According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Boeing facility in San Antonio is the largest freestanding airplane hangar in the world. It is 1,760 feet long. This massive hangar can fit sixteen C-17 Globemaster Fleet III planes. More than 600 employees work there. Workers have upgraded and delivered almost 1,000 planes from this facility, to locations around the world. The crew boasts 95 percent on time deliveries. Says Boeing C-17 Globemaster III Program Leader Rene Vargas, “What we do now is we basically take a C-17 and do maintenance, overhaul and repairs of the aircraft.”
The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is the Air Force’s primary heavy transport aircraft, developed in the 1980s and delivered from 1994 to 2013. The C-17 routinely performs tactical and strategic airlift missions, as well as medical evacuation and airdrop. It is designed to airdrop 102 paratroopers and their equipment. The C-17 can take off from runways as short as 3,500 feet, and as narrow as 90 feet wide. It can even operate from semi-prepared and unimproved runways, although this increases the risk of damage to the aircraft.
The C-17 is about 174 feet long and has a wingspan of about 170 feet. The cargo compartment is 88 feet long by 18 feet wide. The C-17 is powered by four Pratt & Whitney F117-PW-100 turbo engines.
The final C-17 was completed in the Long Beach, California facility, and launched on November 29th, 2015.
As the 2016 tour nears its end, Iron Maiden reflects on all the fun they had with Ed Force One, the Boeing jumbo jet that took them on their world tour. For starters, the plane has a super cool paint job, with Iron Maiden and The Book of Souls World Tour splashed across the side of the aircraft. The plane was even made into a model, which was sold in hobby shops across America.
This 747 is nicknamed Queen of the Skies. Of course, the music of Iron Maiden plays throughout this video. As the pilot prepares to land in Bermuda, he mentions that this will be his very first landing. But the pilot loves his plane. He says “…it just blows the doors off every other airplane on the planet… If you wanted me to swap Ed Force One, I wouldn’t do it.” The pilot is Bruce Dickinson, vocalist for Iron Maiden. He has been a pilot since 1990, but he got a special airline transport pilot’s license to fly this particular plane on his world tour.
Photo by: Iron Maiden
The touring musicians visited 45 cities. These include Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Mexico City, Sao Paolo, Rio, Buenos Aires, and many other cities throughout the world. Dickinson flew almost 80,000 miles (123,000 kilometers). The band’s longest flight was 11 hours and 24 minutes.
This video features some very cool footage of moving planes, Fort Lauderdale, Iron Maiden, Bruce Dickinson, and more. They seem to be having all kinds of fun, and got some fabulous photos too.
The U-2 Dragonfly is notoriously difficult to land. A great deal of skill is needed to control the aircraft at slow speeds, especially with crosswinds. Typical operations of the U-2 involve a ground support crew and Camaro vehicle to act as a spotter. So imagine our surprise when we found a video showing attempts to trap the U-2 on the deck of the USS Ranger (CVA-61) back in 1964. The U-2, specially modified and known as a U-2G, had additional equipment added to it in order to support carrier ops. The plane had strengthened gear and a tail hook to enable carrier operations.
The U-2G was operated by the CIA. Carrier operations were intended to allow spy flights over French nuclear testing areas in the South Pacific. While some pilots became carrier qualified, the program never became common.
The U-2 fleet continues to serve in the US Air Force today. The U-2 has continuously served for more than 50 years. Over the past decade, the U-2 has undergone a complete technological rebuilding. The latest model is the U-2S Dragon Lady. Although an old frame, the aircraft is considered reliable, responsive, and survivable, with an average mission success rate of 97 percent. She is powered by a General Electric F118-101 turbofan engine. The U-2S is a lightweight aircraft with glider-like characteristics. This model supports global security requirements in all weather conditions, day and night. The Dragon Lady received her most recent upgrade in 2012.
“You can replace computers, phones, designer bags and clothes. You can’t replace people.”
Hours after departing from Trivanduram International Airport in India, a Boeing 777 makes a final approach into Dubai. Details are still emerging, but we can say that the giant plane caught fire and skidded to a stop, forcing all passengers and crew to deplane rapidly via the emergency escape slides.
This video above shows the state of panic and fear after the aircraft came to a stop. Emergencies are routinely trained for by airline pilots and flight attendants, but for regular passengers the ordeal must have been overwhelming. As smoke fills the cabin, the intensity grows. It’s a tribute to the flight crew and airline that all passengers manage to flee and survive.
A video posted by Aviation ™ الطيران العربي (@arabaviation) on
Viewing the plane from the exterior, one gets a sense how devastating the effect could have been. The fire from the crash landing burned the top half of the fuselage clean off. Many of the escape slides, engineered to deploy on a flat, or nearly flat surface, were instead lofted up into the air, resulting in a near vertical drop for the fleeing passengers.
What’s frustrating about this incident is that the video once again shows passengers grabbing their bags from the overhead compartments prior to jumping off the emergency slides. This has become a trend during recent emergency landings, even ones with smoke and fire actively burning on or near the aircraft. Remember the British Airways 777 that caught fire in Las Vegas last year? Photos showed passenger walking on the runway with their bags too.
Here’s the deal. Staying on a burning jet to grab your bag or your computer can be the difference between life and death for you and other people on a compromised plane. Planes aren’t fire-proof structures. They aren’t designed to be fireproof. Outside the attractive cabin you see are thousands of pounds of fuel in fuel tanks, hydraulic lines, insulation, engine oil and more…all flammable materials.
Aircraft manufacturers design their planes to be evacuated in 90 seconds or less. They design the number of emergency exits based on the expected passengers that the jet that they will carry. Manufacturers nor the FAA account for the fact that passengers will block the aisles to grab their bags. In evacuation tests, they assume that every passenger on the flight will exit the aircraft in an expeditious manner. Based on recent accidents, this is not how passengers are behaving when told to evacuate.
While technology has improved to make aircraft safer and more robust, there is still significant danger of a compromised aircraft after a crash. If you are told to evacuate by crew, you should get up and leave the plane. The only thing you should take with you is your child. Leave everything else behind. Computers, clothes, designer purses all can be replaced. Human life can’t.
The crew failed to calculate the proper takeoff numbers, causing a jumbo 747 to hit a pier at the end of the runway.
This airline training video dates back to July 30th, 1971. It features a Pan Am Boeing 747 called Clipper America. The flight was for a planned departure to Tokyo. Due to performance miscalculations by the crew, the aircraft used the improper flap setting and based their calculations on a runway that was actually 1,000 feet shorter than anticipated. The plane failed to achieve the required rotation speed by the end of the usable runway. The plane, weighing 197,000 kilos rotated after the end of the runway. It hit piers and threshold lights as it attempted to lumber into the air. Three out of 4 hydraulic systems were damaged and the fuselage was breached. A hunk of iron went right through the back of a passenger seat, which happened to have no passenger in it at the time. The aircraft was badly damaged by collision. Clipper America was forced to return to SFO to make an emergency landing at the same airport.
Due to hydraulic failure, the aircraft only had 1/6th of its control capability. In the video, you’ll see that there is barely any flare as the plane attempts to land. Gear that was damaged on departure caught fire on landing . With no nose wheel steering, the aircraft drifted off the runway, where the fire from the botched landing was actually extinguished by dirt.
An evacuation was started once the aircraft came to a full stop. Crew miscommunication delayed evacuation. It took about 30 seconds for the first slide to be deployed, and about 45 seconds before the first passenger exited the plane. Some of the door slides failed to deploy and others deployed incorrectly. Then the plane tipped onto its tail, lifting the front door slides and causing them to become almost vertical. This resulted in serious injuries sustained by several passengers. Emergency vehicles can be seen rushing to the site of the accident.
The bottom line is that it was a bad day…all caused by a lack of attention to detail. What’s the lesson here? Double check your takeoff data, pilots!
In a move that surprised no one, Amazon officially unveiled Prime Air last night. Prime Air is the name given to the company’s fleet of 767 freighters. The used freighters have been acquired to expand Amazon’s ability to deliver its massive offering of services to its customers faster.
The plan for Prime Air involves up to 40 aircraft. It’s important to note that Amazon will not actually become an airline. The aircraft will be operated by Atlas Air and ATSG on behalf of Amazon.
There are a couple of interesting facts about this first Prime Air aircraft. First, the tail number is N1997A which is undoubtedly a nod to the year Amazon was founded. Additionally, there is a large Amazon logo on the belly of the aircraft similar to Delta or Emirates belly logos. The aircraft is a former Atlas Air aircraft that was built in 1992. It also flew for Sobelair, Kenya Airways, Vietnam Airlines, and Air Europa.
Pan American World Airways, or PanAm, was a cultural icon of the 20th century. It was the largest international air carrier in the United States from 1927 until it went out of business in 1991, and filed for bankruptcy. Why did this once high flying airline fail?
PanAm was once a trendsetter in the airline industry
At its founding, PanAm’s area of operation was between Key West, Florida and Havana, Cuba. The airline eventually became a major company with many innovations to its credit.
These innovations included the widespread use of jet aircraft, jumbo jets, and computerized reservation systems. The computer, which was installed in 1964, occupied the entire fourth floor of PanAm’s office building.
The airline was known for its rigorous training of employees. PanAm’s flagship terminal was the Worldport at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.
How did the airline that once defined success falter, then fail?
For a while, PanAm was the only company doing what it did with a technology advantage, a strong reputation for glamour and exclusive route authority. The airline enjoyed many advantages. This all changed after World War II, when competitors started competing for the same business. PanAm kept up with its competitors for quite a while.
The downturn of PanAm began with the 1973 oil crisis. Some of us remember people sitting in lines that winded down the road from gas stations where gasoline was rationed. PanAm had already spent millions trying to keep up with the competitors.
It had just purchased a fleet of Boeing 747s, assuming that the interest in passenger flight would continue to rise. Then the company was faced with skyrocketing fuel costs. The airline never did financially recover. It struggled with labor strife. PanAm attempted to stop the bleeding by selling off its Pacific routes and US domestic network.
However, the downing of PanAm 103 in a terrorist attack and the Gulf War doomed the recovery efforts. PanAm finally ceased service on December 4, 1991. It was an unfitting end to an airline that once represented the best of American aviation.
News story highlights the tragic end of a once great airline
This video, released right after the shutdown, painfully documents how PanAm fell from grace. The end was tragic, but the video is a fascinating look at the many challenges that PanAm faced.
Cross Country Flights Used to Be Pretty Snazzy Back in the 1960s.
This is a quaint little vintage instructional video, filmed in 1961, from the days when movies were made on film, and Kennedy Airport was still called Idlewylde. The movie is called An Airplane Trip by Jet. The featured plane is United Airlines flight 801, a jet traveling from New York to San Francisco. This movie features nostalgic areal shots of Manhattan, Denver, and San Francisco.
The film is a rare find of a black and white period piece. It shows you the swinging jetway, through which passengers can board the plane directly from the waiting room. It shows the containers holding people’s luggage, and a unique proprietary system that loaded the containers the plane from underneath, with the help of a conveyor belt. The video also shows the control tower where controllers direct jets and props around the field. The film even takes you on a tour of the cockpit, from where the Captain has many instruments to help him man the plane.
image via bill larkins
Security seems a bit loose back in the day. There is no TSA yet. And pets don’t seem to need to prove that they are up to date on their shots to board the plane as long as they have a ticket. The seats on the plane are way too roomy but after sitting in a middle seat on a cross-country flight, I wish it was still that way! There’s even a lounge at the front of the plane. The flight attendants are called Hostesses. No one has a cell phone or a personal computer. What’s more, every man wears a hat. It’s a look back at a simpler time.
After 31 years, her curtain call will come this weekend.
Before N659SW wore this Canyon Blue and the Desert Gold of Southwest, this 737-301 was with Western Pacific (N950WP) and was adorned with a photo of Aki, who was the star showgirl of “Enter the Night” from Las Vegas’s Stardust Casino.
Western Pacific Airlines of Colorado Springs utilized their fleet of 737-300s as “Logojets” or flying billboards with advertisements from everything from casinos and resorts to rental cars and television stations.
After starting her career with Piedmont in May of 1985 then moving on to USAir just before her time WestPac and finally with Southwest, she will be retired this weekend having spent 31 years flying throughout America’s skies.
The B-52 BUFF is one hell of a machine. With 8 ear-piercing turbojet engines and a smoke trail longer than the Marlboro Man, the BUFF roared over the head of an avgeek at RAF Fairford in England.
The BUFF is an incredible aircraft. The B-52 first flew in 1952. Boeing built 744 B-52s over the life of the program. It’s been involved in every major US conflict since the Vietnam war. Each B-52 can carry up to 70,000 lbs of armament. The B-52 has dropped everything from nuclear weapons to the X-15 to more conventional precision guided cruise missiles today.
There are only currently 102 B-52H models still in operation. B-52 H-models are stationed at Minot, North Dakota and Barksdale AFB. The B-52 is also deployed to the Middle East and Guam. With life-extension and corrosion prevention programs for the BUFF, the aircraft is expected to be the first aircraft that remains in sustained service for an entire century.
The A350 is Airbus’s technologically advanced answer to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Instead of a direct competitor, the A350 series spans the gap between the 787 and larger 777. Now, Airbus is getting closer to flying the new Airbus A350-1000. The largest of the A350 series, the -1000 can comfortably carry 366 passengers in a typical three class layout.
The A350-1000 features massive Rolls Royce Trent XWB-97 engines that can each produce up to 97,000 lbs of thrust. The new Airbus will be able to fly over 8,000nm non-stop. Airbus currently has 181 orders for their twin-engined ‘flagship’ jet (the A380 being Airbus’s actual flagship aircraft). United Airlines is the only US customer that has committed to the aircraft.
The A350-1000 is scheduled to fly later this year with first delivery in mid-2017.
For the first fifty years, the Boing Airplane Company focused largely on the development and manufacture of aircraft. World War II accelerated the demand for larger, higher performance, more capable military aircraft, and Boeing, as did many other manufacturers, benefitted by war time spending. In the years afterward, Boeing continued along a path to very successful commercial and military aircraft programs.
Boeing has pursued several strategies to diversify its businesses including investing in new ventures, mergers and outright purchase of other companies.
As of 2015 the Boeing Company is divided into two major business areas, the Boeing Airplane Company (BCA), focused on the development of commercial airliners, and Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS) that encompasses military aircraft, space and defense systems.
These units of the Boeing company are further compartmentalized into more focused business areas. Parts 1 and 2 of this series focused heavily or Boeing aircraft programs, both civil and military. This part will focus on other programs, most of which fall under Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS). The following are examples of key Boeing products and programs. There are many more.
Boeing has had a lackluster record with newly designed military aircraft in the late 1900s and beyond. Their proposal for the Advanced Tactical Fighter was not selected for prototype, and their prototype for the Joint Strike Fighter lost to Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II. Still, Boeing has been active in the military aircraft market as a result of mergers and acquisitions, especially its purchase of McDonnel Douglas (MD) in 1997.
CH-47 Chinook (Wikipedia)
Boeing Acquired Aircraft Programs
Boeing Vertol – In the early 1960s, Boeing bought the Vertol company (formerly Piasecki Helicopter) that became Boeing Vertol. In 1962, Boeing began production of the CH-47 Chinook, a tandem-rotor heavy-lift. It could carry vehicles and artillery slung beneath the aircraft. It is one of the few 1960s era aircraft that is still in production. More than 1200 have been produced.
