Marine One to be an EH101

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Amazing - The President's ride has been a Sikorsky's since 1957. This was one of the most hotly contested contracts due to the visibility involved and now of the few areas where the European defense contractrs have made inroads into the US military.

That aside, it'll be interesting to see what this means for the Canadian decision to go with the SuperHawk and not the EH. I'll bet a lot, in terms of economies of scale and shortened development time, will turn out poorly for the CAF without the US pushing to get it done.

It's been a bad month for US aviation... with the A380 and now the EH101 trumping the best the US has to offer....

Link

edit - typo

[CaptainCrunch]

Wow, I knew that the EH101 was on the bid list, but I never in a million years expected them to win.

Funny how the emphasis was put on a three engined helicopter as oppossed to two. A key reason why I wasn't happy with the Canadian helicopter selections process.

[Displaced Flames fan]

I'm not sure the A380 is negative for American aviation, but your entitled to your opinion. Of course, Airbus has a few Euro-government to bail it out if it loses big on the project.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally posted by Displaced Flames fan@Jan 28 2005, 08:13 PM
I'm not sure the A380 is negative for American aviation, but your entitled to your opinion. Of course, Airbus has a few Euro-government to bail it out if it loses big on the project.

To aviation as a whole no.... but I'm sure the US aviation industry takes a figurative blow when it's "Jumbo Jet" is no longer Jumbo.....

I've read some debates as to whether Airbus is indeed being government subsidized. I'm not sure Airbus how can have 3 major projects going...A380, A400M, and the new A350 without it. The capital to develop those three platforms is staggering.....

[Displaced Flames fan]

The problem is that the 747 is already too big for most airlines. The trend is to smaller planes. The market for an airplane that seats that many passengers is extremely limited. Airbus is banking on that changing. I'm not sure it will.

Boeing had a jumbo engineered and decided against putting it into production a few years ago for just that reason. Instead, they chose to go with the Dreamliner, a super-efficient medium sized narrow body aircraft. It's been selling big and it is aimed at where the market is trending.

And, yeah...I'm with you, there's no way in hell Airbus isn't being subsidized significantly.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally posted by Displaced Flames fan@Jan 28 2005, 09:15 PM
The problem is that the 747 is already too big for most airlines. The trend is to smaller planes. The market for an airplane that seats that many passengers is extremely limited. Airbus is banking on that changing. I'm not sure it will.

Boeing had a jumbo engineered and decided against putting it into production a few years ago for just that reason. Instead, they chose to go with the Dreamliner, a super-efficient medium sized narrow body aircraft. It's been selling big and it is aimed at where the market is trending.

And, yeah...I'm with you, there's no way in hell Airbus isn't being subsidized significantly.

The thought is with air travel being more popular and congestion of the skies only getting worse, the thing to do is have more people per flight. It's not really as much of an issue here in North America as it is in Asia. Hence why so many of the A380's sales have been in that marketplace, and other heavily travelled corridors (LHR-JFK).

Boeing's half assed attempted to combat the A380 was the 747X, a stretched and doubled decked 747. Problem was, it wasn't a major new design and still had many of the 747's inherent flaws and high operating costs. I do believe that the A380 bills itself as cheaper to operate than the 747-400, although I'll believe that when I see it.

You forgot's Boeing's alleged reason why they dropped the 747X - the Sonic Cruiser




Though hugely impractical - it sure would have restored some of the glamour and excitement of airliners again... Air Canada even commented on how it would have been iinterested in such a bird. Of course this was all pre 9/11.

And as of today, it's no longer the 7E7. It's now the 787, timed to go with a sale of 60 787's (full model #: the 787-8) to China where the number 8 is thought to be lucky.

[Displaced Flames fan]

Yep, the 787 Dreamliner.

And I didn't forget the reason Boeing dropped the X.....they dropped it because they felt the market didn't justify the cost to build a new line.

Obviously (and to be honest, there aren't that many 747's in NA either) the market that does exist is in Asia.

I worked for Boeing long enough to be able to think globally.