- 5 hours ago
For educational purposes
During the 1960s, the general population embraced air travel and larger aircraft were needed for the growing airlines.
While jumbo jets ruled long-haul passenger transport, a whole spectrum of narrow body jets competed for the smaller routes.
Featured Aircraft:
- McDonnell Douglas MD-11
- Fokker 100
During the 1960s, the general population embraced air travel and larger aircraft were needed for the growing airlines.
While jumbo jets ruled long-haul passenger transport, a whole spectrum of narrow body jets competed for the smaller routes.
Featured Aircraft:
- McDonnell Douglas MD-11
- Fokker 100
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:01Hi, I'm Neil Armstrong. Join me for an adventure through time.
00:58After the introduction of the
00:59early jet airliners, like the Boeing 707 and the Douglas DC-8, the general public embraced
01:06air travel on a massive scale. The secret of that success came from the formula of speed,
01:13comfort, and relatively low airfares. Airline companies grew at an astounding rate, and
01:20leading aircraft manufacturers all over the world jumped on the bandwagon. But to absorb
01:27the growing number of passengers, more and larger airliners had to be built.
01:50With the advent of jet airliners, passenger transport across the globe became fast and practical.
01:56Routine passenger routes sprang up to connect the continents. Travel was quick and comfortable,
02:03and passengers loved it. Low fuel prices helped make it affordable, and the public turned to
02:09air travel in increasing numbers. From 1960 to 1966, the number of airline passengers nearly
02:17doubled to 200 million. In less than a decade, airline travel had changed from the domain of
02:24the wealthy to popular mass transit.
02:30Airlines vied with one another to own the most modern airliners, and the airline companies
02:35soon dictated to manufacturers just what kind of passenger jets they should build. Pan Am
02:41founder Juan Tripp made large orders, which encouraged Boeing to build its 707 and Douglas its DC-8.
02:48He was a pioneer in new airplanes and routes, who was not afraid to spend huge sums of money
02:54following his hunches. Pan Am rival TWA ordered its own fleet of 707s, and an airliner war was
03:04on. Airline after airline decided it must have jets to survive, and piston engine aircraft were replaced
03:11with a burgeoning choice of jetliners, with variations for almost any kind of route imaginable.
03:19Jets offered the airlines greater speed and passenger capacity, and less maintenance than piston aircraft.
03:26And jet fuel was inexpensive. At one point in the 60s, it sold for a mere eight cents a gallon.
03:32Jet aircraft were costly to manufacture, but for the airlines, they were moneymakers.
03:43To compete for the growing passenger market, European aircraft designers invested heavily in supersonic flight.
03:51The Americans chose another route. They went for bigger instead of faster.
03:56Boeing, Lockheed, and Douglas introduced the wide-body configuration.
04:03The clear winner was Boeing's 747. It would be ten years before the Europeans would come close with their Airbus
04:10series.
04:16Today, a new generation of wide-body aircraft, like this McDonnell Douglas MD-11,
04:22are entering the market to compete again for leadership.
04:30As the 60s progressed, manufacturers had to decide what aircraft products to make.
04:36The thinking at the time was that supersonic was the way to go.
04:40The U.S. abandoned its SST program because of the cost and political controversy.
04:45The Soviets experimented with their Tu-144.
04:50Much to the surprise of the aviation industry, the Tu-144 was the first supersonic transport to fly in December
04:591968,
05:00and was the first to fly Mach 2 in May of 1970.
05:05Tragically, a Tu-144 crashed at the Paris Airshow in June of 1973.
05:12Shortly thereafter, the Soviets dropped their SST program.
05:22As early as the mid-50s, European aircraft makers could see a monopoly in civil aviation developing in the United
05:30States.
05:30If European manufacturers were going to survive, they figured they'd have to combine each country's resources.
05:38The Concorde was their answer.
05:40In spite of the huge, expensive problems associated with designing an SST,
05:46the British-French Concorde flew in March 1969, three months after the Soviets.
05:55It is the world's only supersonic airliner still in service.
