Samsonite

The Inn of The Golden Crab. Here: http://www.pattayatalk.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22472

If the US legacy carriers place large orders Boeing will, most likely, open a second assembly line, provided their subcontractors and suppliers can keep up the pace. At present, Boeing expects to have 42 aircraft parked outside its 787 final assembly building by the time the 787 receives certification and they start deliveries in May of next year.

The new Boeing 787-8 standing on its own, two weeks before the rollout, and on its way to the paint shop. Amazing how big that thing is, but you don't realize it until you see some people in the picture, see photo 1, to give you some scale.

Agreed. If I had to describe an "American Breakfast" it would be, two strips of bacon, two eggs (cooked anyway you want them), hash browns, toast, and a cup of coffee. In Pattaya I prefer the bubble and squeak, two eggs, toast, and "English Style" bacon served at the Sportsman on Soi 6. It is a little more expensive than some restaurants, but worth it, imho.

ho ho ho Producer of the biggest commercial passenger aircraft, but not the biggest aircraft producer.

No, you take more orders, you deliver more aircraft. In another two or three years Boeing will be delivering more aircraft. Airbust had a good run for a few years, but it is all but over. They are now claiming they don't want to be the biggest aircraft producer. From a Wall Street Journal article: "Mr. Gallois said Airbus isn't actively aiming to take back control of the market. "I don't think that our target is to sell more airplanes than Boeing. Our target is to be the best company, not the biggest, and I think that is a change from the past," Mr. Gallois said. He said Airbus isn't now actively looking to achieve a specific target for market share." Sounds like he is looking for excuses for falling behind? Similar to a football player who is past his prime and gets traded to a team in secondary league.

No, Boeing has always said it will be August or September, I was hoping it would be sooner. Since you have posted this twice under two different topics (you must be feeling proud of yourself) here is my reply, a second time. The usual, I see. Now nice to ignore what was sold. Let's see.....Airbus was founded in 1970. The year they outsold Boeing, using predatory marketing tactics, was 2001. They had a 5 year run and Boeing outsold Airbus in 2006. That means Boeing will soon, once again, be delivering more aircraft than Airbus. IF Airbus and Boeing used the same method of counting orders, either way, Boeing would have outsold Airbus in 2005, but then we wouldn't want to suggest, as we have so often been told, that the Europeans cousins could, or would, engage in any unethical business practices. Couldn't care less. It is not a flag carrier as we have no flag carrier and it is not an airline I would use as it doesn't fly anywhere I need or want to go.

The first one takes a little longer. Once they get up to 100 out the door they hope to be able to assembly one every three days.

787 Progress. Taken on 21 May 2007: Taken on 5 June 2007: Taken on 13 June 2007:

And where might that be?

Recent reports would indicate that the Thai regulation requiring you show a onward ticket when you enter the country, is being enforced. While Delta maintains an office in BKK, they haven't flown their own metal into Thailand in several years. I bought a ticket on Delta a couple of years ago and ended up using 4 different airlines to make the round trip. Korean Air to Seoul and Asiana to BKK. Returning it was EVA from BKK to Tapei and China Air to SFO. I liked Korean Air. Their Boeing 777-200s are very comfortable.

Without regard to the location, The Residence Garden is the best value in a hotel in Pattaya, IMHO.

