Boeing related train derailment in Montana

KSCessnaDriver said:
I'm not saying it will be done, but it certainly could be done. JAL rebuilt a DC-8 that came out of the Bay in SFO, certainly salt water is going to be much worse on an airframe than freshwater.
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It could be done, but since Insurance will buy the fuselages (and not even Boeing's insurance, the railway's insurance) it won't. When JAL did it, they owned the plane and it was probably quicker and cheaper for them than buying another, plus they do not have manufacturer's liability to worry about.
 
Pilawt said:
It's easy to tell -- look at the reporting marks on the side of each car (if they're not covered by graffiti). If the reporting mark ends in an 'X' (e.g., "ABCX 381635") then it's owned by a non-railroad entity.
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I just looked again at one of the news photos of the wreck. One of the fuselages in the water appears to have a near-full-circumference cross-section fracture just forward of what would be the wing leading edge attach point. It is still on its flatcar, which has BNSF reporting marks.
 
KSCessnaDriver said:
I'm not saying it will be done, but it certainly could be done. JAL rebuilt a DC-8 that came out of the Bay in SFO, certainly salt water is going to be much worse on an airframe than freshwater.
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BIG difference between an airline owning a used airplane and rebuilding it and a manufacturer repairing a damaged airframe and trying to sell it as "new" with damage history.
 
KSCessnaDriver said:
I'm not saying it will be done, but it certainly could be done. JAL rebuilt a DC-8 that came out of the Bay in SFO, certainly salt water is going to be much worse on an airframe than freshwater.
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There are fewer lawyers in Japan.

-Rich
 
Karen had the idea of turning them into homes.

A quick Google search shows it's been done:

plane-house-1.jpg


http://www.hoax-slayer.com/airplane-house.shtml


Edited to add: Scrolling back through the thread I see the idea was already broached.
 
KRyan said:
Build a stretch version of this:

Douglas-DC-3-van.jpg
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That has to be one of the coolest RVs on the road..!!!

Wait, if it gets wrecked will the FAA be involved? Will it have to go to a approved FAA repair shop to be fixed? :lol::lol:
 
I love that DC-3 RV/truck conversion! I hope to see it in real life some day...

I've got news for most people... pretty much every new plane that gets delivered will have some in-process repairs, along with all of the documentation of said repairs. No plane gets entirely through the manufacturing process without some sort of defect or damage that gets repaired.

Having said that, I expect the damage in this incident will exceed what makes economic sense to repair back to new specs. I hope they don't get melted down... it would be fun to see what some creative buyer on the secondary market might do with the damaged fuselages.
 
Looks like an update:

http://news.yahoo.com/plane-parts-fell-off-train-checked-damage-183726685.html

Experts from Boeing Co. and Spirit AeroSystems, which built the fuselages, are at the site of Thursday's derailment on the Clark Fork River about 50 miles west of Missoula, spokeswoman Dina Weiss said in a statement.

"Once we have completed our assessment of damages and determined our next course of action, we will decide what to do with the fuselages," she said.

She said in a statement that other Boeing 777 and 747 airplane parts on some of the 19 cars that went off the tracks appear undamaged and will be shipped to the company's Everett, Washington, assembly plant.



KRyan said:
Build a stretch version of this:

Douglas-DC-3-van.jpg
Click to expand...
10/10 would confuse gas and brake for rudder pedals :eek:

My google-fu indicates that it's actually some kind of mobile musicmobile in Queensland, Australia.
https://www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/cultural-directory.aspx?id=86746
 
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The railroad will take the hit for it.
The big fight will be an internal one for the IMRL. Railroads are extremely vertically managed. Track, mechanical and operating departments. Whichever department is found to be at fault will take the financial hit for the accident.
Those cars are owned by BNSF, as stated before, if the reporting marks don't end in an "X", they are owned by the railroad, with the exception of CSX, whose marks are "CSXT". Those cars are special for the "Redmond Rocket". A priority train for moving those fuselages. There happened to be another set here in Newton, Kansas yesterday, empties headed back for more parts.
Railroad group from NTSB will be there for a while, and the FRA (railroad version of FAA) will certainly weigh in. The fact that they put a train of any kind in a river will cause a big stir with the regulators.
 
I drove by the Boeing plant in Renton this morning. Normally you can see a line of fuselages still on rail cars waiting their turn on the final assembly line. But today there was nothing. The cost of this mishap will extend beyond the cost of replacing the fuselages!
 
Agreed... the 737 line is already running at max capacity as far as I understand it, so I don't know how they try to build 3 replacements and stay on schedule... and delays usually mean penalties/rebates to the customer.
 
I've now seen about 200 photos of that site, and it was ugly!
No cause assigned yet. Not likely for a while.
 
Keith,

Do you have a link to those photos? I'm interested as a railfan as well as an A&P/
 
Norman said:
Keith,

Do you have a link to those photos? I'm interested as a railfan as well as an A&P/
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They are not public. Those are part of the investigation. We have some people on it. But it was a pretty bad derailment as those things go.
 
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