Some years ago I took a day trip from Athens to Gatwick and back in the cockpit of Monarch’s 757, G-MONB which, though line #15, was at the time the lead hours B757 and projected by Monarch and Boeing to remain so for at least 3 years.
Boeing had installed a computer in the cockpit just behind the right hand seat which was attached to sensors in the wing box. Monarch was being paid for carrying the equipment and downloading and transmitting the information gathered back to Boeing. Parameters monitored included stress, flexing, moisture and vibration.
Being typical of ongoing product monitoring, I thought little more about this until the other evening when I was watching a TV show about the F-22 test programme.
This included shots of B757 line #1 which has been modified with an F-22 nose and other systems.
The narrator stated that the aircraft had been placed on the F-22 research programme by Boeing “as it could not have been sold for airline use due to the way its wings were attached.
This was not a casual statement and, as the show was in Discovery Channel’s highly authoratative Test Pilot series, it begs the questions:
What is the difference between B757 #1 wing attachments and the rest?
Why is there a difference?
Any ideas?
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June 24, 2000 at 8:13 pm