747

Inside A British Airways Boeing 747-436 D-Check

All aircraft undergo routine maintenance checks at specific life cycle intervals, these checks range from a light A-Check through a heavy D-Check.   An A-Check for a commercial aircraft is typically performed around 800 flight hour cycle and often conducted during an overnight layover at an airport, requiring 20 man-hours maintenance.   The B-Check is conducted…

Reader Mail : Do All Planes Board From The Left Side?

Today’s reader mail comes from James O’Connor, in Glasgow, Scotland. James asks, ” I have just realized that I always board my flights from the front left door. Do all planes board from the left side? If so, is there a rationale for this?”   James, the answer is “mostly yes.”  Today all commercial airliners…

Iran Seeks To Privatize Iran Air to Skirt U.S. Sanctions

Iran’s national flag carrier Iran Air has masterfully skirted U.S. economic sanctions since they were first implemented in 1979.   Since 1979, when the United States implemented its first economic sanctions against Iran, in response to the Iranian Revolution overthrowing the Shah of Iran, Iran Air has operated significant American made Boeing fleet. Currently Iran…

Three Words You Never Want To Hear : “Uncontained Engine Failure”

Yesterday morning an incident involving a Qantas Boeing 747-438 flying from San Francisco to Sydney caused Julie Johnsson, the Chicago Tribune’s aviation reporter, to Tweet “3 words you never want to hear: “uncontained engine failure” from her Twitter account. While the incident involving Qantas Flight 47 left the flight crew a number of options, including…

Guest Post: Plane Pics – A Spotter’s Story

Today’s guest blog post comes from Leighton Matthews … Leighton was a natural choice to ask to be a guest blogger, as Leighton is a professional photographer, airplane junkie and a huge Rush fan (pretty much sounds like I just described myself). You can follow Leighton on Twitter at @PacificAirPhoto and check out his photos…

Reader Mail : “Why had no one made a full double-decker before the A380?”

This week’s reader mail comes from Joyce, in Oregon, and it’s a favourite topic of mine.  Joyce asks “With the popularity of the Boeing 747, why had no one made a full double-decker before the A380?” Well Joyce … first off the design of the Boeing 747 was actually designed for cargo and cargo conversion…