What is a Boeing 717? How is he good? These and other issues will be considered in the article. This aircraft is a twin-engine passenger aircraft manufactured by Boeing. In the line of developers, this is a single liner created by a third-party enterprise.
It is known that in 1997, Boeing incorporated the aircraft manufacturer McDonnell Douglas, which has been producing aircraft of the same name for 30 years. Consequently, the MD-95 version of the DC-9 series went to the Boeing and then changed its name.
Aircraft
It is known that the first flight of the Boeing 717 made in September 2, 1998. It has been in operation since 1999 since October 12. It was produced from 1995 to May 23, 2006. A total of 156 aircraft were built.
Following the acquisition by the Boeing concern of Douglas aircraft plants in August 1997, the Boeing 717 was the last model to be produced since the 1960s in the Douglas series of airborne aircraft for the MD-80/90 and DC-9 medium-haul routes.
Exploitation
In total, in 2009 there were 154 Boeing 717 aircraft in the airline fleet, 23 of which were in storage:
- AirTrain Airways (86 boards);
- QantasLink (11 boards);
- MexicanaClick (16 in storage);
- Hawaiian Airlines (15 private, three leased, two of them in storage);
- Midwest Airlines (nine boards) are being launched since 2008;
- Volotea (nine boards);
- Blue1 (nine);
- Bangkok Airways (two sides);
- Spanair (three);
- Quantum Air (five in storage);
- Turkmen Airlines (seven, of which one is in storage).
Specifications
The Boeing 717 board has the following parameters:
- BMW / Rolls Royce BR715 engines (2 X 8400 kgf).
- Sizes: side height - 8.92 m, length - 37, 81 m, wing span - 28.44 m, fuselage limit width - 3.3 m, wing sweep angle along the line - chord (degrees) 24o, wing area - 92.9 m².
- Number of seats: crew - two people, passengers in the cabin of two classes - 106, in the economic class - 98, maximum - 124.
- The parameters of the passenger cabin: the maximum width is 3.14 m, the highest height is 2.06 m.
- Loads and weights: take-off - 51.71 (54, 885) t, side without fuel - 43.5 t, empty curb - 31.675 (32.11) t, landing load - 46.2 t, useful - 12.2 t fuel supply - 13 890 (16 654) t.
- Speed: cruising - 810 km / h, top speed - 930 km / h.
The aerodynamic design looks like this: "Boeing 717" - low-turbofan, equipped with swept wings, two engines, rear engine placement and T-plumage with a moving stabilizer.
History
McDonnell Douglas began the creation of DC-9 in the early 60s of the last century. It was assumed that this aircraft will serve medium and short-haul airlines. For the first time, the DC-9 took off in 1965, and after a couple of months the airline began operating it on systematic flights. The DC-9 was manufactured until 1982, when it was technically and morally obsolete. By 1982, 976 DC-9s were built.
In 1980, Douglas introduced the next descendant of the DC-9, the MD-80, to the market. Unlike its predecessor, the volume of fuel tanks and the maximum take-off weight were increased on the new airliner. In addition, it was equipped with more powerful motors. From 1980 to 1999 approximately 1,200 MD-80s were sold.
At a Paris air show in 1991, Douglas announced the launch of the third-generation DC-9 - MD-95. The aircraft went on sale in 1994. It differed from previous versions by a few meters shortened fuselage, modern on-board equipment, wing size and new BMW Rolls-Royse BR700 engines.
The end of the Douglas era
The company Douglas in 1996 announced that the company has no funds to prolong the work on the next-generation aircraft equipped with a wide fuselage. This instantly reduced the ability of the company in the oversaturated market of commercial aircraft. Further, the Department of Defense decided to delete McDonnell Douglas from the list of companies participating in the competition for the next generation fighter project for the US Air Force, which could bring billions of dollars in profit. This was another crushing blow to the company.
The company did not have clear prospects for the future, and it began a dialogue with Boeing. When 1996 was drawing to a close, both companies announced their merger, the greatest in the annals of the aircraft industry. In 1997, the deal was approved by federal authorities.
After the merger of McDonnell Douglas and Boeing in August 1997, most experts thought that Boeing would refuse to manufacture the MD-95. However, the concern decided to continue manufacturing the board, giving it the new name Boeing 717.
The car made its first flight in 1998 on September 8th. The first customer was AirTran Airways. Gradually, the aircraft began to pay off. The technical characteristics of the Boeing 717 enthralled the airline, since the aircraft consumed little fuel, was fast, spacious and cheaper to operate and maintain than the basic opponent in the section 100 of the local BAe 146 airliners.
The cost of servicing the Boeing 717 was significantly different from its ancestors of the DC-9 series. For example, C-Check took only three days and had to be executed once in six thousand hours of flight. In DC-9, this session lasted 21 days.
Production completion
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, the aviation industry experienced a severe recession. In view of this, Boeing has revised its plans for tomorrow. After lengthy discussions, the company decided to continue manufacturing the 717th model.
And opponents in the segment of 100-seat boards meanwhile conquered the market. Difficulties with the 717th began in December 2003, when the airline Air Canada terminated the $ 2.7 million deal with Boeing, giving preference to the opponents of the 717th - Bombardier CRJ and Embraer E-Jet.
Recalling slight demand, in January 2005, Boeing announced the cessation of production of version 717.
disadvantages
If we examine the shortcomings of the 717 model, it becomes clear that the basic problem of the aircraft was the lack of unification with other families of Boeing aircraft. In particular, in the 90s, the Airbus concern set a new trend: it made the cabs and systems of the family of all types of its boards identical. It follows that retraining for a new look has become less costly, faster and easier. Pilots can get admission to control a whole family of airborne regardless of their parameters. This approach allows airlines to significantly reduce operating costs and more flexible crew allocation.
Despite the fact that the operating costs of the Boeing 717 were 10% less than those of the Airbus A318, they incurred losses due to the lack of unification of the airline. Boeing adopted the doctrine of unification and, starting with the 737-Next Generation family, standardized the systems and cabs of all liners.
The latest Boeing 717 was made in April 2006. Its buyer was AirTran Airways - the very one that acquired it first.