Aircraft as mobile homes

"Peter Dohm" wrote in message
...
Bertie the Bunyip writes:

All airplanes are aging, you idiot.

The 707 has been doing it longer than most. John Travolta's was
built in 1964.


And the AWACS 707s are going to be in service post 2037.


They'r enot actually 707's. They look a bit like them, but they're
substantially different airplanes.. Boeing's own designation for them
was 717, in fact.



The predecessor of the 707 was the KC-135, the 717. The AWACS 707s are
indeed militarized commercial 707s.


That's interesting, since the current Boeing redition of the DC-9/MD-80 is
also designated as 717.

There was also a Boeing 720, in the bad-old-days, but I didn't bother to
look any of this up...


Details are available on
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/707family/deriv.html

"The KC/C-135 series was initially designated within The Boeing Company as
the model 717. In January 1998, the 717 model number was reassigned to the
commercial line for the 717-200 regional jetliner.
Additionally, three 707-120s plus two 707-320Bs, designated VC-137s, were
delivered to the Military Airlift Command for transporting high government
officials. These 707s transported the President for more than 30 years until
replaced in 1990 by two 747-200s designated as VC-25s.

Recent military applications of the 707 are the E-3 Airborne Warning and
Control System or AWACS (used by the U.S. Air Force, NATO, the Saudi
government and the French and British air forces for airborne surveillance,
command and control) and the E-6 used by the U.S. Navy for submarine
communications.

When the 707 production line was closed at the end of May 1991, Boeing had
sold 1,010 of all types (not counting the KC-135 series). "

"Peter Dohm" wrote in
:

Bertie the Bunyip writes:

All airplanes are aging, you idiot.

The 707 has been doing it longer than most. John Travolta's was
built in 1964.


And the AWACS 707s are going to be in service post 2037.


They'r enot actually 707's. They look a bit like them, but they're
substantially different airplanes.. Boeing's own designation for
them was 717, in fact.



The predecessor of the 707 was the KC-135, the 717. The AWACS 707s
are indeed militarized commercial 707s.


That's interesting, since the current Boeing redition of the
DC-9/MD-80 is also designated as 717.

There was also a Boeing 720, in the bad-old-days, but I didn't bother
to look any of this up...


Bad old days? Those were magnificent airplanes. Even today they would
hold up wel in just about anything but fuel consumption.. The 720 in
particular.


Bertie

Bertie the Bunyip writes:

All airplanes are aging, you idiot.

The 707 has been doing it longer than most. John Travolta's was
built in 1964.


And the AWACS 707s are going to be in service post 2037.


They'r enot actually 707's. They look a bit like them, but they're
substantially different airplanes.. Boeing's own designation for them
was 717, in fact.



The predecessor of the 707 was the KC-135, the 717. The AWACS 707s are
indeed militarized commercial 707s.


That's interesting, since the current Boeing redition of the DC-9/MD-80 is
also designated as 717.

There was also a Boeing 720, in the bad-old-days, but I didn't bother to
look any of this up...

On Sat, 24 Mar 2007 10:45:41 -0500, "Maxwell"
wrote:

Just like most things in the world it has been done. I remember seeing one
of the old flying boats featured on a television program a few years ago. It
was purchased by singer Jimmy Buffett, and converted to a island hopping RV.
It think it was a PBY. Very cool project and beats the heck out of a small
sailboat.

Buffett's plane was a Grumman Albatross, big and expensive. Also
since retired since even he couldn't afford to keep it airworthy, what
a shame. Do a search for "Hemisphere Dancer".

Years ago I saw pictures of a converted PBY, though, and since then
I've lusted after one. They had soft window seats in what used to be
the mid fuselage gun blisters.

Somebody was also converting old Sikorsky S-56 helicopters into the
"Heli-Home" back in the 1970's.

A DC-3 might be nice, too...

-Dana
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The predecessor of the 707 was the KC-135, the 717. The AWACS 707s
are
indeed militarized commercial 707s.


