As a kid and then teenager I remember well flying 707 and DC8 narrow bodies to Europe from the East and West coast. Also from our home in Phoenix to New York on TWA Convair 880's. West coast flights stopped in Gander. I guess it was survivable since that's all we knew in the 60's and early seventies. I do believe there was more legroom then now.

(Written on 2020年 05月 14日)(Permalink)

Correct. I flew Swiss from Vienna to Zurich on A-220 with 3-2 set up It was pretty comfortable but only for a short flight. With a wider fuselage on 757, making it 2-3 adds 3 inches to each seat width and can come up with a "premium economy" set up that I have flown on both United and Lufthansa from SFO to FRA. Very comfortable. Take out 1/3 the seats and charge 1/3 more and I would fly this single aisle setup for 10 hours. Re engineered fuel efficient engines and you might have a winner without a lot of cost.

(Written on 2020年 05月 10日)(Permalink)

Maybe it's time to change the seating configuration of the 757. If folks are finally tired of being crammed into an airplane then make it 2-2 or 2-3 instead of 3-3, add some extra legroom and charge more. This would make it more flyer friendly and maybe a successful modification. Cheap airfares and crowded planes with unruly passengers might be a thing of the past.

(Written on 2020年 05月 09日)(Permalink)

Unfortunately the temperature measurement is not very accurate and generally lower than actual. 100.4 is too high and 99.5 would be a better cutoff. Your body internal temperature doesn’t rise with sweating and running to the gate so should not affect reading

(Written on 2020年 05月 08日)(Permalink)

It is interesting that when you search by aircraft type to see what’s in the air now the 747-400 is 10th on the list and you can add 37 more 747-8 to that number. I am sure most are freighter but a few are still scheduled passenger flights. I think the 747 will be flying for many years to come.

(Written on 2020年 05月 06日)(Permalink)

Masks can reduce the potential spread of pathogens in droplets but I am way more concerned about what’s on my seatbelt buckle, tray table, magazine or window shade. Cover your mouth with a sneeze and then unfasten your belt —- that isn’t good. If you fly wipe down the above mentioned with sanitizer.

(Written on 2020年 04月 28日)(Permalink)

I think this is reasonable to do when flying. Passengers need to wear them as well. If everyone wears a mask and one person is a virus carrier you reduce the risk of spread by droplets. I am more worried about contaminated seatbelts, tray tables and window shades which I recommend using clorox wipes to clean these surfaces. I do this even before the corona virus scare. Also wearing a mask helps one from touching your covered face which also reduces the risk of infection.

(Written on 2020年 04月 24日)(Permalink)

I flew many flights on the 747 from the West Coast to Germany on both United and Lufthansa. From SFO to Frankfurt Lufthansa flew a 747 combi with cargo in the back half. The captain took me back there during the flight to show me a car he was taking back to Germany and also a pair of horses someone was shipping to Europe I also had a flight on a big orange 747 from Dallas to Frankfurt on Braniff. Always felt safe and comfortable on these flights and will be sorry to see them disappear although Lufthansa is still flying the 747-8

(Written on 2020年 04月 22日)(Permalink)

They should board from the front and back. They used to do this a long time ago. Southwest did some testing with rear door boarding with stairs and as long as you could climb up stairs it worked well.

(Written on 2020年 04月 16日)(Permalink)

I have seen a couple of mentions regarding freight. Can many of these airlines make money on hauling freight and mail or is there too much competition to make this a reasonable source of income when not flying people?

(Written on 2020年 04月 10日)(Permalink)