Check out Boeing’s brand new plane, the 7E7.
Been discussing this for ages on airliners.net
That’s one UUUGGLLY plane!!
I like this one better. I really don’t know much about planes, but I like them, and a double-decker sounds so cool.
Screw Airbus! I felt really sorry for Boeing for losing the X-Plane competition (even though they fucked it up…I know, but I always root for the underdog,) and I desperately want them to do well on the new 7E7. And by God, that’s one good-looking plane.
I like it. I still think Boeing’s nicest commercial plane to date is the 777, though. And the 747 is unquestionably still the most impressive machine in the sky.
I didn’t like Boeing’s design for the new JSF. It looked too much like every other modern fighter plane out there. Lockheed-Martin did a bang-up job on it, and that lift fan concept was just beautiful. I was still rooting for Boeing though.
I was rooting for Boeing, and I suspect Lockheed Martin was holding their buttcheeks quite tight the during the lift-fan test. That mother must have to spin up to incredible RPM’s. If it ever went off balance and chucked a rod, bye bye X-Plane. Also, I’m unconvinced how well it will do in VTOL’s in sand, dust, snow, and moisture. Will that big ramjet get all crapped up and grind itself into a mass of fine filings?
Boeing REALLY fucked up by taking off the parts and changing design midstream, though. Also, I was dying to see them go balls-out and try that new tail design.
Have I mentioned that the Nova coverage was fabulous?
It was.
Pardon me. Not ramjet. There’s no fuel. I meant “fan,” of course.
Yeah, the exterior design is nothing short of sweetness… does it mention the range of the 7E7 anywhere?
I hope it does well but it seems that there is more demand for Airbus these days. The A380 doesn’t look as good as the 7E7 IMO.
Yeah, Airbus has been creeping up on Boeing’s market share for a good long while now, and with the new US-Europe tensions, I’m afraid a lot of that 77 business is going to go the way of the A** line. If that happens too much, given Boeing’s buyout of McDonnell-Douglas and their subsequent mishandling of a $200 billion contract proposal, I don’t have a lot of hope for the future of one of the US’s greatest companies.
The 7E7 looks like a plastic kids toy.
The 777…now THAT’s a machine.
Of course, nothing will ever come close to the awesome 747.
You do know it looks like that because there isn’t a real one built yet, right?
I don’t think I could really get behind this 7E7, it doesn’t really break new ground in any way like the A380 does, it’s just an incremental improvement on existing technology. It’s not larger, faster, or longer ranged than anything flying today, all it claims to do is reduce per seat/mile operating costs. Excuse me if I’m not all hyped up.
All it claims to be is slightly more efficient than current airliners. It shows boeing is unwilling to take major risks, the 707, 747 and 777 were all revolutionary, this one isn’t.
Maybe they’ll use a very large percentage of composites in construction, from a technological advancement perspective that could be great, if they go as far or further than Raytheon did with the Premier, but as someone who’s trying to get out of the aircraft industry, I really don’t like working with the resins and whatever they use in the composite filaments. A lot of it’s really nasty carcinogenic stuff.
They’ve probably done some nifty aerodynamic stuff with the wing, but that’s all there is apart from overall weight and the fuel efficiency of the engines to improve with an old design like this.
It looks like it’s still going to burn Jet-A to; if they’d gone from the outset and designed it for hydrogen or biodiesel I’d be first in line behind this one.
And they’re naming it! which flies in the face of 50 years of Boeing jetliner tradition.
I know it hasn’t been built yet. I realize its a computer generation which makes it look “plasticy”.
Its like comparing an electric car to a loud, smokey, gas guzzler from the 70s…I like my machines big, loud and smokey. This “aircraft” just doesn’t cut it 
(Of course, I’m looking at this discussion from a purely asthetic point of view. I understand exactly why its built the way it is.)
Not being a connoisseur of airplanes, all I can say is “Meh. Looks like a big airplane.” When I get on an airplane, I just want to arrive safely at approximately the same time and place as my baggage. (Cue Steve Miller’s “Big Ol’ Jet Airliner”) And looking at Boeing’s site, it’s about 4-5 years before we might actually see and fly on one.
This of cours, assumes there are enough airlines in business five years from now to be purchasing new equipment. If UAL tanks, there’s going to be a bunch of 777s on the market, and AMR has no shortage of 737s in their hangars.
When will the airline industry finally mature? These toys are well and good, but we need real craft: orbital planes that have dispensed with the need for those antique front-facing windows in favor of a more efficient, safer design.
Wake me when regular commuters can experience free-fall.
As a Boeing employee, my future with the company could very well be determined where Boeing decides to build the 7E7. I current work at the Renton Washington plant but the new airplane will be to large to build here where the 737 and 757 are built. I would even do the commute to Everett where the 747, 767, and 777 are built. I commuted from south of Seattle to Everett for almost 5 years when I was assigned to the 777. Boeing has opened up the bidding for a location to build the airplane and there are areas willing to spend billions to lure Boeing.
The scuttlebutt at work is that it will cost at least half a billion just to build new facility and that Boeing will expect the winning suitor to pay most of those costs. Boeing already has manufacturing facilities in Everett, Long Beach, and St. Louis that could be used but they would require expesive retrofitting. And the Machinist’s Union is saying that Boeing will probably go to a right to work state to avoid having to deal with unions. Lots of folks are saying if Boeing builds the 7E7 anywhere but the Puget Sound area, the rest of the production lines will soon follow. Boeing has laid off over 60,000 employees since 9/11 and more will follow. 2 of my neighbors have recieved 60 day Warn notices the past few weeks. My seniority (almost 23 years) should be enough to keep me employed till either I retire or Boeing closes up shop here in the Seattle area. I hope to retire from Boeing in about 14 years, I hope they are still around here so I can.
It looks like a dolphin.