Ewfflyer

Hell look what Hollywood gets away with!

cac737

What kind of hairbrained project is this? Whatever teacher gave this as a project has no clue about the burnoff of a 747! I feel really bad for the engineer that spent so much time typing in an aeronautical dissertation because it really does not apply, even if this example were plausible or possible.
I fly a B747. 15,000 lbs of fuel is ludicrous. here is what you can report back to your "teacher". B747 ops include 2,000lbs for taxi burn. that leaves you with 13,000. when you takeoff and if you return, that is takeoff, and circle around and come back to land, that is a normal 10,000lbs just to do that. that leaves you with 3,000lbs when you get back on the runway.

the above is even a stupid example, because any B747 driver or heavy driver would tell you that at the deck angles (angle of attack for you novices) of the B747 for takeoff and climbout would have you uncovering many of the fuel boost pumps in the fuel tanks, thus starving the engines of fuel and you would face one or multiple engine flamouts on takeoff due to the ludicrously low level of fuel (15,000) on board. to distribute that fuel load adequately, you would have to divide that by the 4 main tanks(not including the reserves, surge or center, or tail wing tanks) 15,000/4 = less than 4,000lbs of fuel per main and in the limitations section of the B747, any fuel amount less than 4,000lbs in any main tanks constitutes minimum fuel warnings on digital readouts.

print out my explanation to your teacher, tell him or her to get real or add another 0 to the end of 15,000lbs and then maybe we can try this example again.

ps. the engineer's work is waaaay to complicated and totally unnessecary. Airline ops use standard takeoff, climb, cruise, descent, approach, and landing profiles with known fuel consumption rates that are based on actual weather conditions for each and every flight. unless you are going to have access to high altitude weather info you are way out of your league with this project. have your teacher either provide you with an example full weather brief or get real and give you a much more realistic project.

cac737

Airplane performance, whether it is a C-152 or a B747 HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH THE ENVIRONMENT! If your teacher has not drilled that into your head, then there is something seriously wrong with the curriculum!

the highest peak of efficiency?....again, it is directly affected by the current weather conditions. what do you mean by getting away with turning things off?

i believe the merits behind assigning a project like this throws the student right into the heart of what makes an airplane fly (besides money) which is great....however, the parameters and situation must be applicable otherwise the student is set adrift with one hell of a headache!

oldveedubs

WOW! Thank you all for some very interesting responses. I appreciate all the positive (and negative feedback). For you doubters let me explain a little more.

The project is a bonus where we can add 3 points to our final average. There are 5 teams in this class and each team has to demonstrate (using the AeroSim program) how far they can get on 15,000 lbs of gas.

It has nothing to do with environment because wind is calm, std day, etc etc. The literal task is to think out of the box. The complicated explanation ryane is much appreciated and a little beyond the scope of the project but I certainly may use some of that info to help! Thanks!

For everyone else, the project is left field because we are to think out of the box. Competing against our classmates to see who comes up with the most outlandish scheme to get those extra few miles out of the airplane.

I'm sorry if some of you thought this was more serious but it is really an exercise in creative thinking. We are to use previous knowledge from performance and aerodynamics to get the plane the furthest away.

FAR's are not a restricting factor either because again...its a creative exercise . Thanks again for the good ideas and keep more coming!

Ewfflyer

In that case, strap some JATO's to the baby!!!!!

ToiletDuck

For a more fun answer load up flightsim. Or X plane. put 15,000 lbs in a 744 with dead winds and go find out.