Why do they have to roll forward, and then hit reverse? They can’t just do it sitting still?
See JHEM’s answer above your post.
What exactly is “pathetic” about retiring an inefficient older aircraft in order to attempt to run a profitable company?
Fuel cost.
NWA saved over $1M/year in fuel cost when they stopped doing powerbacks on the DC-9’s (and that was with 2006 fuel prices).
Probably double, or more now, for fuel costs…
Versus 2006?
D- See me after class ends.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that this might not really be the end of the Boeing 737 in United’s fleet. Hear me out:
In the not too distant future United is going to have to replace its fleet of something in the neighborhood of 100 752’s. Boeing has a couple possibilities if they want to offer up the replacement, one of which is the 737-900. The 787 is a bigger plane than the 757 and some on this board have suggested that the 787 might not enter service anytime soon, so in my mind there’s a very real possibility that United has not seen the last of the venerable 737.
Joe (Whose last flight on a UAL 733 was March 12, 2009)
I’m not too sure here.
IIRC, as far as the B787 goes, I believe the -800s and -900s are being built first. But the -300 should accommodate the same range as the B752s do. My guess is that they will keep the B752s in the fleet until the B787-3s come up, then replace the former with the latter.
On the other hand, what the legacy carriers are doing nowadays (at least in the US) is replacing capacity with frequency. Drop the big loaded B762s or B752s for B737Ws or A319s/A320s more frequently. They pretty much have the same range for transcontinental flights, but it comes down to fuel cost and cost effectiveness on whether to go that route.
It all depends, especially with how the B787 line goes. My guess is that UAL would drop the B762s, if not their whole B767 line first before the B752s.
BL.
UA retired its B762’s almost 5 years ago.
Correct. And the remaining 763’s are all considerably newer and more importantly have fewer airframe cycles on them. That said they still aren’t interchangeable with the existing fleet of 752’s, hence my point that the 739 might be a viable replacement option for the 752.
Further down the road I can see the 763’s being replaced by the 787-x (x being whatever version is the equivalent in seating capacity).
Joe
Well, class is over… Is it the green tree branch, or the thin board with air holes? 
Split bamboo! Assume the position.
THANK YOU SIR, MAY I HAVE ANOTHER??
http://blogs.amctv.com/whos_overshadowing_kevin_bacon_now/animal_house_760.jpg
I have to grab my bed, not my ankles.
There’s also the excess wear and tear on the engines.
What do you think dadalope?
re: powerbacking
I (vaguely) seem to remember an AA 727-100 or -200 powerbacking from the gate in MOB many years ago. Was that possible?
I’ve never seen it but it would be possible. The #1 and #3 engines had clamshell thrust reversers. The #2 engine would either remain not started or left at idle.
The 727 was no trouble at all to power back and AA and NW did them a lot. Don’t need clamshell reversers to do it, the 727’s with or without them could do it.
Eastern even used to power back the 757 for the first few years after they got them but stopped I guess due to the risk to ground personnel or damage with those big engines hanging down. Obviously much safer with tail mounted engines but it could be done with most any aircraft if needed.