747-8: Flight Report

The Atlanta aquarium has a deal where you can scuba dive in their big tank (largest in the world) with the whale sharks.

 

An A310 (passenger), wow those are getting are too!

 

Lou,

Any of your friends 787 pilots? I know you're cargo and they're not, but...

Are they just sitting, or flying other planes?

 

Hopefully they are not sitting.

 

Didn't Boeing build the 787 to have the same type rating as the 777 and 767 ??, i thought i heard that mentioned somewhere in the sales pitch to airlines as to reduce pilot training costs etc and increase pilot cross over. I may be wrong in calling it a rating but I'm sure i remember something about the similarity being talked about...LOU help us out..

 

Thanks, Lou... so they can go to 777 with very minimal training?

I just read that the Air India pilots are just sitting with full pay. They don't want to re-train if the 787 will be flying again in a few months.

 

Nice video. Thanks for sharing.

 

I viewed the video on the 747-8 and I was struck by the reference to the " Incredibles" as some sort of historical force. I remember then that there were all sorts of iconic symbols in the plant and references to the incredibles but it was simply another thing to boost our our efforts and we didn't think much of it. But now it is startling to see and hear it referred to as an entity in itself. I was one of the Incredibles in 1968-70 and we didn't have a clue that we were doing anything else but busting our butts to get another airplane out the door. This program was worse than the others, for sure, but we knew that the company was in a tight spot to get it out and everyone pulled all the stops. We had to or we would have been fired. I remember seeing some gurneys in the transportation aisles a couple of times. There aren't many Incredibles left now.

 

I know you're too humble to admit it, but you're still "Incredible", Bob.

 

Still a tough economy in the freighter business

From Speednews

Boeing flew another 747-8 Freighter directly into long-term storage from final assembly on 1 July as demand for main deck cargo aircraft continues to flatline. The 747-8F assigned to Nippon Cargo Airlines completed the 2h flight from Everett, Washington, to the Pinal Airpak in Arizona, where it joined a fleet of at least three other 747-8Fs – each with a list price of $350 million-in long term storage. This was the second 747-8F assigned to Nippon Cargo flown directly to the Arizone desert. The Japanese freighter operator continues to fly two of the 14 747-8Fs it has order, but passed on receiving the last two deliveries. It is to feceive another 747-8F in September but it is unclear if the carrier will be in position to take the aircraft.

Rob Morris senior aviation analyst at FlightGlobal’s Ascend consultancy arm notes that the 747-8F assigned to Nippon Cargo Airlines still bears a Boeing registration; perhaps implying that the carrier has not obtained financing to complete the purchase. The growing fleet of parked 747-8F’s reflects the larger trends in the struggling air cargo sector, he says. As demand for air cargo remains weak, capacity continues to grow as passenger aircraft with belly cargo holds enter the global fleet in record numbers. ‘’Yields can only be getting worse, which challenges main deck freighters’’, Morris says

 

I think the USAF still has a few CT-43s flying, basically a -200 if memory serves. I did about 50 hours of training in one. One memorable flight envolved doing some low level flying out at a MOA in west Texas or Oklahoma bough I can't remember righ now. The 737 definitely wasn't built to fly 500-1000" AGL but it was fun. If I remember correctly the instructors said they were the lowest hour 737-200s around. Somewhere I still have my hand drawn charts.... I think they even had us plot out the SIDs and STARs for San Antonio though I can't remember what the heck for.

 

The 757/767 is the only common type rating. In training they told us that there would not be anymore common ratings.

 

There was another new Air Bridge Cargo on the flight line a couple of days ago. You'll probably see that one down there too.

 

Lou, what's the deal? According to Flight International, NCA rejected delivery of two -8s that are now parked and rumor is a third will be rejected in September. This says NCA didn't take delivery of them, and that both still belong to Boeing. Any info?

Ironically the last built -400ERF was never delivered and still parked for three years running still wearing N797BA reg.

 

Lou, where are all the great reports and pictures, keep 'em coming we cant get enough of them.