06:00It's a remarkable aircraft.
06:02At a cruise speed of Mach 2.2, it can rush 128 passengers across the North Atlantic in less than
06:10three and a half hours.
06:12It's faster than most fighter jets.
06:14The Concorde would have revolutionized aviation in the 60s if the world's airlines had needed the fastest jet.
06:20Instead, what they demanded were big jets that could carry more and more passengers.
06:26The emphasis in America turned to subsonic aircraft with efficient, powerful engines.
06:32Boeing risked its reputation, bankroll, and the very existence of the company
06:37on development of the world's largest passenger jet, the Boeing 747.
06:44The 747 evolved from a competition between Boeing and Lockheed for a U.S. government contract to build a large
06:52military troop carrier.
06:54Lockheed won and built the huge C-5 galaxy.
06:58Boeing took its plans in another direction.
07:00The 747 program was fraught with serious design problems.
07:05The huge, heavy 747 had to have special everything, including new engines.
07:13Pratt & Whitney came up with the first high-bypass turbofacts, the JT-9Ds, eight feet in diameter each.
07:21They were the most powerful, economical, and quietest engines up to that time.
07:25When its first flight was made, in 1969, the 747 had four JT-9Ds shoving its 355 tons into the
07:36sky.
07:47Pan American World Airways, as it had with the 707, encouraged Boeing to build the big jet and ordered 25
07:55747s.
07:57A cue to Boeing to start the assembly line.
08:00No airline had dealt with an aircraft this big or this costly.
08:05In 1968, when the 747 made its debut, the airline paid roughly $35 million each.
08:12A lot for that time.
08:14Presently, a 747 brings $150 million.
08:19Cost aside, there were other considerations.
08:22No one had ever seen an aircraft like this.
08:26It could carry up to 500 passengers, needed 14 flight attendants,
08:31had a tail six stories high, 12 restrooms, and an upper-deck lounge and bar.
08:37The press dubbed it the Jumbo Jet.
08:40Boeing called it the Spacious Age.
08:46The Boeing 747 reorganized the aircraft industry worldwide.
08:52Airports, runways, and terminals had to be made larger.
08:56Because of its size, routes are important to the 747.
09:00They must be long hauled.
09:02Coast to coast in the U.S., across the oceans, or high volume passenger legs.
09:06The only short haul for a 747 is Nagasaki to Tokyo in Japan.
09:12High volume, high paying passengers.
09:26The 747 was too big for some airlines that needed a wide body.
09:31So Douglas and Lockheed responded.
09:34McDonnell Douglas built the DC-10.
09:37It was the first tri-jet wide body.
09:40The third engine is built into the vertical tail.
09:43All three engines are General Electric turbofans with 40,000 pounds of thrust each.
09:48It can carry from 225 to 345 passengers.
09:53The DC-10 first went into service with American Airlines in 1971.
09:58It has been very successful.
10:02The DC-10 beat the other tri-jet wide body to the marketplace by three months.
10:08That was Lockheed's L-1011 TriStar.
10:11The TriStar looks like a DC-10, only the third engine is in the fuselage just forward of the tail.
10:18It had three new Rolls-Royce RB211 turbofan engines.
10:23The development of this highly evolved engine was so costly,
10:26it brought about the collapse of Rolls-Royce.
10:30Though the L-1011 is highly regarded by pilots and passengers,
10:34the 80's recession forced Lockheed to stop production in 1984.
10:45The other wide body jet that's been a comfort to customers and a pleasant addition to the airlines buying it,
10:51is the A300 from Airbus Industry in France.
10:55It's slightly smaller than the DC-10 or the TriStar.
10:58What is unique is that Airbus links all those aircraft companies of Europe together,
11:04what's become a very successful effort.
11:06The aircraft systems and engines do come from the US, their GE turbofans.
11:12All the rest is the best of Aerospatial of France,
11:15Deutsche Airbus of Germany, British Aerospace of the UK, Fokker of the Netherlands and Spain's Casa.
11:21The A300 Airbus's first flight was in October 1972.
