Originally Posted by
goldengate
Great picture on the new 777 ER engine, too (how did they get it so low to the ground?)
The ground is not quite as close it appears in the photo; her butt is closer to five feet off the ground. The photos from the link below show the author of the inaugural piece posed in front of one of the engines:
http://airchive.com/blog/2013/01/19/...ugural-flight/
Originally Posted by
bhomburg
And the engines being so low to the ground seems to be normal: according to Boeing specifications, ground clearance below the engines on a 777-300ER is a minimum of 70 cm (2'4") and a maximum of 88 cm (2'10") - see
here.
You're looking at the 77L, the next page shows the 77W ground clearance figures as 2'5" to 3'3", but the FA is perched far above those heights inside the engine - someone gave her a boost.
Originally Posted by
bhomburg
Out of curiosity: She worked at AA for 54 years. That's 648 months. Assuming about 100 hours per month of in-flight time (that's what the average unionized legacy airline pilot does), that's 64,800 hours. At 500 mph that equals 32,400,000 miles. Hmmm.....
I'd say those estimates are on the high side. In recent years, AA has claimed that its pilots actually fly fewer than 55 hours per month on average (but, of course, are paid for many more). The difference results from training, vacation, sick days, etc and work-rule inefficiencies that AA tried to address in Ch 11. And in the US, pilots are limited to 1,000 flight hours per year (and 100 hours in any month).
Additionally, AA has claimed that in recent years, FAs have averaged fewer than 60 hours a month but, like pilots, have been paid for far more (same reasons as the pilots). FA flight hours aren't limited by the FAA, but not many fly 100/mo. And their paid hours include delays once the plane has pushed back like long taxi-outs, so on average, pilots and FAs probably don't average anywhere near 500 mph for their block hours. My guess is that her flown miles are less than half of your estimate.