2000 F/A-18 Super Hornet – The Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet is a larger version of the aircraft developed from the McDonnell Douglas Hornet acquired when Boeing purchase MD in 1997. More than 1480 have been built and the aircraft is still in production.
050817-N-3488C-028 Pacific Ocean (Aug. 17, 2005) – An F/A-18C Hornet, assigned to the “Golden Dragons” of Strike Fighter Squadron One Nine Two (VFA-192), launches from the flight deck of the conventionally powered aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63). Kitty Hawk and embarked Carrier Air Wing Five (CVW-5) are currently returning to their homeport after a scheduled deployment in the 7th Fleet area of responsibility. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 3rd Class Jonathan Chandler (RELEASED)
F-15 – McDonnell Douglas had international contracts for the F-15 at the time the company was purchased by Boeing. Boeing continued manufacture of the F-15 to fulfill the outstanding contracts. More than 1600 F-15s, in all variants were produced through 2011.
AV-8 Harrier II – Acquired in the MD merger, the AV-8B Harrier II has been supported jointly by Boeing and BAE Systems. Approximately 340 aircraft were produced in a 22-year production program that ended in 2003.
Space Systems
Boeings Space Systems is the world’s largest satellite manufacturer; also offering launch vehicles, strategic missile and defense systems, and other space and intelligence systems. The business has more than 60 years of space exploration expertise.
Launch Vehicles and Boosters
Boeing Launches Trip to the Moon – The Saturn V – The Saturn V is a multistage liquid-fuel expendable rocket, capable of putting a 120-pound payload in orbit, used by NASA’s Apollo and Skylab programs.
Between 1967 and 1973, the Saturn launched 12 Apollo missions. In 1968 Apollo 8 successfully launched the first lunar orbital mission, and later in 1969 Apollo 11 delivered astronauts to lunar orbit to make the first landing on the moon’s surface. As of 2016, it is still the most powerful launch vehicle ever flown.
1969 The Lunar Roving Vehicle – Atop Boeing’s Saturn V launch vehicle for missions 15 16, and 17 was the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV). The golf-cart sized “moon” buggy was a battery-powered four-wheeled vehicle used on the three lunar missions in 1971 and 1972. LRV technology had earthly applications including motorized wheelchairs that are common today.
Space Exploration
The International Space Station
International Space Station – The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest, most complex international scientific and engineering space project in history. In 1993, NASA selected Boeing as the Prime Contractor for the ISS. Boeing is responsible for design, development, construction and integration of the ISS and for assisting NASA in operating the orbital outpost. Because this is an international effort, Boeing is also responsible for coordination and oversight of thousands of subcontractors around the world. The ISS is expected remain operational through 2024 and beyond.
Boeing Mariner 10 – The Boeing Mariner 10 probe was launched in 1973 to make the first dual-planet flyby of Mercury and Venus. By March 1974, Mariner 10 had sent hundreds of television images and large quantities of data back to Earth. It revealed cloud circulation patterns and the lack of a magnetic field on Venus and took the first high-resolution photographs of Mercury’s cratered surface.
Boeing CST-100 Starliner – The Crew Space Transportation CST-100 Starliner is a spacecraft design under construction by Boeing. Its primary mission is to transport crew to the International Space Station. Boeing’s CST has been developed through a series of three awards, totaling a $571 million. In 2014, NASA selected the CST-100 along with SpaceX Dragon V2 to fly two astronauts to the ISS in 2018.
UAVs
Boeing X-37B
X-43 Hyper-X – The X-43 was an unmanned aircraft to test hypersonic flight at speeds in excess of Mach 9. Airborne-launched from a large airplane, a booster rocked accelerated the Hyper-X to its target speed, was discarded, after which two scramjets (supersonic flow ramjet) engines powered the aircraft. Three X-43s were built and tested, achieving a speed of 9.6 Mach (7310 mph).