Here you go, John Leahy at work: Last week Mr. Leahy said, point blank, that the design work is frozen on specific models. Not So. See paragraphs number 29-32. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/318469_iata05.html "Last updated June 6, 2007 10:30 a.m. PT Potential buyers of A350 seek more data 'We just don't know enough,' airline says By JAMES WALLACE P-I AEROSPACE REPORTER VANCOUVER, B.C. -- Some key potential customers for the Airbus A350 that could give the plane much-needed industry momentum say they need more information from Airbus before deciding whether to order the plane. Executives with Emirates and Singapore airlines, as well as International Lease Finance Corp., Airbus' biggest customer, all said details have been lacking from Airbus about the A350, which is being developed as a competitor to Boeing's 787 as well as the 777. "There is no hurry. We just don't know enough yet about the A350 XWB program to make a decision," said Maurice Flanagan, executive vice chairman of Emirates Airlines & Group. "We don't even know what the seat mile costs are," Flanagan said. Emirates is considering an order for as many as 100 widebody planes from Boeing or Airbus. One of the industry's most closely watched jetliner campaigns, the contest is between the A350 XWB (extra-wide body) and the 787. Emirates is only considering the 787-10 as an alternative to the A350. That will be a stretched version of the Dreamliner that Boeing has yet to announce a launch customer for. Given the lack of performance details from Airbus about the A350, Flanagan said he did not know when Emirates would finish its evaluation, though he did say he believes an order will be placed later this year. Flanagan's comments came during an interview on the sidelines of the annual general membership meeting here of the International Air Transport Association, which represents nearly 250 of the world's leading international airlines. Boeing has won almost 600 firm orders for the 787, which will enter airline service in 2008. The A350 won't be ready until 2013. Airbus had to redesign the plane following criticism last year from Singapore Airlines and International Lease Finance Corp. that the A350 would not be competitive against the 787. Airbus came back with essentially an all new design that will have a wider fuselage than the 787, will carry more passengers and will nearly match the 787 in its use of composites. But the delay has cost Airbus sales momentum. Qatar Airways last week said it will buy 80 A350s -- the first major order for the plane. That deal is expected to be completed soon. Airbus also has 11 firm orders for the A350 from Finnair and two from U.S. lessor Pegasus Aviation Finance. In addition, it has a number of commitments that have not been finalized. Chew Choon Seng, chief executive of Singapore Airlines, said in an interview he is satisfied with the improved A350 design, though the airline still needs more details from Airbus about the A350-900. That will be the first of three A350 models that Airbus is developing and the one that Singapore Airlines is most interested in. Singapore Airlines, which last year ordered 20 787s, also committed last year to buy 20 A350s. John Leahy, chief commercial officer for Airbus, said Singapore is very close to signing a firm order for those A350s. But Chew said that may depend on whether General Electric decides to develop an engine for the A350. Rolls-Royce is so far the only engine maker to back the A350 program. "We would prefer to have a choice," Chew said. He noted that the first delivery of the A350-900 is six years out. "We normally would select an engine maker about two years before delivery," Chew said. "To ask us to sign on for a new airplane without an engine choice so far in advance is something we would have to consider very carefully." Chew is a pivotal player in the industry and someone that airplane makers Boeing and Airbus pay attention to. So is Steven Udvar-Hazy, founder and chief executive of International Lease Finance Corp. Based in Los Angeles, ILFC is the world's largest aircraft lessor. It is one of the most important customers for Boeing and Airbus, and when Hazy talks, both airplane makers listen. Hazy ordered 22 Dreamliners from Boeing in 2005. But it was his stinging public criticism last year of the A350 that sent Airbus engineers scrambling to make the plane more competitive. "We need to see more details," Hazy said Monday when asked how soon ILFC might order the A350. "The 787 is much more advanced as far as ILFC is concerned," he added. Hazy also dismissed comments made last week by Leahy, the Airbus sales chief, who said the design of the A350 is pretty much "frozen" and changes can't be made. "Its thawing, not frozen," Hazy quipped, adding that more details on the A350 will likely be forthcoming from Airbus at the Paris Air Show in a couple of weeks. At a briefing for reporters Monday at its headquarters in Toulouse, France, Airbus acknowledged the A350 design details are not frozen. Gordon McConnell, chief engineer for the plane, said Airbus expects to freeze the design of the plane by the fourth quarter of 2008, with final assembly beginning in 2011 and the first flight coming early in 2012."

In Opera go to Tools, Preferences, Advanced, History, and set it to empty the cache on exit, "empty on exit." I believe the default is to update pages every 5 hours. You can also go to Tools, Delete Private Data, Details, and setup how you want to delete data manually. Simply clicking on the "reload" icon will refresh the page you are looking at and I think that same function in Internet Exploiter is called, Refresh.

Boeing 787 Part Deliveries & Virtual Assembly Video. Nicely done and shows you why Boeing will make the 8-7-07 (8 July 2007) roll out deadline. If you can't get to youtube directly, try this link: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2007/...-animation.html

A breakdown of what parts are coming from where, http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/multimedi...boeing-787.html Click on number 2, "The Parts."

