Quote:
Originally Posted by hotspur
Yes Larry,the people at the service center in Brisbane,said the same-and the 767 is very reliable .
Many years ago,a Canadian 767 ran out of fuel mid flight! and ended up gliding many miles and landing safely,on an old runway.The pilot was a very good glider pilot (perhaps the main thing that saved all)-he somehow flew the plane side-ways to slow it down!,and then had knowledge of the old runway-only to find it had been turned into a race track-and was in use!
Was the first boeing that had liters instead of gallons,the fuel crew made a mistake,the flight crew did not pick up on it,there were some other reasons for near mishap.
Anyhow-that Canadian 767 is still in use! after all that time,and no nose gear landing-they call it 'the Gilmor glider' (after the old runway)
Will be a very sad day when there are no more of these beautiful planes left in Qantas fleet.Must be a wired feeling for the crew on this last flight of OGG (an all female crew on this last flight) hope Qantas can afford to give them tickets to get back home.
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Forgive me, the pilot in me is going to play devil's advocate.
Re the Gimli Glider (the correct name for the incident sorry) - yes, a famous incident (fuel is measured in kilograms or pounds - the weight was incorrect and there was also a system fault and later complete loss of EFIS after the double flame out), but nothing overly outstanding. See the fairly recent A330 of Air Transat that glided 135 nautical miles dry.
Additionally, the Gimli Glider, C-GAUN, is similarly retired to the Mojave Complex (2008).
All aircraft, regardless of manufacturer have a glide ability, some better than others. The glide ratio determines the distance covered per altitude. Also, the sideslip maneuvre that was done at both Gimli and in the Azores is nothing unusual at all - its not flying sideways, moreso it is flying with the leading wing down, and the aircraft skewed off "centreline", so that a high proportion of drag is created, enabling loss of altitude and speed (unless the nose is dropped). It is a VERY common technique in older aircraft that do not have flaps (and aircraft that lose hydraulics due to things like flame outs
) - I routinely did it in the Tiger Moth to lose height, and can be in combination with S turns as well. The sideslip is not particularly stressful on the airframe, but some aircraft have sideslip limitations, more to do with rudder authority due to blanketing than anything.
The 767 was a decent aircraft, but the A330 is somewhat cheaper and just as good, if not more economic. I love Boeing, but Airbus is just fine too
Not sure about lack of Boeing in Australian skies - see plenty of damned 737's...
Only 3 Boeing airliners I truly love -
1. 727 - a REAL aeroplane!
2. 757 - rocket! I love riding that one whenever I can, though sadly they too are on the way out
3. 777 - just one hell of an aeroplane. Of course, being a predominately McDonell-Douglas designed aircraft (which Boeing admits to - seeing they incorporated the McDD design team after the take-over)
There used to be a saying, If it ain't Boeing, I ain't going. I wish we could still say If it ain't Douglas, I ain't going - DIESEL FOREVER! (and the Mad Dog too
)
Pfft twin turbine to replace 4 turbo props. Talk about fish out of water. Still the P8 is a nice plane. I guess one day it'll meet all requirements
... how would you like to own a CAR with 14,000 HP at the Diff....