X-51 – The Boeing X-51 WaveRider is an unmanned research scramjet aircraft for hypersonic speeds of Mach 5 (3,300 mph; 5,300 km/h), an altitude of 70,000 feet (21,000 m). It completed its first powered hypersonic flight in 2010. One test vehicle reached a speed in excess of Mach 5 for 210 seconds. X-51 technology will be used in the High Speed Strike Weapon (HSSW), a Mach 5+ missile planned to enter service in the mid-2020s.
The Boeing X-37, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), is a reusable unmanned spacecraft that is boosted into orbit by a launch vehicle. It can remain in orbit for long periods—several years. It then re-enters Earth’s atmosphere and lands as a conventional spaceplane. On its third test flight it remained in orbit 675 days. There has been some mystery regarding the nature of its mission while in orbit. Two X-37s were built and both have flown successfully.
Missiles
Minuteman Missile – Boeing was awarded the contract to assemble and test the LGM-30 Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile system in 1960.The LGM-30 Minuteman, a land-based, solid fuel rocket, entered service in 1962 and is still operational. At its peak, more than a 1,000 missiles were “on alert” in underground silos. Some 400+ missiles are still deployed. The number will be reduced to 400 as part of the START treaty.
AGM-86B – The Boeing AGM-86B/C air-launched cruise missile is a long-range subsonic, 3,200-pound self-guided missile carried by a B-52 bomber at high and low altitudes that could be fitted with either a nuclear or conventional warhead. With terrain-following radar, it could navigate at low altitude for more than 1,500 miles to a ground target. One B-52 could carry and launch up to20 missiles. By October 1986, Boeing had built 1,715 AGM-86 missiles. Non-nuclear versions were used in first Persian Gulf War in 1991.
Other Programs
Joint Venture ULA – United Launch Alliance (ULA) is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Space Systems and Boeing Defense, Space & Security formed in December 2006 to provide spacecraft launch services to the US Government. The ULA held a monopoly on military launches for more than a decade, until the US Air Force awarded a GPS satellite contract to SpaceX in 2016.
The Outlook for Boeing
Over the next ten years, trends suggest two parallel paths. First, the commercial airline business will continue to be healthy, if not strong. There are many airliners that will soon begin to be taken out of service either because they have reached then end of their practical service life, or new, more fuel efficient aircraft will make them fiscally impractical. In this arena, Boeing will have to remain competitive against Airbus Industries, and possibly some emerging competition from fledgling production programs in other countries, namely China and possibly Russia.
On the military side of the equation, Boeing can be expected continue to look for opportunities for diversity. Having purchased McDonnell Douglas, Vertol, and Hughes Aircraft, Boeing may be in a position to bid on new military aircraft opportunities, but these will be infrequent.
Boeing will have to remain sharp in the space exploration sector, too. Its alliance with Lockheed Martin is likely to see strong competition from launch vehicles like SpaceX. Boeing is in a position to leverage its development experience in high-performance unmanned aircraft, especially for an unmanned combat aircraft or the X-37 Orbital Test Vehicle.
Culturally, Boeing has been able to adjust to markets and find a way to remain profitable. Of course, the character of any company can change rapidly due to unforeseen vagaries of markets and/or a shift in the attitudes of management, board of directors, or stockholders.
My pick for Boeing’s future come from their most forward looking programs, the 787 in the commercial aircraft arena, and the CST-100 Starliner for next-decade near-space access, X-51 Wave-Rider technology for hyper speed travel, and the X-37 Orbital Test Vehicle for routine movement trips into space beyond the 2020s.
From my armchair perspective, therefore, I anticipate that Boeing will remain strong for the next decade, and if they can remain alert for future opportunities, the company could be around for another 50 to 100 years. Exactly what their product line will look like is difficult to predict, but as we move deeper into space, my guess is that Boeing will be there.
