posted on Nov, 5 2006 @ 09:11 PM
Lately there has been a lot of talk about Boeing and it's resurgence in the commercial aircraft market with its dynamic duo, the 777 and the 787.
Both of these projects came from 'failures', projects that never saw the light but that instead were the base for resounding successes. Looking at
that Boeing has done that more than once.
1960's, they lost the Air Force transport to Lockheed but they learned how to build VLA's and the 747 was born.
In the 1980's fuel prices brought a new project the 7J7 an ultra efficient plane that used a great amount of composites. Oil prices plummeted but the
research gave birth to the most efficient plane flying today: the 777
Late 90's and Boeing displays the Sonic Cruiser a plane with a radical new design and faster speeds. 9/11 and the Airline crisis came along together
with high oil prices. Boeing decided to instead of offering 20% more speed it offered 20 more efficiency, and the 787 came.
But how to build a composite plane in a mass scale, the X-32 may have lost, but the radical assembly system that was develop for it was implemented
and a new CHRP chain covering 3 continents was born.
Boeing has learned from every failures and for every laugh at them for what some see as doomed projects and they all have come to become milestones in
aviation. Is this what ultimate separates them from Airbus?
Is proving that they can re-bounce from failure what is going to ultimately prove if airbus is destined to survive?