That's interesting, since the current Boeing redition of the DC-9/MD-80
is
also designated as 717.

There was also a Boeing 720, in the bad-old-days, but I didn't bother to
look any of this up...


Details are available on
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/707family/deriv.html

"The KC/C-135 series was initially designated within The Boeing Company as
the model 717. In January 1998, the 717 model number was reassigned to the
commercial line for the 717-200 regional jetliner.
Additionally, three 707-120s plus two 707-320Bs, designated VC-137s, were
delivered to the Military Airlift Command for transporting high government
officials. These 707s transported the President for more than 30 years
until
replaced in 1990 by two 747-200s designated as VC-25s.

Recent military applications of the 707 are the E-3 Airborne Warning and
Control System or AWACS (used by the U.S. Air Force, NATO, the Saudi
government and the French and British air forces for airborne
surveillance,
command and control) and the E-6 used by the U.S. Navy for submarine
communications.

When the 707 production line was closed at the end of May 1991, Boeing had
sold 1,010 of all types (not counting the KC-135 series). "


Thanks.

On Mar 27, 1:22 pm, "Darryl" wrote:
On Mar 24, 6:51 am, Mxsmanic wrote:



A couple of thoughts on that:

1) Would airports really let passengers, even if they arrived on their
own plane, hang around all day and night outside the terminal but
inside the airport perimeter, basically unsupervised?


Many airports allow camping on the airport. I have camped at some of
them. I have also known pilots who sleep in their planes or in a local
FBO. Most airports do not have a 'terminal.' In fact, many airports
have no buildings, fences, or any other structures located at the
airport.

2) Getting electricity and water in and sewage out (while parked away
from a gate) would be a little trickier than it would be with RVs.
Less infrastructure to support it.


Depends on what you think you need. Some airports provide rest rooms,
showers, etc. Others nothing at all, or maybe just an open pit
latrine.

3) Sleeping in an aircraft at an airport...well, it's hard to think of
a worse place to try and sleep. The good news: lots of white noise.
Bad news: it's at 100 db.


Nonsense. Only at a very large airport. The vast majority of airports
are quiet at night.

The reason this isn't done often is like someone already said: if you
can afford your own plane, then the cost of a hotel room isn't going
to break you. People who buy big RVs love RV campgrounds and the RV
lifestyle. Hardly anyone loves airports.

There are groups of flyer campers who regularly meet and camp at
airports around the country. I know of few people that actually sleep
inside the plane -- airplanes are usually poorly insulated and too
cramped -- but I have seen it done in Piper Seminoles (very small
twins) and smaller planes. My Stationair would not have been a problem
at all and I seriously considered it. The seats were already modified
with Caravan style mounting clips so you could just take them all out
and fold them, stuffing them in the far back of the plane. Still
plenty of room for a couple sleeping bags and mattresses on the floor,
which was perfectly flat. But, usually you bring a tent and other
camping gear. You can get air camping tents that you can throw over a
wing and camp under the wing. I saw one of these on a Caravan at
Arlington one year. It was very nice. A Caravan is a single engine
turboprop that can seat up to twelve, so there is plenty of room for
camping gear in there. Cessna calls it "The Ultimate RV," a not
inaccurate description. Even a used one easily can set you back more
than $1 million, so the guys who buy these things are not poor. I have
seen Caravans stuffed with mountain bikes, motorbikes, ATVs, camping
gear of all kinds, even canoes and rubber rafts. If you get floats,
the floats have compartments for things like fly rods and wells to
hold your catch. So do the floats on most other airplanes. Just the
thing for the outdoorsman who has everything.

Even a Caravan, though, has limited headroom. It is never going to be
as comfortable as a Winnebago, despite the fact that you can put a
kitchen in it, right next to the fax machine and the TV, aft of the
hide-a-bed. But it does fly, quite well. And there are a lot of
airports where they are welcome.