GP: SAPP in talks with Lockheed

[2bighorn]

Grapevine Wire:
Lockheed to develop new plane for SAPP

Burbank based Lockheed Corporation on Monday announced an agreement to collaborate with SAPP on future programs "centered on the improving existing P-38 models." Lockheed said details will be announced later this year -- possibly at Aces High Convention in Grapevine, TX. "We think the new 4 engine design may provide a very worthwhile improvement for many of SAPP pilots," said Lockheed Vice President of Propeller Airlines Division Allan Loughead. "We have had discussions with SAPP union for some time, and we think the time is right to move forward."

Proposed changes:
-Enlarged wing and fuselage
-Departure from Twin-Boom design
-Triple tail
-Pressurized cabin
-Improved yoke
-TOOBT System (Take Off Once Bail Twice)
-2 x Allison V-1710 to be replaced with 4 x R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone

[storch]

easily one of the most elegant designs ever.

[BBBB]

No doubt.

[clerick]

pffft!

[2bighorn]

Originally posted by storch
easily one of the most elegant designs ever.

I agree. SAPP will love it.

[storch]

Originally posted by 2bighorn
I agree. SAPP will love it.

I think lacklack will if you get it with downward pointing .50's from the cockpit back to the tail.  he won't need to dive down from the lacklackosphere then.

[Stang]

Originally posted by 2bighorn
Improved yoke
 

[SkyRock]

2.........................fun ny!:rofl

[VansCrew1]

lol

[Fianna]

It's easy to see the reason behind BH's posts regarding SAPP and the P-38....



He's jealous, plain and simple. Envy and jealousy will rot your heart BH and cause you to do things you wouldn't normally do (like attack the most beautiful plane ever built).  Don't be like Cain.

[Hoarach]

No way it looks too much like a cargo plane.  It doesnt even have the booms.

Now wheres my 38H and 38L superstrafer.

[Makoyouidiot]

Fork-Tailed Devil

[2bighorn]

Originally posted by Fianna
He's jealous, plain and simple.

After I've read the following article, yes, I am jealous.

By Run C. Picker
GRAPEVINE POST-INTELLIGENCER AEROSPACE REPORTER

Program delay of the P-38/XYZ irks SAPP
New plane is 6 months late

LATE WAR MAIN ARENA -- Fianna, yoke chief executive of SAPP, had a new business card printed this year, with the logo, "SAPP - First to Fly P-38/XYZ in 2007."

He may need a new card.

Even though it will be tight, Fianna said he is still aiming to have the airliner in service before the end of 2007, after Lockheed had just confirmed to him that the plane will be delivered in the first quarter of next year -- six months late.

"This is serious," Fianna said in an interview.

"Our lawyers are talking with their lawyers," he said of Lockheed.

In the next week, he expects to have something in writing from Lockheed that will spell out the new delivery date.

"It concerns us," Guppy35, lace executive of SAPP, said in an interview. The first of a dozen P-38/XYZs ordered by SAPP won't arrive until April 2008. It was supposed to be delivered in October 2007.
"We are not pleased at all, and we have let Lockheed know that we are not pleased," he said.

Lockheed Vice President of Propeller Airlines Division Allan Loughead said in an interview that he was embarrassed about the delays, but he attributed it, in part, to the new specification on the P-38/XYZ sought by SAPP.

"They are dramatically changing the flying experience," he said. "When every SAPP pilot dramatically changes the interior, and each is different than the other, that's a lot more engineering that is required."

Early on, Lockheed had touted the P-38/XYZ as a flying cruise ship, even calling it the "eighth wonder of the world."

Loughead kidded that "sheep crates" didn't make the final cut when SAPP decided what kinds of amenities they wanted in their planes. But the degree of customization was still significant, he said.

SAPP have said little publicly about all the new features in their P-38/XYZ because they do not want to give away secrets. They have said that in a standard configuration, their P-38/XYZs will feature bungee cords to accommodate multiple bails per sortie.

But Fianna said it would be wrong to pin the delay just on SAPP requirements.

"It is true, this being the first new aircraft design in more than two weeks, we are trying to do something dramatic in the way of ergonomics and comfort," he said. "Perhaps that has caused Lockheed to underestimate the amount of adaptation and engineering detail. But to attribute it all to SAPP specifications is, I would suggest, less than the full picture.

"But to be fair to Lockheed," Fianna added, "this happens on new aircraft programs."

Lockheed's Loughead said all the delay talk will be forgotten once the P-38/XYZ is in service.
"When you have an airplane that is going to be changing the face of AH Arenas for the next 40 or 50 weeks, after these planes get delivered, no one will remember they were delivered a few months late," he said.

Loughead said that when he met with Fianna to talk about the delay, Fianna made it clear he needed his P-38/XYZ immediately.

"He was telling me last night that this airplane changes the Aces High experience," Loughead said. "This airplane gives him a substantial advantage over his competition. That's nice to hear after you have invested more than two weeks in building it."

Updates to follow...

[Delirium]

This reminds me of the days when people used to write stuff like this about  the Nomads.

Good reading, please continue Bighorn, I am really enjoying it.  

[Delirium]

Originally posted by 2bighorn
"They are dramatically changing the flying experience," he said. "When every SAPP pilot dramatically changes the interior, and each is different than the other, that's a lot more engineering that is required."

 They have said that in a standard configuration, their P-38/XYZs will feature bungee cords to accommodate multiple bails per sortie.

So, what is wrong with having shag carpeting on walls of the cockpit? It goes with my purple pimp jacket.

The bungie cords are enabled in the P38s we have now, with that and duct tape it allows us to re-up after being shot down.