Originally Posted by admiral ackbar
Hello all,
professional SLF here, I just read an article in the April 1st issue of The Economist about Boeing and Airbus and a sentence in there caught my eye:
Is that true? Sorry of it sounds like a stupid question but my gut tells me that the fuel use is sensibly the same between two. I do understand that maintenance and all that is cheaper with 2 engines, but fuel burn must be about the same no? The Economist is usually pretty good when it talks about aviation.
This may be apples and oranges, but I am just curious.
Thanks for your help.
LOL! I had exactly the same question after reading that article
On the 99.999% of occasions that an engine does not fail (normal operations), the 2 engined aircraft now has a 100% increase in thrust above minimum requirements, whereas the 4 engined aircraft has a mere 33% increase in thrust above minimum requirements.
how?!