Originally Posted By: Astro14
So, the 340, from a customer perspective. I've flown on British Midlands and Lufthansa A340s. I found the seat pitch intolerably tight. Worse than anything I've ever been on. This was mitigated on BMI because I was rebooked on them while and they gave me an empty pair of seats by the window. On Lufthansa, the Flight Attendants were great, but man, was the seat tight...
The A340 is slow, and underpowered. By deciding to go with 4 engines, those engines are small. Consider: because the airplane has to be able to get airborne on 75% power (engine failure on takeoff requirement), when all 4 are running, it's got 33% more power than the minimum. A twin, like the 777, has to be able to get airborne on 50% power (engine failure on takeoff), so, when both are running, it's got 100% more power than the minimum. Make sense?
I would have thought the A340-500s with Rolls-Royce Trent engines would be more powerful than the -300 version with CFM56 engine, wasn't the latter made more for fuel economy on medium-haul flights(seeing how Air France and Cathay Pacific used them)?
So, the 340, from a customer perspective. I've flown on British Midlands and Lufthansa A340s. I found the seat pitch intolerably tight. Worse than anything I've ever been on. This was mitigated on BMI because I was rebooked on them while and they gave me an empty pair of seats by the window. On Lufthansa, the Flight Attendants were great, but man, was the seat tight...
The A340 is slow, and underpowered. By deciding to go with 4 engines, those engines are small. Consider: because the airplane has to be able to get airborne on 75% power (engine failure on takeoff requirement), when all 4 are running, it's got 33% more power than the minimum. A twin, like the 777, has to be able to get airborne on 50% power (engine failure on takeoff), so, when both are running, it's got 100% more power than the minimum. Make sense?
I would have thought the A340-500s with Rolls-Royce Trent engines would be more powerful than the -300 version with CFM56 engine, wasn't the latter made more for fuel economy on medium-haul flights(seeing how Air France and Cathay Pacific used them)?