Land-O-Goshen there fella! Whomever did you think taught her the "inverted, slow speed manuever"?? Or the "Reverse Skilinsky with a twist"??
With the debacle taking place at Scarebus with their A380 and the emergence of the 747-8, 747 LCF and the 787, stay tuned for some big events. Switches
Well, I have stood next to this thing on all sides. Definitely untilitarian. Sreamlined/flush riveted only where necessary. There are layers upon layers of reinforcement around the forward join areas and access doors with many external splice plates and shoes on the sides. Where the bulge meets the original roof panels there is a smooth brow piece but everywhere else external in the join area there are protruding fastener heads and in some cases protruding collars! (nuts) in the high pressure/boundry areas. There are "flow tassles" hanging around the front high pressure areas of the bulge and many more around the aft join areas, I'm sure to see where they need to improve flow characteristics, possibly with vortex generators. There are a number of ventrally located pressure relief slots in the rear, this being an unpressurized A/P to begin with. The pressure bulkhead is just aft of the first set of passenger access doors. I am told that it flexes 7 inches aft when the front two decks are pressurized. They have an extremely heavy duty Hyster lift truck (100 ton?) located crosswise under the aft section with a 4 axis floating body pin support fitting that will perform the opening and closing duties of the tail section through a computer controlled, radial driving program so the back half of the plane doesn't get torn off. They haven't opened it yet today but it was demonstrated in Taipei for the FAA before it flown into US airspace. The engines are being removed at this time for replacements and it's being prepped for paint I would guess. They really NEED to do the Oscar Meyer paint scheme on this! The original floor still exists, though reinforced, and both original lower lobe cargo doors are still functional. It appears from pictures that the loads will be carried by rails down the outboard sides of the main cargo bay so the floor beams themselves appear to be more for structural integrity of the fuselage. More news as it developes.
They got the thing opened up today but not to the full 90 degrees required due to some hinge fairing "clearancing" that is being required. I counted 21 gear driven pin/latches roughly 3" in diameter around the circumference with 7 or so "groove and roller" alignment fittings interspersed. There is also a monocoque box/beam affair that extends aft from the lower main body for a large roller to ride up on to assure alignment and support during latching. Not counting the lower lobe cargo, the clear-span from floor to ceiling is about the same as a three story house. Astounding!! The only limitations to what this A/P can carry will be limited by what it's maximum landing weight can be.
The tail is open all the way now. The outboard 20% of the L/H horizontal stabilizer overlaps the outboard end of the L/H wing. A VERY strange sight. I can't snap any pictures in here but you can bet some will show up on airliners.net when it goes into service.............................
Wings and stuff being unloaded. It's roughly 3 stories tall inside, not including the lower lobe cargo area. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Its like "Humm we need something big to haul the 787 bodies... Wait i know leets just make a big a** 747..." Its much like the Airbus Beluga... But i like Boeing better...
The Beluga is pretty slick. It reminds me a 90's version of the Super Guppy. I used to see Guppies flying around Seattle when I was a kid, some with radial engines. Sounded great! I am surprised they haven't tried the same thing with an A340
The Boeing Dreamlifter, the specially modified 747-400 used to transport the major assemblies of the 787 Dreamliner, on Saturday was granted type certification by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. The certification recognizes that the Dreamlifter has successfully passed all of the stringent testing and safety requirements required by the FAA. "This certification reflects not only the safety and reliability of the Dreamlifter, but also its remarkable performance," said Scott Strode, 787 vice president of Airplane Definition and Production. The Dreamlifter does not need to be certified by other regulatory agencies. I think this will open the door for production of more Dreamlifters for the private sector heavy lift companies like Atlas & Polar
