|
2003-02-13
That information was discussed on this list some years
ago. Airbus uses the same fasteners (inch based) that are used on American
planes. If you know something the rest of us don't, fill us
in. I for sure would love to believe Airbus is 100 % metric.
But, until proven so, I can't.
BTW, "thou" is a British term. The US uses "mil" to
mean 0.001 inches.
John
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, 2003-01-11 15:50
Subject: RE: [USMA:24795] New space
Shuttle
Where on earth do you get the idea Airbus uses FFU? From my experience
dealing with French aircraft manufacturers, they are 100% metric, but all
manuals include FFU as well as the metric. The engines however are made in the
US and are normally all FFU. The same would go for ArianeSpace except the
engines are made in Europe also. I subscribe to Flight International printed
in Britain, which is predominantly metric with some FFU in brackets when
they convert from some US source, otherwise it's all metric. An interesting
aside, I was talking to our aircraft maintenance technician who told me a cut
in an aircraft tire was OK as the depth did not exceed 160 Thou! I asked what
is that to someone who did not deal in Thou (Thousands of an inch), turns out
it was 4 mm, he seemed impressed that this was something he understood much
better than the 160 Thou. When measuring the brake pad remaining on each
brake, he used millimeters only with no inch conversion. The Wheel assembly
(gear) is made my Messier Dowty and the Tires by Michelin.
Mike Payne
----- Original Message -----
Sent: 09/2/03 21:43:59
Subject: [USMA:24795] New space
Shuttle
2003-02-09
Today's Cleveland Plain Dealer reported on a new
concept design for a future space shuttle. The article was written by
David Wood of Newhouse News Service.
I don't hear much about Ariennespace these days.
I'm wondering what they are doing. Do they produce their parts and
rockets in metric or are they like the Airbus and use FFU? What does
anyone know about the Chinese efforts in space? Do we know for sure if
they use metric in their designs? If they surpass NASA in space, can
we be guaranteed that they will be a powerful force in metricating space and
help reverse the US's FFU-ing of space? Will the future space shuttles
be designed and built in metric?
The article had a "picture" of a concept shuttle, with
Boeing's name all over it. If Boeing designs a future replacement
shuttle, can we count on it being metric? Can we really trust NASA to
follow their own rules and design all future projects in metric?
John
--- Michael Payne
--- EarthLink: The #1 provider of the Real Internet.
|