11:27Sales were slow at first.
11:30But the Airbus's fine qualities took time to be appreciated.
11:34It's comfortable, very quiet for a jet and extremely fuel efficient.
11:42There have been several follow-up models.
11:44The smaller A310 seating 218.
11:47The smaller yet A320 seats up to 179.
11:53Its makers claim it to be the most advanced aircraft in service.
11:58In fact, it has become one of the most controversial because of technology.
12:02It has a fly-by-wire flight control system, similar to those in the latest fighter jets.
12:08The control surfaces are moved by electronics, not cables or rods.
12:13The familiar control wheel or yoke is gone.
12:16Instead, the pilots use a side stick.
12:19The airplane is so stable and has so many safety features built into its systems,
12:24its makers claim it's impossible to fly it beyond its design limits.
12:28Critics say if the fly-by-wire fails, unlike a conventional aircraft, controlling it is impossible.
12:38One of the newest wide bodies is the McDonnell Douglas MD-11.
12:42Neil Armstrong went to the factory and learned more about high-tech transports from test pilot Tom Melody.
12:49This is a brand-new airplane.
12:51What's different from this new airplane and the earlier generation?
12:56The technology is certainly different.
12:58We rely on the glass cockpit as the term is in the industry now.
13:02What is glass cockpit?
13:03The glass cockpit means that the numerous displays that once were scattered throughout the cockpit
13:10have been replaced by several, in this case cathode ray tube technology,
13:15so that we can combine all of the displays that once took so much more space, as you know,
13:21and we've compressed it down.
13:23The real estate in the cockpit now has been very, very selectively controlled.
13:28And so the glass cockpit generally refers to EFIS, Electronic Flight Instrument Systems, our glass cockpit.
13:36So it's all electronic displays.
13:38What's the effect of these new kinds of displays on crews and operations?
13:45Well, it simplifies the presentation of information.
13:48As you know, the information that you give to a pilot, especially in a critical phase of flight, is very
13:52important.
13:53So our entire alerting system, for example, is on these displays, and it tells the pilot exactly what to do.
14:00I guess that means you don't have to have all those open books on your lap.
14:03That's correct. That's correct.
14:04Now, it's still a regulatory requirement, but in future generations, the MD-12, for example, will have an optional electronic
14:11library.
14:12And that will eliminate the requirement to carry all those books on board.
14:17What are the safety consequences of these new system changes?
14:21The philosophy of the system was that in the event of any malfunction, with several exceptions,
14:27that we want the pilot to have control because they're irreversible, but 99.9% of any malfunctions,
14:33the automatic controller is going to take the necessary action before the pilot even has to do anything.
14:39It sounds like the pilot is becoming more of a supervisor of the system.
14:45That's correct.
14:47Monitor, I believe, is the buzzword that we use.
14:51The pilot monitors the operation of the system.
14:53The system is totally automatic.
14:56As soon as we take off, that's the only realm that the pilot must still maintain manual control.
15:09Once the airplane is airborne, at 100 feet, he can, if he wishes, engage the autopilot.
15:13And from that point on, the airplane will fly itself along a pre-programmed route.
15:18But the real advantage to the FMS was not to make the pilot's job simpler.
15:22It was for safety and economy.
15:33While the jumbo jets ruled long-haul passenger transport,
15:38a whole spectrum of smaller airliners came into the market for the short and thin routes.
15:44There was a lot of competition.
15:47Douglas was very successful with the DC-9 series.
15:51Boeing did well with the 727 and 737.
15:55Today, European companies like Poker, Airbus and British Aerospace are delivering quality narrow-body aircraft.
16:03Real competition between Europe and the United States is back.
16:13One of the first short to medium jet transports was the Aerospatiale Caraval, an 80-passenger aircraft.
16:20It first entered service with Air France in May of 1959, and was the first to have its two engines
16:27mounted close to the tail on either side.
16:30A fashionable and useful design that made passenger compartments quieter.
16:35It was a highly successful entry in the world marketplace, but not much competition for the new jets coming out
16:42of the U.S.
