hauling with us as the cattle. TSA has made air travel even worse.
True. Any idea why?
one of the greats. RIP
Not being an engineer, I can only hazard a guess. Perhaps a new engine design was being tested to be used on a new plane like the 787 if not the 747 itself.
It is a test aircraft. The larger engine is the one being tested.
It’s used to test new engines. Three proven engines and one test, so if anything goes wrong with the test, the plane and pilots are ok.
Operational flight test of a new engine.
Aircraft is a test bed. Engine test cells are fine, but you can only learn so much in them. Get it on the wing and in the air?
However, it should be noted that Airbus has "loaned" one of their A380 prototypes to Rolls-Royce for use as an engine testbed. The Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engine used on the Airbus A350XWB airliner had its test flights mounted on one of the engine pylons of an A380 test plane.
I needed that guy to make improvements in my fleet of 747’s that I’m going to own after I win the lottery and build an empire that will need them.
Engine testing.
I firmly blelieve that if we went, in the Delorean time machine, back to 1857 and met the foreman at the old Waltham plant and told him we were from 2016 he would be amazed.
If we told him that watch the worker is assembling would “STILL be working as new in 2016, can you believe it?”
I think he would be furious, exclaiming, “Why are you so surprised it’s still going...of course it is still going..it is supposed to. We don’t build junk here you know.”
2nd photo did not post.
As best I can tell:
The top aircraft is owned by GE, and testing the GEnx engine for the 787.
The lower aircraft is owned by Rolls Royce, and is testing an engine for the 777.
Although I've flown the A380 a few times (a nice aircraft to be sure) the 747 always has been,and always *will* be,the Queen of the Skies.
Btw, computers have been used since the late 30s including for all the projects you mention.
Even assuming your statement is factually correct, one might point out that the computer is a modern form of a slide rule. It is designed/engineered/programmed by human engineers.
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