I was thinking to myself today (odd I know) but what are your thoughts about flying on brand new planes just entered service or ones that have been around for a while. The main thing I am thinking about here is safety, personally I would love to fly in a new jet just for comfort but I would also like to fly in an older jet as its been round the block abit more and not liable to spring any strange surprises on you.
By: steve rowell - 17th August 2003 at 08:49
It doesn’t matter how old the aircraft is as long as it has been well maintained
By: robc - 12th August 2003 at 08:24
Originally posted by Pembo330
Either very old, or very new. The in-between stuff is boring.:)
Exactly!
By: skycruiser - 12th August 2003 at 04:19
Good point,
It’s a gamble being the first operator of a type, so I guess on the amount of problems that occur. I bet SAS lost out on the Dash8-Q400 deal. I heard that SAS grounded the entire fleet of Q400 and told the manufacture to sort them out or have them back.
I wounder how much discount Virgin was offered for the A340-600. I don’t believe it had to many problems.
By: Selsport69 - 11th August 2003 at 19:42
Skycruiser, Does the big discount not level itself out to the normal price due to lost flying time/out of service that the aircraft in question is sorted out?
By: skycruiser - 11th August 2003 at 17:02
Companies which are the launch customer for a new type receive big discounts and perks. They know it’s a risk because of the probable tech problems that go with a new type. SAS had a lot of problems with the Dash8-Q400.
Also, my company were one of the first to opereate the A340-600 and we had a lot of problems with this machine, most of them fixed now.
By: Bhoy - 11th August 2003 at 16:20
The only time I’ve been on a jumbo was a BA 747-136 in 97 (EWR-LHR)… I’ve certainly seen some fresher looking interiors… it would have been, what, 30 odd years old?
By: Pembo330 - 11th August 2003 at 14:29
Either very old, or very new. The in-between stuff is boring.:)
By: robc - 11th August 2003 at 14:12
Well mostly what you notice about really new planes is that they are smoother (much) and the interior is new aswell:D sometimes on older planes the interior just feels like your sitting on a SWT chair into London:rolleyes:
By: KabirT - 11th August 2003 at 10:23
i did a BA DEL-LHR flight on a 20 day old B744………lovely feeling and i think a new plane is as safe as a 20 year old plane.
By: steve rowell - 10th August 2003 at 23:51
I once flew from SFO to HNL on a 30 year old DC10
The aircraft was pristine and the trip faultless
By: Ren Frew - 10th August 2003 at 20:42
Dunno… ? I suppose you’d expect a new plane to have done enough proving miles from Seattle, Toulose or wherever before the airline picks it up ? :confused:
By: Whiskey Delta - 10th August 2003 at 20:41
I think it’s a Chuck Yeager quote that says “don’t fly the A model of anything.” I think the same holds true even now. My employeer was the launch customer for an airplane and suffered through countless maintenance issues for years. The had some real problems with automatic inflight engine shutdowns for a while. Growing pains to say the least.
I would take the reliablity of that 737-200 over a lot of the more modern stuff fresh of the assembly line.
By: T5 - 10th August 2003 at 20:12
Interesting point.
I would opt for the older aircraft opposed to the newer one. Like you say, it’s done a bit more mileage and less prone to a sudden fault compared to a new aircraft for example.
By: batbay - 10th August 2003 at 18:46
Good point!
Back in December I was on a Philippine Airlines 734 about to leave Puerto Princesa. The aircraft I was aboard was a couple of years old. Out of the window I saw a 732 of Air Philippines , the oldest operating aircraft of its type. Guess which one I was happy to be aboard?:rolleyes:
Sign In
August 10, 2003 at 5:54 pm