747 five banger
 

Ok. I fly single engined GA aircraft. But I thought I knew a great deal about commercial aircraft.

I sit down tonight for my 9PM (hk) Tuesday "air accident investigation" on Nat Geo with a cold one and was immediately confronted with some new intel.

Apparently the 747 can "carry" AN EXTRA ENGINE !!!

The stricken Air India flight featured in this episode(RIP all) was apparently carrying a broken engine back to India mounted to the wing.

I have never witnessed this before or seen photos of this taking place.

Anyone???


Best,

Sicknote:ok:

You may want to delete your post after you've read this

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=328584

I thought it could carry one, not "carry" one.

Google is your friend, saves PPRuNe bandwidth. :hmm:

can it carry/"carry" 2? Or are the loading mounts only found on the left wing?

JB

Yep, only on the left wing. However, at a cost I'm sure you could get it on the right wing as well.

5th Pod
 

I think it was a standard Boeing build to put fittings in the inboard left wing for the extra engine. I have fitted several, & the other point we had to sort out was the fuel loading which was non standard, with balancing fuel in the right wing.

As a point of interest I was also involved in fitting a 4th pod on a TriStar, but that went on the inboard right wing.

Tristar 500

Edited for spelling!!

Are there any performance/logistical advantages of having the engine mounted on the left rather than the right?

Im assuming they wouldnt allow to carry an extra engine on each wing because the An225 would get jealous????

JB

It's called a 5th pod, :) some airlines have the capability, some don't. QANTAS used the facility earlier this year to carry a spare RB211 to Europe on one of their 744s.

I think some of the BA aircraft can also do it. The 5th engine has to have the fan blades removed and a fairing fitted over the fan disc and compressor inlet.

Odd 747
 

What is the 747 that you see on BBC Top gear program?
It has two engines mounted on each inboard pod and some sort of streamlined unit on the outboard pods.

Never flew like that, it was just for a movie (the one in TopGear)

Did they really do that just for a movie?
What was the movie?
By the way I should have said pylons not pods (long night on standby!)
Thanks

When I was on it, it was a usual 747-200. It is used for filming now so was altered for that purpose.

I was on my way to Southeast Asia back in the early 70s and was sitting in the bar at SFO sucking down my third scotch when I noticed a 747 on the gate. For some reason it looked a bit odd and then I noticed the 5th engine. Only after confirming it with someone more sober than me did I believe what I was seeing. And later I found that yes, a number of airlines had 'hard points' under the left wing to ferry an engine. Looked quite odd..

The movie was the last James Bond, Casino Royale.

It's an old BA bird (G-BDXJ) that arrived at Dunsfold via work at Air Atlanta. The engines on it are made of plastic I think - it gets used all the time for film/tv work. Featured recently in the Westlife video for Home. Nice to see an old girl getting the showbiz treatment!

Once a year a group of MINI owners get together to spin around the Top Gear Track and we nearly always do a photo shoot in front of this jumbo. Here's my little one against the big one!

http://photos-g.ak.facebook.com/phot...89158_1852.jpg

Thats a BMW, not a Mini

*ducks*

The 5th pod seems less popular than it used to be. Better worldwide availability of spares, better engine reliability, reduction of the 747 fleet, and the arrival of (relatively) cheap outsize Antonov 124 capacity on the charter market to haul large engines around, have all played their part.

In the early days of 747s such were the problems with the JT9D that sometimes, when ferrying out a spare to hold at an overseas base, the engineers would suddenly end up taking it off and fitting it to the same aircraft, which had suffered an en-route failure. And then ordering another spare.

In truth, although I have tended to look up at any overflying aircraft for more years than I like to admit, I can only remember seeimng the 5th pod a couple of times. It's one of those things, like operating with a winglet missing, that can surprise those who see it for the first time

JB2 post #7
 

I believe the left wing is chosen so there is less interference during ground handling. Steps or passenger boarding ramps access the left side while all sorts of heavy metal are moving around the right side during a transit.

What are the plans with G-BDXJ?