Newsgroups: sci.aeronautics.airliners Path: news From: hoyme@src.honeywell.com (Ken Hoyme) Subject: Re: Safety and design rankings (was Re: Flight controls) X-Submission-Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 18:43:16 GMT References: Message-ID: Approved: kls@ohare.Chicago.COM Organization: Honeywell Systems & Research Center, Mpls. MN, USA. Sender: kls@ohare.Chicago.COM X-Submission-Message-Id: Date: 16 Dec 92 14:00:44 PST In article kls@ohare.Chicago.COM (Karl Swartz) writes: > My understanding was that the 747-400 does *not* have a new wing but > rather a tweaked version of the original. I recall some statement > from Boeing regarding the lack of winglets on the 777, which noted > that the 777 had a new wing and starting from a clean slate it was > more efficient to not have them, whereas working from an existing > design as with the 747-400 it was helpful to have them. I believe the winglets issue on the 777 was also complicated by the folding wing option. Which no one has ordered -- even those airlines who originally expressed interest in the option. Has development on the folding wing stopped?? I had heard that Boeing was getting tired of the investment required to keep the option open while not receiving any orders for it. >>The FMS's used on these airplanes are generally done by Honeywell, except >>that Boeing's using Smiths Industries for the 737, for some reason. > Boeing recently made a substantial change to the FMS on new 737s, and > offers a retrofit kit for older new-generation 737s. I believe this > was a replacement ... perhaps away from Smiths? Having observed the > trials and tribulations of friends with MGs and their Smiths electrics > I'm not enthusiastic about a Smiths FMS! :-) Me too! But then, I *am* biased on this issue. :-) However, I do not believe that the part of Smiths that supports cars and the part that designs avionics has a whole lot to do with each other. I suspect (but do not know for certain) that Boeing's choice of Smiths might be related to trying to get some competition in this area. Ken Hoyme Honeywell Systems and Research Center (612)951-7354 3660 Technology Dr., Minneapolis, MN 55418 Internet: hoyme@src.honeywell.com