Boeing 314 vs Airbus A350 | Legends vs Modern Icons | FD Engineering

she was known as the queen of the Atlantic the Boeing 314 Clipper the biggest plane of its time and the first to take passengers non-stop from the USA to Europe the on-board facilities pure luxury the Boeing Clipper was virtually a flying four-star hotel but what happens when this Legend takes on a modern day plane icon the Airbus a350 the most modern and environmentally friendly long-haul aircraft in our day and age its engines are considered to be the most efficient in the world and in the cabin state-of-the-art technology ensures maximum Comfort the a350 is a Quantum Leap in commercial flights two flying giants three categories a contest of superlatives category one Construction which aircraft revolutionized Aviation the most Category 2 Comfort whose passengers enjoy the greatest luxury and category 3. technology which aircraft uses the most Innovative systems now in Legends versus modern icons [Music] USA Seattle home of the aircraft manufacturer Boeing in the factory on the duwamish river the legendary b-314 was built from 1936. the aircraft's dimensions were for the time gigantic the plane was 32 meters long and had a wingspan of almost 47 meters its range of 5900 kilometers was more than any other passenger aircraft of the time [Music] the cabin could seat 74 passengers an absolute record at the end of the 30s [Music] the b314 Boeing is achieved in engineering masterpiece but how does the legend compare with a modern day icon of the air France Toulouse quarters of the aircraft manufacturer Airbus and the birthplace of the most modern passenger plane of the 21st Century the Airbus a350 available in several versions its longest version measures around 74 meters with a 65 meter wingspan the ultra long range version can cover 18 000 kilometers in one go more than any other twin engine passenger aircraft maximum capacity is 480 passengers the a350 is based upon the most recent developments in aircraft Construction the Boeing b314 versus the Airbus a350 a contest of superlatives we begin with the category Construction round one which aircraft design is the most revolutionary Sev always dreamed of flying in the 20th century it became a reality some 20 years after the Wright brothers lifted into the air in 1903 the Golden Era of Aviation began technical advancements made it possible for the first time to build passenger aircraft the non-stop transatlantic flight was the major goal of every Airline because it promised huge business every Airline wanted to be the first one to secure the transatlantic route [Music] 20s 1 new passengers a year travel between America and Europe by ship almost one in five of these went first class they had plenty of money but little time ideal customers for expensive luxury flights the world had yet to see February 1936 the American Airline Pan-American Airway systems Pan Am for short put out a tender for a large aircraft foreign the requirements for the new aircraft were just too unrealistic for those times it was to have space for around 70 passengers and a payload of four and a half tons fully loaded it was to have a range of at least five and a half thousand kilometers for the best design Pan Am was offering a prize of 50 000 US Dollars almost a million in today's terms YouTube one who took up the challenge was the aircraft manufacturer William Boeing together with his young engineer Wellwood Beale the first big problem they faced existing runways were too short for an aircraft of these Dimensions therefore they opted for a flying boat all it needed was a sheltered Bay to take off and land flying boat could fly to almost any coastal city in the world their concept a gigantic floating body as a fuselage combined with state-of-the-art wings from a military experimental aircraft plus the latest and most powerful engines of the time and the concept convinced in the summer of 1936 Boeing began construction of the first version of the 314 Clipper at the time the world's biggest and most powerful passenger aircraft after World War II range and passenger volumes constantly increased in the 1960s aircraft finally became suitable for mass transport bigger and faster was the model of aircraft manufacturers and Airlines major highlights during this developmental phase were aircraft such as Concord and the Boeing 747 today the trend in aircraft construction is moving away from this the aim is to build aircraft with an extremely long range and also extremely economical when Airbus engineers in 2004 began working on a concept for a new long-range jet they had a clear goal in mind and design and efficiency it was to outshine all other aircraft the engineers first focused on materials instead of building the fuselage from aluminum and metal Composites as a lot of existing airplanes they used carbon fiber reinforced plastic in short cfrp [Music] advantage of the material is that it is light elastic and extremely stable to maximize space inside the