Quote:
Originally Posted by DILLA
I've got a question...If the 787 proves to be successful over the next 5-10 years, you do guys think it possible that Boeing would redesign its current commercial aircraft using composite materials for the fuselage? Or would this prove to be impractical.
I am aware of the impending composite replacement for the 737. But what about the 747 and 777?
-DILLA
|
Eventually all current aircraft product lines will be phased out and replaced with new technology airplanes. Composite construction is obviously a huge factor, but there are many, many other technologies which will make future airplanes more efficient, quiter, and less-polluting.
Due to large differences in construction between composite and metal aircraft and the need to incorporate possibly radical technologies, nobody is going to simply re-build an old aircraft using composites. Airbus tried that crap with the original A350 (they were too cheap to do a clean-slate design), but their customers told them to stick it where the sun doesn't shine.
The decision as to WHEN to switch product lines is a tough one...do it too early and you miss out on future technology. Do it too late and the competetion gets ahead of you. In some cases you can design a product to allow later addition of technological advancements, but some ideas (like open-rotor and flying wing) are so radical that they would need a clean-slate design.
In the next few years the next-gen narrow-body designs will firm up (737/A320 replacements). They will probably be similar to the 787, with VERY advanced engines.
The next-gen big widebodies (post 747/A380) are probably decades away and might be radical new designs that won't even look like today's airplanes.