A derailment on Montana Rail Link near Superior, MT Thursday resulted in loss of three Boeing 737-800 fuselages en route to final assembly in Renton, WA. Here is a link to the news story. This is about as "high value" as they get!
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Not good at all. Now comes the inevitable sea of paperwork and endless investigations. Sad.
The pain in plane is mostly on the train !
Boeing might switch to Hydrogen filled Plastic Balloons to avoid all other forms of Transportation.
Andrew
I have a friend who is an SWA pilot, guess he won't be getting his new plane on time
Was this a BNSF train on MRL tracks?
I would hate to be the railroad's insurance provider...
That is amazing, in a bad way.
So, do they call in the FRA or FAA to investigate?
Stuart
I sure hope that they scrap these things instead of trying a repair. I don't think anyone wants to fly in an airframe that has been crashed and then submerged. This would be like buy a car after it had been flooded.
Joe
They can sell the bodies to a movie studio for Airplane movie set and stunts.
Andrew
Originally Posted by falconservice:
They can sell the bodies to a movie studio for Airplane movie set and stunts.
Andrew
Perhaps, but highly unlikely, since in their current unfinished state they hardly resemble a plane. Bone yards are full of examples that would better fit the bill at a fraction of the end cost.
Note that the (3) fuselages in the water are still upright even after sliding down a grade. Interesting??
Dang! Another one overshot the runway.
If it ain't Boeing...I ain't going !
Should be just plane sailing for the recovery team now!
My son-in-law's father is a pilot, according to him they are now all considered scrap and will never see any air time! Tick's him off because he is waiting for a new 737 to fly! Cost, Several million each......
Glad to hear of the final results. I'm a big fan of the 737..and it would never do to have bent, twisted, and mud encrusted fuselage pieces showing up on my next bird ride ! OTOH, if this was a foreign country...all the bird builders and repair joints would be engaged in civil war by now to get their hands on those "slightly used" 737 parts !
Looks like beer and pop cans in the future for those planes. OR Uncle Sam can purchase them at a billion each and use as low rent housing.
Actually, the total loss is six fuselages-- 3 down to the river and 3 along the roadbed.
Can the fuselages be used for crash testing or some other type of impact testing?
Andrew
Just heard a news discussion last night that referenced how quickly we Americans can make things when the need demands....You know, like 4 Liberty-class ships per day during WWII. Well, the guy mentioned that Boeing cranks out a 737 every 7 days.
Lessee... 6 X 7 = 42. 42-day lull in 737 production? Sounds like a whole bunch of people 'downstream' are in for an unplanned vacation.
Would this be the adult version of smiling while the schoolhouse burns?
Oh goody.
I had posted this information on the similar thread on this subject. Question asked: Why do we do this transportation??
Originally Posted by Dominic Mazoch:
Originally Posted by Bill T:
Ok, what was Boeing thinking when they came up with this "plane on a train" idea in the first place?
They have shipped a few thousand this way for years from Kansas to Washington.
OK< but why not build the whole thing either in Kansas or Seattle? Parts by rail, yes. But airplane bodies? I know they have been doing it for years, but I don't see the logic in it.They have shipped a few thousand this way for years from Kansas to Washington.
I believe it has to do with modern large corporate business models. There is also a Boeing plant, in South Carolina, a right to work state. The two or more production facilities appear to be a labor cost control system.
Air Bus does a similar thing with the A380. Large parts are built in England and shipped to a final assembly point mainland Europe.
They also ship these large parts around by air cargo. This cargo plane, (747 Dream Lifter)
, made the news when it landed at the wrong airport. Click on the underlined phrase to link. After reviewing the short runway problem, they decided to take-off from the short runway. You have to think the pilot pushed the throttles all the way up. Cargo was a 787 fuselage. 787 components are light weight composite material v.s. traditional aluminum.
So there is a control of shipping cost also. Air freight v.s. rail freight.
Wild world, IMO, Mike CT
From Wikipedia
Originally Posted by palaz1954:
My son-in-law's father is a pilot, according to him they are now all considered scrap and will never see any air time! Tick's him off because he is waiting for a new 737 to fly! Cost, Several million each......
What?! Just a little bit of duct tape and these things will be fine...
My Wife saw a special Short Train WB through Monroe, WA with three damaged fuselages about Noon Yesterday. This Must be the ones that stayed on the tracks, But she said they were damaged pretty good. - I must teach her to be faster with her camera - phone. - Dean
Heck, in the Army I once flew on a Chinook that had been in a crash into a river and was totally underwater for a while before they hauled it out and rebuilt it.
These were just shells, there's really no reason why they couldn't be made to fly. I agree that the FAA might not prevent it, though.
The Military has it's own rules and costs. They commonly do things never allowed in civilian flying.
Originally Posted by falconservice:
Can the fuselages be used for crash testing or some other type of impact testing?
Andrew
I think that they just have! 
It's official, all six of the damaged fuselages have been scrapped on site.
There was never any question they would be scrapped.
Can you imagine the lawsuits that would result if Boeing used those fuselages to build aircraft and one of them crashed?
