Jaunted

Tags: No Sleep Till Dubai / Emirates / A380 / A350 / → All Tags

Emirates Pilots Can't Sleep; We Hope A350 Solves Their Problem

Had enough A380 news this year? We think we've almost reached our fill of tales of the new superjumbo, although the complaints from Emirates pilots that the plane runs so quietly they can't sleep definitely amused us. Apparently the sounds of screaming babies, flushing toilets and call buttons being pushed is no longer drowned out by engine noise and the pilots are not impressed.

The overly-quiet problem aside, we think we're ready to move on to the A350. It's the first Airbus plane to be largely constructed from carbon fiber reinforced plastic and should compete against Boeing's 777s and 787s.

Emirates is starting to look ahead to these planes too. They've said they expect to see the final design this February and have ordered 70 of the aircraft already. Hopefully the new design makes the A350 noisy enough for the pilots to sleep. And yep, we know that sentence doesn't make sense--obviously Emirates pilots are a special breed.

Related Stories:
· Emirates Air Expects A350 Design By Feb '09 [CNN]
· A380 Is Too Quiet Say Sleepless Pilots [The Age]
· Emirates coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: hartlandmartin]

Tags: Dreamliner / Boeing / A350 / 787 / → All Tags

Boeing's Dreamliner Not Happening Until 2009

Yes, Dreamliners in 2008 was just a dream.

The eagerly anticipated Dreamliner airplane from Boeing (also known as the 787) won't be in service until sometime in 2009.

Test flights for the massive plane were delayed again until July, the second such delay for the Dreamliner. Deliveries won't happen until early 2009, meaning you won't fly one of these bad boys 'til mid-2009 at the earliest.

Production delays and parts shortages are mostly to blame for the push-back.

Boeing is building more than half of the plane with carbon- fiber composites instead of aluminum, making it the first airliner of its kind. The Dreamliner is also Boeing's first attempt at a production process where suppliers deliver fully completed wing and fuselage parts.

"Completing the first plane is setting the pace to first flight,'' 787 program manager Pat Shanahan said on the call.``If anything has been learned here, it's how long it will take to complete somebody else's work. We thought we could modify our final assembly system to accommodate suppliers' work. We were wrong.''

Meanwhile Airbus SAS has some company in the mega-airplane delays department. Their widebody A350 (an answer to the Dreamliner) won't deliver until 2013. But at least they still have the A380.

[Photo: Life of Luxury]