B-52 bombers

[JoelUpchurch]

http://www.strategypage.com/dls/articles/Buffs-Get-Boned-3-30-2012.asp

An interesting article on the use of the B-52 and B1-B. The long loiter time for the B-52 means that 1 B-52 with a load of smart bombs can provide rapid response for the whole country of Afghanistan.

I tend to think of the B-52 as a battery of artillery that can travel at 500 knots.

[Simple_Linctus]

@StrangerThanFiction

Cargo airlines still fly everything from Beech 18s to 747 classics every single day. Even the “mainline” cargo outfits fly a lot of old equipment - UPS landed their last DC-8 just two years ago, and FedEx still runs a bunch of old 72s. It’s easier to pick up cheap airplanes that the passenger airlines are dumping and just pay out the nose for fuel and maintenance than it is to budget for new whiz-bang good-smelling airplanes from the factory, and the boxes certainly don’t care one way or the other.

I don’t understand why this should be. It’s not as if logistic companies are run by idiots (although one was run by a paedophile wasn’t it?)

[Magiver]

@StrangerThanFiction

You’re right, but cargo is a bit of a different animal, isn’t it? When was the last time you saw a DC-3 or a Convair 440 in mainline passenger service? Cargo airlines still fly everything from Beech 18s to 747 classics every single day. Even the “mainline” cargo outfits fly a lot of old equipment - UPS landed their last DC-8 just two years ago, and FedEx still runs a bunch of old 72s. It’s easier to pick up cheap airplanes that the passenger airlines are dumping and just pay out the nose for fuel and maintenance than it is to budget for new whiz-bang good-smelling airplanes from the factory, and the boxes certainly don’t care one way or the other. As Raguleader described, the USAF operates under a similar mentality, I think due mostly to the shortsightedness bred by the political environment here in the US.

727’s burn as much fuel as a 767. they’re real expensive to fly. They were originally designed to fly on 2 engines in cruise but that never made it through production.

[Magiver]

@Simple_Linctus

I don’t understand why this should be. It’s not as if logistic companies are run by idiots (although one was run by a paedophile wasn’t it?)

the 70 series DC-8 could pull 50 tons off the runway coast to coast. It was a great airplane but it’s just too old to keep up the maintenance on now. And the cost of overhauling an engine isn’t linear to it’s size. 4 engines cost more to overhaul than 2 larger engines of similar thrust.

[Magiver]

@JoelUpchurch

http://www.strategypage.com/dls/articles/Buffs-Get-Boned-3-30-2012.asp

An interesting article on the use of the B-52 and B1-B. The long loiter time for the B-52 means that 1 B-52 with a load of smart bombs can provide rapid response for the whole country of Afghanistan.

I tend to think of the B-52 as a battery of artillery that can travel at 500 knots.

That’s exactly what it is, a high altitude stockpile of weapons that can be dropped and directed to a target.

[Lumpy]

@ElvisL1ves

Had they removed the CRM-114 for security?

Damn thing was never reliable anyway…

[Simple_Linctus]

@Magiver

the 70 series DC-8 could pull 50 tons off the runway coast to coast. It was a great airplane but it’s just too old to keep up the maintenance on now. And the cost of overhauling an engine isn’t linear to it’s size. 4 engines cost more to overhaul than 2 larger engines of similar thrust.

Yeah so why are logisitics companies using these obsolete aircraft if it would be cheaper to run newer ones?

[ElvisL1ves]

Capital cost. They can get old ones for a song (well, in the low hundred thousands), since nobody else wants them. New planes cost in the hundreds of *millions *of dollars. That makes up for a lot of higher operating costs. Plus, they’re available immediately, not after a few years’ wait.

[Magiver]

@Simple_Linctus

Yeah so why are logisitics companies using these obsolete aircraft if it would be cheaper to run newer ones?

727’s and DC8’s were quite popular and made up the bulk of fleets at one time. You can’t just walk away from a fleet of them. It takes a chunk of money to replace a fleet. The only thing that made a lot of money in freight were envelopes and that segment of the market died with the introduction of cheap fax machines. So companies like Federal Express and UPS were the ones with a delivery network capable of delivering envelopes. That money bankrolled newer fleets of aircraft.