Originally Posted by
rickair7777
This time it is going to be an organized formal process, in the past it was a bit haphazard with boeing sometimes only listening to folks who happened to know someone, or who wanted to order some airplanes early. My understanding is that they will seek industry consensus next time (not sure how hard that is going to be)..
You mean like British Airways (to name one) being responsible for over 90 major changes in the B777 "over a decade ago". I'd call that organized!
Originally Posted by
rickair7777
Maybe you haven't kept up on things...P&W is definitely designing a GTF which can power a NB. GE and RR are poking around with open rotors and improved conventional engines. Open Rotors are potentially more efficient, but they have serious technical drawbacks...the airframers delayed their next NB partly in order to give engine technology time to mature before they commit. An airframe has to be designed from a clean slate to use an open rotor.)..
Maybe you misread my post because I made no mention of Open Rotors!
Again, GE and Rolls Royce have no plans to produce Geared fans.
Originally Posted by
rickair7777
Maybe, maybe not. I don't know of any plans at boeing (I know some senior managers there) to go to an all-common family. That would be too constraining on future designs if they had to stay backwards-compatible.
Constraining like Airbus with a family starting from the A318 to the A380?
Originally Posted by
rickair7777
And as I can attest from experience when you start pushing the edge of the envelope on commonality it gets hard for the crews to keep up with the differences. About half of the airlines who operate my airplane do not use a common pilot pool for different variants even though it would be legal...this is due to safety concerns. If I ever forget which variant I'm flying, I will bend metal on landing..
Which aircraft would that be?
Originally Posted by
rickair7777
It is unknown how far up the GTF can scale...it might be practically limited to NB or smaller aircraft, but at 15%+ improved fuel efficiency that is enough to justify a separate Mx program at an airline..
GTF will not go as far as the large turbofan market. In addition, PW is all but out of that market. They just couldn't match GE or Rolls!
Originally Posted by
rickair7777
GE could do it if they wanted to. It must not be that pressing of a business concern.
GE have no experience with the kind of architecture Roll's employs. It is highly unlikely that GE will ever produce a family of large turbofans.