Right but the crossover point in my opinion is if you are connecting and need to change train stations in Paris, then the airplane starts to make a lot more sense.

(Written on 2021/04/16)(Permalink)

As long as there is frequent service from the CDG TGV terminal to these cities I think this is fine. If it means having to take the RER to Gare du Nord and and transferring from there to the Gare de Lyon or whatever station on the metro then that is an entirely different conversation. IMHO anything slower than flying (judging by city center to city center) isn't equivalent.

(Written on 2021/04/16)(Permalink)

I don't think SC can deliver the quality that airlines demand. No one wants a jet that ends up being grounded for quality control issues like many of the SC-build 787s currently are.

(Written on 2021/02/19)(Permalink)

There are airlines that won't accept South Carolina-built jets and none that feel that way about ones made in Everett.

(Written on 2021/02/19)(Permalink)

From their website: In 2015, Samaritan’s Purse added a DC-8 airplane to its fleet. Known as a “combi” aircraft, it is specially configured to carry up to 84,000 pounds of cargo and 32 passengers, significantly increasing the organization’s capacity to respond immediately in times of crisis around the world. Since the organization first deployed it in April of 2016, the DC-8 has carried more than 4.5 million pounds of cargo on 139 missions to locations such as Puerto Rico, Haiti, Liberia, Alaska, Mexico, Jamaica, Togo, Colombia, New York, Tanzania, Bangladesh, Belize, and Mozambique. In 2019, the DC-8 carried more than 1 million pounds of cargo on 22 relief missions.

(Written on 2021/02/13)(Permalink)

My father said that of the DC-3 he flew when he first started with United, I have never heard it said of later Douglas aircraft.

(Written on 2021/02/12)(Permalink)

I doubt much tooling will be relocated, the 787 is already produced in South Carolina so they have all the tooling they need. Hopefully at least some of the personnel will be given the option of relocating but I suspect most will be transferred to other programs or furloughed eventually. For the next year or so they will stay in Everett completing and retrofitting 787s not yet delivered.

(Written on 2021/02/12)(Permalink)

United DC-6 for me when I was one year old. To this day I have never flown on a DC-3, I've only toured ones parked at airshows. My dad was a DC-3 pilot back in the 1940s though and I would love to experience flying in one! Surprisingly my late mother, despite being 20 years younger than my dad, flew in a plane before he did, in a Jenny in 1931 when she was 3 years old sitting in her mother's lap! Dad didn't get his wings till 5 years later at Pensacola along some guy named Pappy Boyington!

(Written on 2021/02/12)(Permalink)

Nice to see a few of the old girls still flying! My dad was a United Airlines DC-8 pilot from 1959-1968 and it was always his favorite airplane. One time I even was able to take a flight when he was the pilot so I got to go up to the cockpit mid-flight, great times!

(Written on 2021/02/12)(Permalink)

Could be, I have heard that some airlines won't accept planes made in South Carolina. Hopefully part of the consolidation Boeing will transfer talent from Everett to Charleston to help out with their QC issues.

(Written on 2021/02/12)(Permalink)