Todos
← Back to Squawk list
The Airbus & Boeing Battle Between 2 & 4 Engined Jets
Today, twinjet aircraft are increasingly becoming more commonplace on long-haul routes. However, at a time, there were concerns about the safety of only having two engines on longer distances, especially over the oceans. This factor is a worry that Airbus once played into. (simpleflying.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
Forget 2 vs 4, that has already been decided. . . . Further front end crew reduction is next up within the march of technology.
Reliability is the key to this debate. Since it has been shown time and again, that 2 engine aircraft can be reliable, is there a need for more?
Airbus committed two huge mistakes in the 2 vs. 4 engines fight. After creating the first large twin the AB300 which armed with twin reliable engines could cross the oceans in a safe manner AB tried to emulate Boeing´s runaway success with the almost mythical 707 by designing the 340 family which fell from favor by the airlines who started buying by the dozens the far more economical and fuel efficient 777 family. End of discussion 1. Then AB smart guys invented a flying a mammoth the 380 specimen which neither could compete aginst the all ubiquitous 777 versions. End of discussion 2.
The era of manufacturing biplanes, taildraggers, recips, and quad jets for commercial use is over.
Sometimes aircraft preferences change after an incident. After being a passenger on a UAL 737-200 about 27 years ago that had an engine failure just seconds after an ORD takeoff during a light Chicago snowstorm, and spending time on a much quieter cabin until returning to the airport, I then preferred flying 747s over DC10 or L1011 from CA to Hawaii.
I was thinking with only a single engine during the winter flight that there was only 50 percent of Bleed Air available including for deicing.
I was thinking with only a single engine during the winter flight that there was only 50 percent of Bleed Air available including for deicing.
Also, odds of being on a fight that results in at least one fatality while flying on airlines with good safety records is 1 in 10 Million while flying on airlines with poor safety records are 1 in 1.5 Million.
Looking at the total reliability picture, perhaps the Airline itself might make more of a difference in safety than the number of engines.