Must say, this 21st-century puddle-jumping will one day be seen as retrograde.

Airline aviation stopped progressing with the demise of Concorde. We should be aiming for personalised VTOL pods that go Mach 3 at 60 000 ft, with a range of 20 000 km. That way no trip will take longer than 8 hours anywhere on the planet, and flying east, you'd always arrive earlier than your departure :)  

Spot on, Wingz! OK maybe not personalised VTOL, but at least hypersonic, sub-orbitals. Leave 24 hour or more travel times to the railways and cruise ships...

2 hours ago, WingZ said:

Must say, this 21st-century puddle-jumping will one day be seen as retrograde.

Airline aviation stopped progressing with the demise of Concorde. We should be aiming for personalised VTOL pods that go Mach 3 at 60 000 ft, with a range of 20 000 km. That way no trip will take longer than 8 hours anywhere on the planet, and flying east, you'd always arrive earlier than your departure :)  

The first to do that will be for US Special Forces deployments, they have the budget and means to develop that sort of thing. Eventually the technology becomes mainstream

Perhaps not...

https://www.popsci.com/china-hypersonic-double-wing-aircraft-i-plane

China is like a runaway train when it puts its mind to something; they are prepared to be quite adventurous.

Oh yea forgot about them 

Just announced:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/102653793/air-nz-launches-first-direct-service-between-new-zealand-and-chicago?cid=facebook.post.102653793

It was what I figured, the delivery of the next 2 787-9's meant they could open up a route to Chicago. If any one on here from that part of the USA wants to come to New Zealand I will buy you a beer 

6 hours ago, Matthew Kane said:

Just announced:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/102653793/air-nz-launches-first-direct-service-between-new-zealand-and-chicago?cid=facebook.post.102653793

It was what I figured, the delivery of the next 2 787-9's meant they could open up a route to Chicago. If any one on here from that part of the USA wants to come to New Zealand I will buy you a beer 

Hope to fly on the 787 someday, most of those who have flown on it have become instant fans.  My last flight last year was on a 747-400.  The aircraft I preferred the most though was the 767 and L1011.  I liked them both because the window seats only had one neighbor seat.  On my British Airways flights last year I paid for premium economy which also meant just a window and aisle seat, the greater room allowed me to land with more energy when I got to England.  I have also flown business class on a Northwest 747 between Tokyo and Guam, which really made being in the 747 heaven.  But it is my dream to fly on the dreamliner someday.  I do not believe any fly out of Phoenix yet.  Our biggest airliner is the British Airways 747 that I flew non-stop to London on last year.  Phoenix now has another non-stop to the European mainland, a Condor flight to Frankfurt.  Lufthansa used to fly to Frankfurt from Phoenix but they pulled out when tourism fell after 9/11.  I am glad we are expanding our international routes again and maybe someday we will land the 787...

I have only flown the 787 once so far from LHR to EWR in Premium Economy with Virgin Atlantic. I always tend to fly Virgin rather than BA because the service is so much better and the Virgin staff in general are far more pleasant. I have to say I was very impressed by the 787 which was definitely quieter than any other aircraft I have flown on and I didn't feel as tired after flying on it than I do after flying other airliners TATL. I still however like the 747 particularly the upper deck 2x2 Premium Economy cabin on VS but,  having last flown one LGW-MCO-LGW about 4 months ago, I have to say that they are starting to look a bit worn. 

Bill

I've flown Vancouver to Toronto in an Air Canada 787-8 so far, great aircraft, terrible airline though, I will never fly with Air Canada ever again

11 hours ago, scianoir said:

I have to say I was very impressed by the 787 which was definitely quieter than any other aircraft I have flown on and I didn't feel as tired

It is... having a handy decibel app on my phone I got 91 dB on an Emirates A380 and 87 dB on an ANZ 787-9, pretty much in the same position on the aircraft.

Being a log scale, that's the difference between "factory machinery", and "busy street" noise levels.

20 hours ago, WingZ said:

that's the difference between "factory machinery", and "busy street" noise levels

Interesting - I knew it sounded quieter but I didn't quite realise the difference in magnitude was so much! I did notice, particularly during take-off, that there were a lot of creaking and rattling noises most of which seemed to be coming from the overhead bins, but perhaps these are noises that you simply don't hear in other aircraft because they are drowned out by the engine noise.

Bill

Creaking and rattling would depend on the cabin fit I suppose, which would vary between airlines. I didn't notice any in the ANZ flavour as I recall.
The sound readings were at cruise BTW.
B777 on another occasion was pretty much the same as A380.

 

32 minutes ago, WingZ said:

Creaking and rattling would depend on the cabin fit I suppose, which would vary between airlines. I didn't notice any in the ANZ flavour as I recall.
The sound readings were at cruise BTW.
B777 on another occasion was pretty much the same as A380.

 

I always found the quietest airliners to be those with tail mounted engines, like the 727. MD 8x/9x and CRJ 7x/9x.  Sitting up front you can barely hear the engines at full takeoff thrust, just a quiet whine behind you.  On one Delta 727 flight however, I was sitting aft as we were taxiing for takeoff when the left engine whine filled the cabin at a shrieking and deafening volume.  I knew something was wrong and rang the flight attendant.  She came back, scowled at me, and told me to turn off the call button and leave the crew alone.  After one more minute of the terrible shrieking sound and seeing more upset passengers around me, I slammed the call button again.  When the flight attendant came I told her off warning her of the disaster about to happen if we took off.  Angrily she summoned the first officer who came back and resealed the aft emergency exit door by the engine.  He gave the flight attendant an angry look as if he was about to throttle her.  During the rest of the flight when the flight attendant came by me and the other passengers who raised the alarm she curtly gave us our drinks and snacks and dared not look us in the eye.  I have flown often enough and long enough as a commercial passenger and road warrior, not to mention as a student pilot, to know when there is something wrong with the equipment.  The incident happened in the day when Delta was getting a bad rep for similar instances of carelessness.  I knew the 727 should be much quieter at takeoff.  To this day my ears still remember that terrible, terrible engine sound in such close proximity to me.

John

Rear mount engines? Setting in the back you have hearing loss! NO thanks. DC9 were the worst! RRR RRR RRR. :)

That reminds me sitting in the rear of an Air Canada DC-9-10 just before they retired them in 1986, I was in the back row window seat but they didn't have windows in that row because the engine inlet was just a few feet from where you were sitting, probably the loudest passenger experience in that seat, can't even put you head in the wall to take a nap. Good thing it was a short flight.

I still think the 727's are one of the best looking and sounding airliners ever produced, Before they installed those 'Hush Kits' they were definitely the best sounding airliner out there. Airliners these days no longer have that thumping noise as they used to roar down the runway

Edited March 29, 20188 yr by Matthew Kane