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Re: Uh oh! More Stratoliner news...

Posted by Rob S on Thu Apr 10, 2003 07:37:18 AM

In reply top Uh oh! More Stratoliner news... posted by bdk on Wed Apr 09, 2003 04:41:10 PM

Wasn't there supposed to be a Stratoliner in Laos used by CIA in the 60's? Wixers? : Aerospace Notebook: Restoration of Stratoliner hits finan
: cial turbulence
: Seattle Post-Intelligencer 04/09/03
: author: James Wallace
: (Copyright 2001)
:
:
:
:
: The Boeing Co.'s historic 307 Stratoliner has run into a f
: ew problems.
:
:
: Most of them are green, as in the color of money.
:
:
: Some of those working on the restoration project were told
: , when they were sent home last week, that the project was
: over budget and out of money.
:
:
: The buzz around the local aviation community was that the
: project might be dead.
:
:
: But a Boeing spokeswoman said yesterday that the Stratolin
: er restoration has not been stopped, just slowed until som
: e issues can be worked out.
:
:
: After a six-year restoration, the four-engine Stratoliner
: -- the first passenger plane with a pressurized cabin -- c
: rashed into Seattle's Elliott Bay in March 2002 while on a
: routine test flight. It ran out of gas. The flight crew w
: as not hurt, but the plane was badly damaged.
:
:
: Boeing decided to pay for the repairs. Then came the indus
: try's worst-ever downturn, and Boeing's commercial airplan
: e operations are not exactly flush with money.
:
:
: "The scope has been a little bigger than we thought," Boei
: ng's Liz Verdier said of the Stratoliner restoration.
:
:
: After a short flight-test program, the Stratoliner is supp
: osed to be flown back to Washington, D.C., in late July wh
: ere it will become a star attraction at the National Air a
: nd Space Museum's new annex at Dulles International Airpor
: t. The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is scheduled to open in
: December, in time for the 100th anniversary of the Wright
: brothers' first powered flight.
:
:
: Boeing built just 10 of the planes. The one that made a sp
: lash in Elliott Bay is the only one left. It was delivered
: to Pan Am in March 1940 and flew commercial routes in the
: Caribbean before being used as a military transport.
:
:
: The Stratoliner could barely climb past 20,000 feet. Moder
: n jetliners fly nearly twice that high. But it was the wor
: ld's first high-altitude commercial transport, and it help
: ed lay the foundation for Boeing's commercial future.
:
:
: It is one of two history-making Boeing planes that will go
: into the new Dulles museum this year. The Dash 80, protot
: ype for Boeing's first commercial jetliner, the 707, is sc
: heduled to be delivered in September. That aircraft is kep
: t in the same Plant 2 hangar where the Stratoliner is bein
: g restored.
:
:
: The Dash 80 last flew July 15, 1991, when it made a flyove
: r of Boeing facilities in Puget Sound to commemorate the c
: ompany's 75th anniversary and the 37th anniversary of the
: jet's first flight.
:
:
: Only some "tweaking" remains to get the Dash 80 in shape f
: or its flight to the museum, Verdier said.
:
:
: And most of the work has been completed on the Stratoliner
: , she added.
:
:
: "We have not shut it down," she said. 'But until we get th
: is figured out, we did send them (workers) away."
:
:
: Those were the people working on structures, she said. Wor
: k continues on the plane's interior and systems.
:
:
: The Stratoliner restoration is being done by volunteers as
: well as a Boeing team known as AOG, short for Aircraft On
: Ground, an elite group who repair planes around the world
: .
:
:
: Verdier said the structural damage that the Stratoliner su
: stained when it ditched into Elliott Bay has proved more d
: ifficult to repair than initially believed. New parts were
: needed, and that required tooling, she said. And time. An
: d money.
:
:
: Some of those parts are late, which has disrupted the repa
: irs.
:
:
: And she acknowledged there are money problems.
:
:
: "After we got in there, we discovered we needed to start f
: rom scratch with the structures," she said.
:
:
: Boeing has not said how much the restoration is costing.
:
:
: Despite the challenges, the Stratoliner should still make
: its public rollout at the Museum of Flight on June 14, Ver
: dier said.
:
:
: Although the Dash 80 is supposed to join the Stratoliner a
: t the new aviation museum annex, it's not certain whether
: the historic jet will be repainted before it goes back for
: display.
:
:
: Again, the reason is a lack of green.

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