silly question
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Joined: Jul 2009
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From: Inverness
silly question
hi
i was wondering if someone could tell me why boeing use the '7' prefix on their aircraft models and why airbus use '3' for theirs.
ive always wondered why but cant find any info on it.
also, another question, is virgins 'a340-331', what does the '331' stand for on the end? obviously its the 300 series, but whats the rest for?
thanks.
i was wondering if someone could tell me why boeing use the '7' prefix on their aircraft models and why airbus use '3' for theirs.
ive always wondered why but cant find any info on it.
also, another question, is virgins 'a340-331', what does the '331' stand for on the end? obviously its the 300 series, but whats the rest for?
thanks.
Joined: May 2008
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From: UK
The last 2 digits are the customer number. So in this case, 31 is Virgin.
BA's is 36, and so their 747's for example are designated 747-436
As for the 7/3 business, hopefully someone else will come along and answer that for you!
BA's is 36, and so their 747's for example are designated 747-436
As for the 7/3 business, hopefully someone else will come along and answer that for you!
Joined: Aug 2007
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From: Australia / United Kingdom
Since I don't have anything better to do (and couldn't find another PPRuNe thread that adequately covers this)
Boeing:
From: Boeing Frontiers Online
and the Boeing numbering system: Aerospaceweb.org | Ask Us - Boeing Numbering System
Airbus:
The article Trouble and strife suggests that the original A300 was named because it was originally intented to carry 300 passengers. Presumably the 3xx designation has stayed ever since.
and the Airbus numbering system: Aerospaceweb.org | Ask Us - Airbus Numbering System
By the way - Google is your friend
Boeing:
From: Boeing Frontiers Online
...700s were set aside for jet transport aircraft
Airbus:
The article Trouble and strife suggests that the original A300 was named because it was originally intented to carry 300 passengers. Presumably the 3xx designation has stayed ever since.
...a 300-seat A300 was in danger of being too big for the market. With a small team ... he set about designing a scaled-down version of the aircraft which would take up to 250 passengers...
By the way - Google is your friend
Joined: Feb 2000
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From: UK
I'm sorry I don't have a link (Anybody...? Anybody...? Bueller?) I believe that the original Boeing designator for the 707 was as a result of that being the number of the draughtsmans blueprint - It sounded good, so they used it.
I stand to be corrected...?
I stand to be corrected...?
Joined: Aug 2007
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From: Australia / United Kingdom
From the Boeing website article I posted above (edited for brevity)
Engineering bureaucracy spiced up by marketing!
Incidentally, the last two numbers in a Boeing model number work differently to an Airbus model.
Boeing uses a customer number: the '1R' in 747-41R means that the 747-400 was made for Virgin Atlantic.
Airbus uses an engine manufacturer id and version, so an A340-313 is an Airbus A340-300, the '1' means that it uses CFM Interntational (SNECMA/GE) engines, the last '3' means the engine model is 56-5C4
...Boeing began studies on converting the propeller-driven model 367 Stratotanker ... into a jet-powered tanker... product development went through several renditions of the model 367, and ... a version numbered 367-80 was selected ... The goal was to put the airplane into production as both an Air Force tanker/transport and a commercial jet transport. Since both of these ... would be jet transports, the model number system called for a number in the 700s... The marketing department decided that "Model 700" did not have a good ring to it ... [s]o they decided to skip ahead to Model 707 because that ... seemed a bit catchier.
Incidentally, the last two numbers in a Boeing model number work differently to an Airbus model.
Boeing uses a customer number: the '1R' in 747-41R means that the 747-400 was made for Virgin Atlantic.
Airbus uses an engine manufacturer id and version, so an A340-313 is an Airbus A340-300, the '1' means that it uses CFM Interntational (SNECMA/GE) engines, the last '3' means the engine model is 56-5C4
Last edited by SLFAussie; 8th July 2009 at 07:54.
Joined: May 2009
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From: VHHH Ocean 2D
I have been told 2 stories although I can't bothered to Google it at present.
One story is regarding a production certificate 700 - and all models confirm to this "main" number???
The other is (mathematicians please input) the cosine of the tail fin angle is 70.7'??
Either way, both sound a little suspect.
One story is regarding a production certificate 700 - and all models confirm to this "main" number???
The other is (mathematicians please input) the cosine of the tail fin angle is 70.7'??
Either way, both sound a little suspect.
