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420getrekt420

A request

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Hello all,

I'm looking forward to the T7, but I would like to make a request, which is, can you make one other version of the T7 where part of it's wings fold up, this was an idea Boeing actually had so the aircraft could fit in a small parking spot so other aircraft can park beside it. I read this idea in a very informative Boeing 777 book.

Frank

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Why woud PMDG do this, when it's never been done in real life? They're hesitant to make fictional liveries, let alone something like this...

In other words: not gonna happen!

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T7s don`t land on aircraft carriers! This isn`t a realistic feature, therefore I can`t see them coding it in. Besides, they`re probably going to use up the animations limit just like they did with the NGX, and folding wings isn`t a priority.

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It was actually offered initially as an option for operators of the aircraft to more efficiently use their apron space, but the offer ended as there was a large weight penalty. So, it's not as far-fetched as some of you suggest. It was actually offered by Boeing as a consideration. Nobody bit, however.


Kyle Rodgers

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I'm not saying it's far-fetched, in reality it just never got any further than the drawing board (if it even got there)...

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Sorry for making a unrealistic request.

Frank

 

No harm in asking - the worst PMDG could do was to say no, which Ryan did.

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Actually, it may end up not being an unrealistic request, Boeing are apparently reconsidering folding wintip designs for some airliners, although whether that would include the Triple Seven is another matter. The reason they are doing so, is apparently influenced by some of the difficulties the Airbus A380 and Antonov An-124 have encoutered, both of which are classified by the ICAO as aircraft with a F code as opposed to an E code.

 

What code an airliner gets can effect its use and therefore its economy. The 757 was famously reclassified as a 'heavy' by ATC in spite of its comparitively low MTOW in order to avoid slotting it in approach queues too close to other aircraft because of its propensity to create large wake turbulence, and this has sometimes meant it gets a hold where it might otherwise not have done so. And that means buring more fuel and arriving later at the gate. But there is a more grounded reason why we might see folding wings at some point...

 

I'm sure everyone is familiar with a couple of incidents that have occurred with the A380, where it has clanged into things. Such incidents have seen some airports being a bit more conservative when allowing such big aircraft to use certain taxiways, and this has changed the playing field somewhat where the expense of folding wings is concerned: Whilst the initial reason American Airlines made their request for folding wingtips on the 777 was to make it fit DC-10-sized gates, they never went for it because of cost and weight, but Boeing are now evidently looking at a simpler and less extensive folding mechanism completely outboard of any control surfaces, so that aircraft can be given an ICAO E classification code which becomes an F code when they reach the runway holding point, where the wings would be unfolded. If that ability means the 747-800 and 777 can spend less time taxying all around the houses, it may well be worth the expense of buying jets with folding wings if they are what can facilitate such airport movement economy.

 

Thus we may see the new 747-800 get this, and possibly the Triple Seven as well in future models, since the Triple Seven is Boeing's biggest moneyspinner, but as it stands, this is currenty only a an old concept which never got used, which may yet emerge again, so at present, there is no need for PMDG to indulge in what ifs.

 

Al


Alan Bradbury

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I don't think we'll ever see it happen in real life.

The amount of incidents of is type is fairly small, and they happen with smaller airplanes too.

The only reason the A380 incident at JFK made the news, we're the consequences for the other aircraft.

Since it doesn't happen that after, the cost is relatively low (spread out over an airplane's lifetime). The extra weight penalty would be something that has a constant grip on the aircraft, no matter what you do. In the end , it's probably just going to be cheaper to let them run into things rom time to time.

In an industry where even the amount of coat hangers in galleys is reduced to save weight,mthese things matter.

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