I guess maybe I'm just dense, and the 340 was a nice aircraft, but with heavy twins like the 757 and 767 already out there and the 777 well on the way to launch and ETOPS certification and all, why in the sam hill did Airbus go with 4 engines. Maybe I answered my own question though as fuel wasn't half the price it is now. Happy Days
Exactly. Safety. Because you should always be able to divide the number of engines by two and come up with at least two.
Of course I say that tongue-in-cheek as a guy that puts over 500 hours a year on PC12s, including over water and mountainous terrain, and always in bad weather.....or so it seems lately. :D
Well, in that regard you probably won't find anybody to disagree with you, but as in most cases, $ rules. To me, it took a lot of getting used to when the 707 went away and I inherited a 757. Besides the fact of not having them other 2 out there, it took a lot more planning and work on what had been a cut/dried flight plan, but like anything else, afterawhile you get used to it.
And a very fine machine is a PC12 but it won't carry quite as many passengers or as much freight as the types mentioned .On the other hand , PT6 failure thankfully is a very rare event . Safe flying Rob .
It took me years of flying out of ASE in a PC12 to stop thinking about 'what if the engine wets the bed?'. I miss having another engine but every engine failure I ever had was in a twin and I sure can't complain about the costs to operate PC12s.
I may be thinkin'about some of the Airlines requiring it for their guys. Per your comment below, I'm not an Airbus fan but that is one good lookin airplane.
Back in 1990s Boeing was having a hard time trying to sell its new 777 airliner and out of desperation they bought a number of 340s from Singapore Airlines (trade-in style) and this prompted a spat as Airbus considered it a violation of fair trade practices and in retaliation put ot some terrible, awful ads claiming that 4 engines are safer than 2 engines when they themselves started it all in the 1970s. They shot templelves in both legs and feet but still Boing foreced them to cancel that ad. Oh, nothing beats good spirited competition (LOL).
This is not unusual in the airplane business. I don't remember the exact situation, but back about 23 years ago, Boeing did a deal with an airline which had already placed and order for Airbus A310s. Boeing accepted the A310s directly from Airbus and delivered 767s to the customer. The joke at the time that Boeing likely nit picked those A310s before accepting them!
That seems very weird. Boeing buying Airbus planes-something I've never heard of. What are they going to do with them-resell? What does Airbus thing of it?
Now they have some of the competitions planes to do testing on... LOL, find there weak points! I hope they have a big enough computer to hold all the data, because I am sure they will find a lot of down falls, and not much they could add to their planes.
I wonder who really pushed for the extended ETOPS rules . Might they have been based in Seattle and might they have had some political influence which might have benefitted their stock holders (and the politicians) . Surely that couldn't happen at the expense of passenger safety ?? . But on an even more serious note , the nightmare senario of total mechanical or electrical failure leading to human and aircraft loss is far more probable with a twin then with a triple or four engined ship , and I have no doubt that it will happen . My cynicism is inherited and also influenced by experience .
While Boeing does not sell used aircraft themselves even of their one make, Airbus does so if you are interested this is the link http://www.controller.com/list/list.aspx?ETID=1&setype=1&catid=3&Manu=AIRBUS No price is given but looking for that info through Mr. Google I found a number of used aircraft sellers offering 340-300s for a reasonable $15 million to an impossible quote of $ 75 million for a 2007 mod. 340-600. With these ex-Chinese Airways flooding the market soon, prices will hit rock bottom so you could consider buying one to take the family for an outing to the Hebrides or Galapagos on on the spur of the moment, they will love it!
Year and 1/2 and Loving it. Working Maint Control now. You have me at a disadvantage. Can't place you right now? Where do I know you from, because your alias does nto ring a bell?
All going well, not seeing any major problems. Went though this with USAir. All will work out and they will come out stronger. Still trying to figure out the BR. Are you from ROA, SBY or MEM?
It don't matter Bryan. I'd had that user name a long time. I just got tired of all the crap there that was happening last month and changed it back. At one time it was on there anyway. I can't remember when my name came out there. It just showed up one day and I left it.lol I'll let you know on the physical.
I got ya.. Working my brain too hard... Hope all is going well. Been wanting to email you, but I have so many projects right now, not sure what is next.. Hope retirement is treating you well.
Yeah, I still been doing some fill in but but more sweet tea drinking and fishing lately. My physical is up at month end; I'm going up tomorrow and take it but with a new crowd at OKC, I don't know if they waiver the diabetes again or not. They have for about the last 10-12 years and no change. If they don't I don't even think I can pass a 3rd class with that or not. Guess we'll see.LOL
WOW, I thought I knew who you were... But now I think I lost it. Would like to make contact with you. I have setup a temp email address. Send me an email to sparkie951@lavaa.net.
I traded my Government Motors car at the Ford dealer recently. Same deal. Put em on the used car lot or sell em to a wholesaler. Just more zeros is all.
Would you or anybody else know what happened to those Singapore Airlines 340s that Boeing took in back in the 1990s in order to sell it the new 777s. Some folks claimed that Boeing destroyed them as it was totally unthinkable to resell them even a a cut rate price.
As you say, it is a normal business practice and by itself, wouldn't be viewed as uncommon what with folks trying to get into twins instead of 4 engines. What does make it peculiar is the flap right now between China and the EU over the carbon tax thing. While not the only one getting involved, China is the most direct and outspoken critic of it and the only government to get behind/dictate to their companies what line to take. This may just simply be economics though, as there were no AB orders cut or cancelled.
I don't kmnow where you got this info, in fact it is totally wrong and I will quote what Boeing's website says about it "Boeing generally does not sell used aircraft. Used aircraft are usually sold by third parties not associated with Boeing. To help you find these used aircraft, Boeing has provided links to these parties found on the Airplane Sourcing page at StartupBoeing" And to prove it, this is the listing of used aircraft that they themselves are NOT offering but of the brokers to whom Boeing refers to http://active.boeing.com/commercial/am/index.cfm?content=include/reports.cfm&pageid=m38072 as you can see there is not a single Airbus example, and never was. See this is not a used-car dealership where you find all sorts of makes.
Boeing may soon be looking for buyers for long-range passenger jets built by arch-rival Airbus under a rare trade-in deal with China's third largest airline that underscores all-out competition between the plane makers.
