What happens when Boeing runs out of numbers? They still have ‘797’ to go. What then? Go to four-digit numbers like ‘7107’ (Seven-Ten-Seven), ‘7117’ (Seven-Eleven-Seven), and so forth? Or do they just stop making airplanes?
Why not an 808?
That could be another possibility.
If they keep selling dangerously flawed aircraft like they have in the last few years, it is going to be a moot point.
Stranger
There are a lot of numbers out there and Boeing has some pretty smart engineers working for them so I bet they’ll find some that don’t start with a 7.
Four-digit airplanes are not unheard-of. There was the L-1011. They’ll probably come up with something similar.
Or letters: AAA-1.
But for full safety while flying I’d suggest: Lhd*3.((sdjJhdu%@^fgdD-17
A lot of their development goes into just updating and replacing the existing 7x7 models. There is an unnamed model in development that will theoretically be the 797.
This page says they’re looping future production back to the 737 replacements after 2030, so there’s not even anything on the horizon for new numbers.
It strikes me that there’s a fair bit of marketing value in the 7x7 designation, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they continue to use the existing designations with new suffixes rather than switch to 8x8.
Didn’t they have some problems, like stewardesses seeing Ernest Borgnine in a microwave?
But back to the OP. They could do like the US Air Force and just start the numbers over.
But even if it’s not complex, this is still a real problem.
That joke was so subtle, it was practically imaginary.
ETA: OP, this seems like an IMHO question more than FQ, unless we know some of us work for Boeing and are at liberty to share.
well done sir, well done.
What people don’t realize is that the Lockheed model numbers were in binary, and they were prevented by federal law from building a Model 12 (“1100”) which is what caused Lockheed to exit the commercial airline business.*
Stranger
*Yes, I’m joking.
I thought that was a bit unlikely.
Or 807 if they want to continue at least ending with 7, but ruining the symmetry. Or 7A7, 7B7, 7C7, etc. I’m sure they’ll manage. So far as I can tell, there’s no official information as to how they will continue the numbering after the 797. I suspect that may very well just be something they deal with when they come to it. There’s infinite possibilities.
Maybe they’ll change it up and start a new pattern, like B…- - -…
7-zark-7…
IIRC the supersonic airliner Boeing never built was going to be called the 2707. So that’s another option – 2707, 2717, and so on.
Or they could start the 606 series. 606, 616, 626… I don’t anticipate any problem there.
What if the plane wants to identify as non-binary?
[Emily Litella]
nevermind
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