Bear Posted January 12, 2005 Share Posted January 12, 2005 Ever see a Lockheed C5-A up close? US Military transport plane bigger than a 747 or this Airbus. I saw one when I was a teen visiting my brother at Griffis AFB in Rome NY. (long gone now) Anyone know if they still fly them? http://www.ece.osu.edu/~daim/pcx4/C5A.jpg PTR 203229[/snapback] They still fly them, and they are still the biggest cargo plane (by far) in the US fleet. The Russians have bigger ones, but they are designed like sh--. Of course, now that the C5 is getting older, it spends most of it's time in maintnance. Just too damn big to keep running well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britbillsfan Posted January 12, 2005 Share Posted January 12, 2005 Maybe the US airline industry. In other places, it's about volume. There's a reason Japan uses 747s for inter-island hops: enough people fly the routes that as a practical matter, they can't use smaller planes. There's a limit to the frequency of takeoffs from a single runway (about a minute, I think), once you hit that limit, the only way to push more people through a given runway is to increase the size of the planes rather than the frequency of flights. As far as I can tell, there is no real market for super-jumbos in the continental US routes; rather, there's a need for increased efficiency and decreased cost-of-operation that Boeing's 7E7 is intended to satisfy. But that doesn't mean the rest of the world necessarily shares the same needs. I wouldn't be surprised if JAL ultimately started buying A380s configured for 700 or 800 seats for their short-hop routes. That's how the 747 evolved...and the basic needs of the market haven't changed since then. 203335[/snapback] Similar situation in Europe as Japan, where runway space is at a premium (Heathrow for London for example). Transatlantic flights will use these as well as whatever monster Boeing brings out in the near future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kegtapr Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 The little vertical ad on the side has a picture of a 747 landing in st. maarten, I've been there and stood on teh beach, which is right accross the street from teh runway, it quite the site, but I found it a little uncomfortable to be right behind the runway(holy sand in the face). 203028[/snapback] I've seen many photos of that and they just amaze me. I'd love to be on that beach sometime. http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=1075 http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=15 http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Darin Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 I once played basketball on a C5 at 30,000 feet. HUGE aircraft. One mission I was on had my guys and 7 Blackhawk helocopters as cargo. Impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayg Posted January 18, 2005 Share Posted January 18, 2005 Some more news about the new A380 and the Boeing 7E7. Airbus Airbus Airbus airports Boeing 7E7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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