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ultimatepro63
8th Jan 2005, 14:03
hello all i was wonderling how much life does the 747 have before it gos to heaven

and also does anyone have any pictures of the new 7e7 cockpit
thanks:8

Intruder
9th Jan 2005, 00:32
The -400 has a LOT of life yet -- probably 20+ years. OTOH, I think the -200's days are numbered...

Hay Ewe
9th Jan 2005, 01:24
The 747 classic does have an ulitmate life.

from memory it is 124,000 hours and 86000 cycles

there is an SB about it and it is possible to do some inspections to get another 4000 hrs out of it.

I dont have the actual figures any more - I moved company and now a differnt type

Hay Ewe - years left yet

JJflyer
9th Jan 2005, 03:23
Classic's have anywhere from 10 to 20 years left on them, depending on airframe hours etc. Just have a look at how many B707's and B727's there are still flying around after years of service.

-400's... Those I bet will be around for much longer say 30 years.

Once they lived up their useful life in the first world there are eager 3rd world freight and even PAX operators happy to get their hands on these aircraft.

JJ

ultimatepro63
9th Jan 2005, 19:48
but surely the 747-400er will be going for about 40 plus years right

Atlanta-Driver
13th Jan 2005, 01:52
Have a look at here (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=1689355#post1689355/)

AD

The SSK
13th Jan 2005, 08:54
Excuse me if I'm talking through my hat but.

A few years ago there was a lot of attention paid to aging aircraft issues coinciding with the spectacular 737 incident in Hawaii and also some things happening to 747s.

One comment I read was that the 747 was particularly susceptible to stress and fatigue because the cross-section, particularly at the nose end, departed so much from the circular shape which internal pressurisation would try and force the fuselage into.

Flightluuvr
15th Jan 2005, 13:10
desk jockey,

The aloha airlines 737 that came apart in flight was an island hopper that flew many short flights for many years, about 1 hour each in duration, subjecting the aircraft to lots of short-term pressurization/depressurization.

Since that incident, the FAA requires routine fuselage and surface fatigue checks on commercial aircraft using x-ray equipment. I beleive they also revised the airframe's life expectancy if the aircraft flies many short flights.

As far as the 747, the only incidents I can recall are that of the main cargo door opening in flight. The problem turned out to be a weak design in the cargo door latches, which was revised...and they did strengthen the frame around the main cargo door so that in the event one of those suckers does fly open again, the cabin wall will stay intact.

Hay Ewe
18th Jan 2005, 01:33
Regarding what Desk Jockey wrote about the Stress and Fatigue, probably links with the fairly major mods that needed to be done between section 41 and section 43. (see note below).

I heard that this was as a result of the Lockerbie incident. Some boeing guys I expect realised that the whole cockpit section had separated from the fuselage and investigated.

The series of Mods were created as SB's to strengthen and improve the fit between the two sections.

Thats what I heard.

Section 41 is the nose and flight deck and section 43 is the next part of the fuse (I dont have any accesse to 747 info any more and it was a while back so memory working here!)

Hay Ewe - pass another rivit