Boeing designed everything and left it to some of the subcontractors to do the detail work. The wing was designed by Boeing and had to be a specific size and shape, but the Japanese subcontractor was left to decide how to designed and build the internal parts of the wing. The fuselage was designed by Boeing and one section manufactured in Japan. The center wheel well and center wing tank were also made in Japan. Section 41, the front nose piece, which contains the cockpit, and on the B787 extends back beyond the first set of doors, was built in Kansas, USA. Two fuselage sections were built in Italy and then jointed together in South Carolina, USA, where two other fuselage sections were manufactured. Boeing engineers have been on site around the world making sure it was done right and on time. 75% of the content of the B787 is from the U.S. http://www.boeing.com/commercial/787family/programfacts.html

The Paris Airshow will be very interesting! However, at this point that world class snake oil salesman, John Leahy, has all the credibility of a Thai bar girl with a sick buffalo.

And.....today they say they are not going to use composite barrels......

Can't read, huh?

The A350 still a paper airplane and will continue to be a paper airplane for at least another year and a half, maybe longer. First it was to be a made over A330. Then it was going to be composite panels over an aluminum frame. Last week Airbus was talking about composite barrel construction, a la the B787. This week there is talk they might make the fuselage a little wider. Early on they said it was going to compete with the Boeing 787, but it really appears it is aimed at the larger Boeing 777 market. At this point in time Airbus doesn't know how they are going to build the A350 or how big it is going to be, and when it will enter service is a guestimate at best. If the go with the composite barrels they will be lucky to have it ready by 2014. If you were an airline, would you, at this point, sign anything that would bind you to purchasing something you may not want when and if you see the finished product? A wheel of Swiss cheese probably doesn't have as many holes in it as a "memorandum of agreement."

It is not a firm order, yet... "DATE:30/05/07 SOURCE:Flightglobal.com Qatar agrees to take 80 A350XWBs By David Kaminski-Morrow Middle Eastern carrier Qatar Airways has signed a memorandum of agreement to buy 80 Airbus A350XWB twin-jets, including..." http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2007/...0-a350xwbs.html

It is not as expensive as some in the aviation industry would like us to believe. "In response to the long-term solution, preventing flammable fuel/air vapors in fuel tanks, the FAA commissioned an Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC) to evaluate design modifications, such as inerting, that would satisfy this recommendation. In its July 1998 final report, the ARAC concluded that inerting would achieve this goal, but at a cost of over $20 billion. The ARAC also concluded that inerting systems would be very difficult to retrofit into existing airplanes and recommended that the FAA continue to investigate a more cost-effective approach to reducing explosive vapors. A 2001 followup study also concluded that the benefit of inerting could not be reasonably balanced by its cost. In May 2002, in contrast to the ARAC’s reports, the FAA developed a prototype inerting system that required no moving parts, weighed less than 200 pounds, and could be retrofitted into existing airplanes at a fraction of the industry-estimated cost: the cost of this prototype system was only $100,000. The system has been flight tested by the FAA, NASA, Boeing, and Airbus, and the results indicate that fuel tank inerting is both practical and effective." http://www.ntsb.gov/recs/mostwanted/explosive_tanks.htm

An update on The Golden Crab, from the owner, Mr. Wales. "We have finished the renovation of the original Crab, so all the apartments are now at the same standard. I am looking for someone to run the coffee shop as I have no experience of this nor the time to do it properly. At present the swimming pool has two skimmers to collect the things that float on the surface. We are having the rim around the pool removed and an overflow system substituted because it improves the appearance, and works better (the skimmers become brittle, in the sun, and crack causing leekage). We hope to get this done in August as it is usually our quietest time. Removing the rim may take up to two weeks and will be rather a noisy job. Once the pool has been modified and completely re-tiled the surrounding area will be relayed and resurfaced. Then the area between the pool and the road will be finished and the front wall replaced. By this time we will hopefully have made a satisfactory arrangement fo the operation of the coffee shop. As soon as it is finished we will establish a web site for the crab. With effect from the 1st of November there will be a new pricing structure. This will mean that the first three floors will stay at the current rentals for upper floors, and the top three floors (with sea views) will cost B2,000 per month more. We hope this pricing structure will remain unchanged till at least 2010." If you have any questions or would like to make a reservation, please send your e-mail to, Mr. David Wales, thegoldencrab@hotmail.com