93
votes
Accepted
What does "Boeing" mean?
It's named for one of its founders William E. Boeing which is the American spelling of his father's German surname "Böing".
To answer the question directly: it does not mean anything in particular.
46
votes
Accepted
Why was this commercial jet accompanied by small plane near Seattle?
It's a Fedex 777F N894FD in (probably) pre-delivery aerial photography/test flight accompanied by one of Boeing's chase aircraft.
After some maneuvers (shown below), the plane headed to MEM, Fedex's "...
45
votes
Is it possible to upgrade a Boeing 747-8 and Airbus A380's engines for greater speed?
I just wanted to comment on this question since some of my code is on the A380's GE engine.
Those engines are optimized for fuel efficiency at their cruising altitude and speed. The tradeoff that ...
41
votes
Accepted
Could the Boeing 787-9 near vertical takeoff demonstration be performed by Airbus A350 aircraft?
No.
Firstly, as a comment noted, the takeoff was hardly "near vertical", the camera angle makes it look so. The takeoff angle in the video certainly is much steeper than a normal one, but Airbus ...
41
votes
Accepted
What are these five indicators at the front of the 737 passenger cabin?
This is the forward Master Call Light Panel installed in the ceiling of the cabin. A second one is located aft. These panels exist on all large aircraft for the cabin crew members to be alerted ...
37
votes
How can I tell apart an Airbus from a Boeing?
I like to train being able to determine the precise model of an aircraft.
I first try to tell if it's a Boeing or Airbus, and then I look at other details to determine the model.
The idea is to learn ...
36
votes
Accepted
Are there any airliners not made by Airbus or Boeing?
Yes. Ignoring companies that used to exist but are now bankrupt/merged into Airbus or Boeing, you have companies from countries that aren't historically too friendly with the US and Western Europe. ...
36
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between Boeing 73G, 73H and 737?
There are two main systems of aircraft type designations: IATA and ICAO codes. The ones you mention are IATA codes (all 3-character) and are often used for shortened aircraft type designation in ...
35
votes
Is it possible to upgrade a Boeing 747-8 and Airbus A380's engines for greater speed?
If the engines are upgraded to "better" ones, the manufacturer would make it result in increased carrying capacity or increased range (or both), but not increased speed.
The limitation is the ...
32
votes
How does Boeing park several airplanes on a single runway at Paine Field?
It was tugged to that position via tug.
Angle of photo + possibly trying to offset weight, from centerline.
These planes are just being stored there. They'll be tugged to another location
before they ...
32
votes
Why are aircraft parts built in different places and assembled in one?
You can only hire so many people at one place, and also only find so much land there, so when the whole process no longer fits, there is no other option than start building components at other places ...
31
votes
What is the difference between Boeing 73G, 73H and 737?
The "733" is the 737-300.
The "734" is the 737-400.
The "735" is the 737-500.
Then there is the 737-700, which would, by that convention, translate to the "737". But that's the general type, the ...
31
votes
What is this open panel at the rear of this airplane?
It is the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) inlet door.
Image from Boeing Aero Magazine
31
votes
Accepted
Why didn’t Boeing ramp 737NG production back up in response to the 737 MAX groundings?
There are several reasons why.
First, it takes an awfully long time to make that kind of switch. While one can switch an assembly line for a product, that works rather differently for (say) ...
28
votes
Are there any airliners not made by Airbus or Boeing?
Being used but out of production:
Ilyushin Il-62 (up to 195 seats): last one built in 2010. Totally built 287, 13 remain in service
Tupolev Tu-154 (up to 176 seats): last one built in 2013. Totally ...
28
votes
Why didn't Boeing produce its own regional jet?
Boeing did have a small regional jet called the Boeing 727. This plane was designed to operate at smaller airports, with independence from ground facilities as a selling feature. The best example is ...
26
votes
Accepted
What is the maximum safe bank angle of a 747?
The descent angle helps to reduce the lift that the wing needs to provide, in two ways. It leads the aircraft into higher density air, where more absolute lift is possible at the same Mach number. ...
26
votes
Why was this commercial jet accompanied by small plane near Seattle?
It looks like an air-air photography trip by Boeing - the lead airplane is a LearJet, a type often used for this type of job with a turreted camera sticking out of the floor for views to the rear, ie ...
25
votes
Accepted
What does 3Q8 mean in the aircraft model Boeing 767-3Q8?
Those are Boeing's customer codes. They denote which airline the aircraft was originally built for, not necessarily the airline that owns/operates the aircraft currently. For example, Southwest's ...
25
votes
Accepted
Why has the 777x been designed with folding wingtips?
The Boeing 777X website states that this is to enable a more efficient wing (read: wider span) while maintaining the airport gate and taxi footprint of the classic 777 (which ensures airlines can use ...
25
votes
Why has the 777x been designed with folding wingtips?
Many modern aircraft have been designed with winglets, and older ones have been retrofitted with them. They allow a wing to produce more lift with less drag. However, the benefit is even greater if ...
25
votes
How have engineers managed to increase commercial airliner wing aspect ratios over time?
As to what makes higher aspect ratios feasible, no magic here:
Aerospace materials have improved over time, in quality and strength.
Carbon gets a lot of hype, part deserved and part not. It's just ...
25
votes
Why did Boeing never replace the 757?
The gap happened because the 737MAX wasn’t part of the original plan.
The 767 and 757 shared a type rating and a lot of common parts, and orders had dried up for both, so they didn’t have much choice ...
23
votes
Accepted
What is a "Pod-Pak"?
A Pod-Pak is a aerodynamically shaped enclosure to transport an extra engine under the wing.
From 'Flying Magazine', Nov 1959:
Spare engine in “Pod Pak” is the airlines' modern method of
...
22
votes
Accepted
Can the 747 be re-engined as a twin?
Currently, the 777 has engines that have a max thrust of 115,000 lbf, for a total of 230,000 lbf of thrust. The 747-8 has engines with a max thrust of 66,500 lbf, each, for a total of 266000. And just ...
22
votes
Accepted
Airplane generations - how does it work?
While airliners don't have "model years" like cars do, they are certainly changed over time.
There are major "generations" of some aircraft types, like the 737. The "original" (-100,-200) was ...
21
votes
Accepted
What is the purpose of the inlet doors of the Pratt & Whitney JT3D?
The intake speed at the compressor is between Mach 0.4 and Mach 0.5 and changes little with airspeed. That means that at low speed the intake has to suck in air from a wide capture area, (even from ...
21
votes
Why do Boeing and Airbus have distinctively different nose designs?
The answer to this is, in part to do with corporate culture and part aerodynamics.
The corporate culture and history part is that Boeing have always built their noses that way and senior engineers ...
21
votes
Can a Boeing 767-200 fly at 510 knots at a height of 400 metres?
The speed is secondary - what determines the physical limits of the Boeing 767 is Mach number and dynamic pressure.
510 kts at 400 m in standard atmospheric conditions equals Mach 0.775. This is well ...
21
votes
Accepted
How does envelope protection work in Airbus vs. Boeing aircraft?
There are two sorts of "autopilots", and it is important to make a distinction between the two. One is for the behaviour of the aircraft around its Centre of Gravity (CoG), the other one is for ...
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