Ladies and Gentlemen: The New Fedex!

[Normy]

Here's my new toy....!

Too bad it will be three years before my seniority [currently....one floor below the septic tank~] can hold it.

WOW that plane has nice lines! And you'll note that N901FD has ROLLS-ROYCE engines. I'm dancing in front of my computer!

757's with the Pratt engines are NOTHING BUT TROUBLE. UPS actually converted all their Pratt-motored 757's over to RR's, which are basically trouble-free and use slightly less fuel. This conversion wasn't cheap: That company did it for a reason.

The 757 is a favorite among pilots because it has engines from large, wide-body aircraft....yet it is nothing more than a 727 fuselage mated with a 767 tail. 767 cockpit windows, and the same Honeywell EFIS system was installed. Basically, this plane is the 727-300 that United tried to order in 1973. The long and short is that you are mounting a pair of huge engines on a very small airplane. Hello? Who wouldn't like that? The 757 is well known for its ability to take a FULL load of people, a FULL load of bags, and transport them from a SHORT runway to a runway a LONG way away.

-Airlines don't "loose" bags anymore. They all have bar-codes, and they are all scanned 25 times between when you check them and when you pick them back up. The long and short: Airlines know where your bags are 24/7. If they don't have them at your destination, it is because they have deliberately left them behind.

Why?

Because the MD-80 or 737 [both pathethic piles of excrement, in my opinion] couldn't haul it, that's why. A more correct expression would be that they "couldn't haul all the bags with all the passengers". You see, the airlines? They try to take all the human bodies that they can. If it is a hot day, and/or you are at high altitude...such as Denver...then the silly MD-80 starts losing the ability to carry weight and they throw your bags off first. AGAIN...they know EXACTLY where your bags are!

Prime example: San Diego. American Airlines uses mostly MD-80's on their flights out of this city, and you are LUCKY if you can non-rev out of there!

The 757: It has NONE of these problems! This airplane is under-rated performance wise, and it never has a performance-hit on takeoff. I remember watching American Airlines 757's take off out of St. Thomas in the Caribbean....and this 220,000 pound airplane used less runway than the ATR-72's that also flew from there.

N!ew toy for Normy!

[Normy]

[Don Plumley]

Pretty.

I've flown a bunch in AAL 757 between SNA and DFW/ORD years ago. Kinda a small tube for long haul coast to coast, but out of SNA it was an ideal AC. The thrust/weight makes a lot of sense.

And thanks for reinforcing why it is I never check a bag domestically!

[Dottore]

For a couple of years in the mid 1980's, just after 757's came into service, I used to commute twice weekly from Singapore to Jakarta on Singapore Airlines 757's. A couple of the pilots were good mates, and they loved the 757. Referred to it as the sports car of airliners - I guess for the reasons you mention.

However when these planes first when into service they had some problems with cabin pressure. I know Singapore Airlines had to do several decompression dives (with passengers)! I was on one of those. It was the day my hair turned grey. You haven't quite lived until you've gone down nose first in one of these suckers.

[Normy]

Originally Posted by Dottore

For a couple of years in the mid 1980's, just after 757's came into service, I used to commute twice weekly from Singapore to Jakarta on Singapore Airlines 757's. A couple of the pilots were good mates, and they loved the 757. Referred to it as the sports car of airliners - I guess for the reasons you mention.

However when these planes first when into service they had some problems with cabin pressure. I know Singapore Airlines had to do several decompression dives (with passengers)! I was on one of those. It was the day my hair turned grey. You haven't quite lived until you've gone down nose first in one of these suckers.

I don't recall reading about that problem, but the 757 has one of the best records in the industry. AA flew one into a mountain in Cali, Columbia in 1996, and some Turkish airline flew one into the water in the same year after taking off from Puerta Plata, Dominican Republic. This last was because a wasp built a nest in the pitot tube....

then of course, there was the two that were destroyed on September 11th. I knew the First Officer on the plane that hit the Pentagon, David Charlebois.

N!

[BRPORSCHE]

My uncle flys for Fedex. I will have to ask him what plane he flys. He has been there awhile, so he doesn't do many international flights anymore.

[Steve Carlton]

I used to jockey for FedEx, too. Drove one of those Econoline 150s.

[Jim Sims]

I see that FedEx has just about topped out at their posted planned fuel surcharge rate. What is the business plan when jet fuel reaches $5/gallon? Will we see FedEx railroad boxcars traveling the rails (express freight) along with all the junk from China?

[nostatic]

They change the name to FredEx, and get guys named "Fred" to haul the stuff with their daily drivers. This is a super secret contingency plan that has been floating around for years. Ask your local Fred...

[DaveE]

So I'm going to Jax Wednesday. Could I just FedEx myself? And my luggage?

[onewhippedpuppy]

Looks like fun to me! I've always heard that flying for FedEx was a pretty good gig, true?

[cairns]

Normy I'm a wanna be pilot and absolutely love your posts. Please keep it up!

[widgeon13]

Originally Posted by Jim Sims

I see that FedEx has just about topped out at their posted planned fuel surcharge rate. What is the business plan when jet fuel reaches $5/gallon? Will we see FedEx railroad boxcars traveling the rails (express freight) along with all the junk from China?

It's already $5++ at some airports.

[tcar]

Didn't know that about the 757. Cool.

Does that make the 767 a slug? I've heard that it was, at least w/ certain engines.

[Mule]

I'm still with UPS