16:43It was 1960 when Boeing aircraft said it would fill the need for a short to medium range aircraft with
16:49its new 727.
16:51The 727's fuselage was based on an even earlier Boeing success, the 707.
16:58The 727 made its first flight in September 1963.
17:03Both United Airlines and Eastern Airlines put 727s into service.
17:08Eastern called its 727s whisper jets.
17:11Like Caravelles, the engines were back toward the tail.
17:14From then on, its sails were messy.
17:17More than 1,800 were built, and many were sold in Europe.
17:20Not to be outdone, McDonnell Douglas developed its DC-9.
17:26It was designed to use 5,300-foot runways at smaller airports and land in even less distance.
17:33In 1965, Boeing was taking risks by developing its expensive jumbo 747.
17:39But it had a risky short route venture for sale too, the 737.
17:44It had only two prospects.
17:46One of those customers, Eastern Airlines, bought the DC-9 instead.
17:49Boeing, startled but not daunted, built the new jet based on an order for a mere 20 aircraft from Lufthansa.
17:58Nonetheless, the 737 has become one of the fastest selling aircraft in history.
18:07In 1987, Fokker Aircraft of the Netherlands introduced the F-100.
18:12It was designed to be at home in smaller airports and operate from short, rough runways if necessary.
18:18The Fokker F-100 is powered by two fuel-efficient Rolls-Royce Tay engines.
18:23Making it the quietest jetliner in the world.
18:26It'll seat 107 passengers.
18:29The F-100 has the latest technology.
18:32Its integrated flight control system has only 18 instruments, presenting a glass dashboard that looks barren compared to those of
18:40older aircraft.
18:40It has Autoland, all-weather operation capabilities.
18:45It can go and come from airports when other aircraft are grounded.
18:49Its design makes use of modern lightweight composites.
18:53Captain Ed Swamka heads up the F-100 program for U.S. Air in America.
18:58U.S. Air operates 40 F-100s.
19:01He gives us a view of the aircraft from the left seat.
19:04The airplane, from a pilot's perspective, is a dream to fly.
19:09It flies like a light airplane.
19:11It flies like a J-3 Cub.
19:13Another reason that U.S. Air bought the airplane was because it's very user-friendly around airports.
19:22The airplane right now is going to operate 24 hours a day out of Washington National Airport
19:27using no special procedures other than a normal noise abatement takeoff.
19:31It's that quiet.
19:33The days of round dials, of steam engines, of airplanes are gone.
19:38When we first started training our pilots on it, they were a bit apprehensive.
19:41And I think anyone would be because a lot of what they saw in the past was not very evident
19:48in the cockpit of the future.
19:50The pilot's responsibility today is more that of a systems manager than a stick-and-rutter flyer.
19:57With a flight management system, flight warning computer, flight control computer, maintenance control computers, they are more systems managers.
20:07We recommend, and most of our pilots do, a lot of hand flying under 10,000 feet.
20:13If I had the luxury of retrofitting a fleet, I would certainly choose an airplane like the F-100.
20:21I think it's typically Dutch.
20:24It's really, it's very comfortable, it's very advanced, but at the same time it's very informal.
20:30The pilot has to learn the nomenclature of these third generation jets.
20:35But when he gets in there, and he's comfortable with the language, and he pushes that disconnect button for the
20:41other pilot, and he rolls those ailerons, he's home.
20:45And it's very comfortable. It's very Dutch.
20:50One of the chief competitors of the F-100 is the MD-80 from McDonnell Douglas.
20:55It's really an advanced DC-9 with the ultimate stretch modification, more than 13 meters.
21:02Its passenger capacity jumped from 90 to 172.
21:07The MD-80's first flight was in 1979, and more than 1,500 have been ordered by airlines.
21:19With so much information at the fingertips, the Skipper is a highly trained manager of a very complex machine.
21:40International air travel has come a long way since Lindbergh.
21:43Join me next time for First Flights.
21:46First Flights.
21:47First Flights.
22:13Transcription by CastingWords
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