Because the Comet flew higher the metal suffered greater stresses. The altitudes jets are most efficient at are thousands of feet higher than any piston engined aircraft. The max altitude of the B29 is a little under 32000ft and would have usually flown several thousand feet lower. The Stratoliner flew at 20,000ft. The Comet flew at 42,000ft. The stresses on the airframe increase as the difference between the apparent internal altitude inside the fuselage and the actual altitude of the aircraft increase. DeHavilland were pushing the limits of what was understood about the stresses on pressurised aircraft construction far beyond anything that had gone before.
WI: No DH106 Comet
- Thread starter Luath
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Because the Comet flew higher the metal suffered greater stresses. The altitudes jets are most efficient at are thousands of feet higher than any piston engined aircraft. The max altitude of the B29 is a little under 32000ft and would have usually flown several thousand feet lower. The Stratoliner flew at 20,000ft. The Comet flew at 42,000ft. The stresses on the airframe increase as the difference between the apparent internal altitude inside the fuselage and the actual altitude of the aircraft increase. DeHavilland were pushing the limits of what was understood about the stresses on pressurised aircraft construction far beyond anything that had gone before.
By the end of their service life, Boeing 307's had all had their cabin superchargers removed. All. Every one. No jet transport can operate economically without cabin pressurization of much higher pressure differential than the B307 ever dreamed of. The B-29 had partial pressurization of minimal nature to minimize the depressurization effects due to potential battle damage.
United 811 was actually due to a problem with the cargo doors, not with metal fatigue. McDonnell Douglas also had problems with cargo doors.
Doubtful. The advantage over pistons is large, but small over pure jets. You might just see *Britannias suffering pressurization problems/failures like the DH.106, instead, tho. Could be there's a temporary shift to turboprop, as jets are seen as too big a leap, until the problems are cured.yulzari said: