Originally Posted by
Grumble
How many pax can you afford to buy off before the cost savings of the airplane evaporates (rhetorical question)?
Someone told me the CFM56 was good to like 34k #'s. Can't we just dial them up a bit to get the performance needed for those situations?
It's evident too in places like STT where we're going in with 700's and DAL/AA are using 757's.
It's a good rugged airplane when it isnt stretched so thin. I've flown with one guy whose got 20k+ hours in the guppy and never had a major mechanical emergency, that's saying something!
Different versions of CFM's do put out more power. That a 737 can't have that power means there is some other limiting factor like rudder authority when single engine, structural strength of the vertical fin, etc. Not sure what the limiting factor is, but it isn't the engine.
A couple years ago I was also flying brand new 320's with an 11k pound higher gross weight than UAL's 25 year old models, and they had 2500 lbs/thrust more power per engine than UAL's. CFM's by the way.
Ours are early models. Newer 320's and 321's are more capable than older ones.