Airline Fuel Cutbacks

[StoopTroup]

This seems like a bad idea as far as airline safety IMO.

I guess they have to start thinking of every way they can to save fuel costs.

I can't believe that every transportation business in America isn't replacing vehicles with fuel efficient engines and motors.

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=9192250&ch=4226713&src=news

As far as Airlines are concerned....

Don't be surprised when Domestic Flights have one bathroom and no galleys.

I'm betting they reconfig the interiors and start adding as many seats as possible.

[Jerk]

This seems like a bad idea as far as airline safety IMO.

I guess they have to start thinking of every way they can to save fuel costs.

I can't believe that every transportation business in America isn't replacing vehicles with fuel efficient engines and motors.

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=9192250&ch=4226713&src=news

As far as Airlines are concerned....

Don't be surprised when Domestic Flights have one bathroom and no galleys.

I'm betting they reconfig the interiors and start adding as many seats as possible.

They need to cut out using fossil fuel based petro and use something more eco-friendly to power the jet....like solar power.

[soonersn20xx]

How about a matter transporter.........as a kid watching Star Trek in the 70's, I figured someone would had made that a reality by now. :rolleyes:

[GottaHavePride]

Seriously. It's the year 2008. I was supposed to have a flying car eight years ago.

[StoopTroup]

Seriously. It's the year 2008. I was supposed to have a flying car eight years ago.

I agree with you GHP.

I guess the other Morons around here are unable to see our vision. :D ;)

[mdklatt]

Seriously. It's the year 2008. I was supposed to have a flying car eight years ago.

Here you go (http://www.terrafugia.com/). Sorry it took so long.

[Ike]

I feel so much better now about the trip I'm taking overseas this weekend.

[StoopTroup]

Here you go (http://www.terrafugia.com/). Sorry it took so long.

I took the survey.

I told them I use it mostly to get to OU Games. :D

[StoopTroup]

Images removed...

Guess they sell themselves. :D

[Frozen Sooner]

Airlines have been only loading enough fuel to get to their destination plus a small safety factor since, well, the start of aviation.

That's known in the business as "not being a tremendous wasteful *******."

[StoopTroup]

I've sent a bunch out that I know had full loads.

[Harry Beanbag]

Man, I truly despise flying, but I really hope I never have to do it again. I foresee a huge increase in commercial plane crashes the next few years.

[Frozen Sooner]

I've sent a bunch out that I know had full loads.

Heh. Sorry, I forgot what you did for a living.

I was, however, under the impression that this was already common practice-you don't load a 737 with a full load of fuel for the LAX-SFO run, right?

[mdklatt]

Airlines have been only loading enough fuel to get to their destination plus a small safety factor since, well, the start of aviation.

That's known in the business as "not being a tremendous wasteful *******."

Eh, not so much. The number of flights that have either asked for priority handling due to low fuel or been forced to land somewhere other than their destination has gone up dramatically the past couple of years. They are sticking to the FAA regulations (as far as I know), but FAA regulations are a bare minimum. I don't think it's a safety issue...yet. Traffic management has taken a giant leap forward so that you're usually stuck at the gate for awhile instead of burning fuel 29,000 feet at BUMFK intersection in a hold. Technology has made landings in even the crappiest of weather routine. So--at least for domestic flights--the chances of an Airport type scenario where a plane can't find someplace to land and is forced to do a zero/zero landing with an engine flamed out are very small. Of course, every airline accident has a "very small" chance of happening due to all the redundancies in the system, but they still happen.

The same thing has been going on with maintenance for a couple of decades. The captain used to be the final authority. If he wanted something fixed, end of story. Now all maintenance decisions are run past the accountants first. Technically the captain still has the ultimate authority to make a no-go decision (and he definitely has all the responsibility), but there is a lot of pressure from management. I don't know of any accidents due to management overriding a flight crew's concerns, but there certainly have been accidents due to maintenance that just barely met the FAA regulations.

And don't even get me started about controller shortages....

[mdklatt]

I was, however, under the impression that this was already common practice-you don't load a 737 with a full load of fuel for the LAX-SFO run, right?

No, but you load it with enough to get you there with enough margin for every foreseeable contingency, plus a little bit extra for the unforeseeable contingencies that cause accidents. Now there are planes getting diverted because the wind forecasts were off by 10%, or they had to make a detour around some weather.

My mom was on a flight from Philadelphia to Dallas. The pilot came on to announce that they had to get some extra fuel because the route they were assigned wasn't the one they filed for. The new route probably added 100 miles. If you're sweating 100 extra miles on a 1200 mile flight, that's a problem IMO.

[Jerk]

No, but you load it with enough to get you there with enough margin for every foreseeable contingency, plus a little bit extra for the unforeseeable contingencies that cause accidents. Now there are planes getting diverted because the wind forecasts were off by 10%, or they had to make a detour around some weather.

My mom was on a flight from Philadelphia to Dallas. The pilot came on to announce that they had to get some extra fuel because the route they were assigned wasn't the one they filed for. The new route probably added 100 miles. If you're sweating 100 extra miles on a 1200 mile flight, that's a problem IMO.


I fail to see the problem here. If it has wings, it can glide in.