Aircraft engineers opted for a round fuselage the cabin sides are then steep giving passengers more space the engines had been completely newly developed these were specially adapted to the a350s flight characteristics the aircraft consumes just 2.9 liters per 100 kilometers per passenger less than any other passenger aircraft when the Airbus Engineers presented their final design the clients were ecstatic more than 550 orders had been submitted by the time production started a complete success time for an initial verdict both Legend and modern icons set new design standards with the Boeing 314 Clipper appearing to be slightly more revolutionary round two in the construction category which aircraft has the most groundbreaking construction a major challenge for the flying Legends Engineers was that the Boeing Clipper not only needed aircraft characteristics it also had to sail like a ship [Music] Norma's fuselage of the b314 was therefore shaped like a boat but the fuselage shape had a disadvantage it was not particularly aerodynamic to keep Dimensions to a minimum Engineers fitted the flying boat with sea wings small stubby Wings on the sides of the fuselage which stabilized the flying boat in water and also served as fuel tanks [Music] to save weight the engineers opted for an all-metal design a technology that was still relatively new at that time in 1919 the first civil mass-produced plane made entirely of metal made its Maiden flight the f-13 from Hugo yonkas a passenger plane was spaced for four people but the concept of all metal aircraft was only slowly gaining acceptance many simply could not imagine that an airplane made from such a heavy material as metal could fly reliably the metal construction was ideal for a flying boat especially in water metal is much less sensitive than wood [Music] the Bowen Clipper used steel frame says kind of cross struts longitudinal stringers ran across them providing additional strength [Music] additional struts and supports for even more stability were fitted into the interior layout of the aircraft the aircraft steel skeleton weighed just two tons an absolute light weight for the time technicians covered the frame with aluminum so thousands of rivets were placed by hand to hold the gigantic aircraft together at the whole cement a neoprene tape ensure that no water penetrates the time had arrived on the 19th of June 1938 just two years after concluding contracts all the technical skill and Ingenuity proved their worth the Clippers Maiden flight was successful over the next years 11 more aircraft would be built when building the modern icon its designers also used the very latest materials and production methods 53 percent of the aircraft is made up of cfrp more than any other aircraft built so far in the world with its high-tech materials the a350 is considered a Pioneer in the aviation industry the foundation stone for the high-tech material of the modern icon laid the inventor of the light bulb Thomas Edison picking a material as a filament that could combine electrical conductivity with flexibility and robustness after extensive research he found it in a Japanese type of bamboo whose fibers he carbonized through heating but cfrp remained undeveloped until almost 100 years later in the 50s the Space Race led to research into new lightweight yet robust materials carbon fiber production on an industrial scale became possible for the first time by embedding hair thin layers of carbon fibers in synthetic resin the miracle material cfrp is created the fuselage of the a350 is built in three long sections which are later assembled with millimeter Precision the individual sections consist of so-called panels the crown the Keel and the two side panels with the windows the panels are up to 20 meters long the advantage of the construction method the low number of transverse seams and the longitudinal seams of the panels running across the entire aircraft further increase the stability of the fuselage another advantage of the panel concept is that in the event of damage only the affected part needs to be replaced not a whole section in June 2013 nine years after the first drafts the a350 takes off on its Maiden flight it was an all-round success [Music] the engineers of both the Boeing Clipper Legend and the a350 use construction methods unique for their time taking Aviation to new levels round three in the construction category which aircraft's Wing concept is more innovative the wings of the Boeing Clipper Legend were based on the recently designed experimental xb15 aircraft at that time the bomber was the biggest and heaviest aircraft ever built in the USA it never progressed from being a one-off prototype but the equally legendary B-17 was to be created later based on the xb15 the Clipper used practically unmodified versions of the xb15's giant wings the wings were over one and a half meters thick compared to today's planes the wings look like huge slabs but in the 30s such a wing design was the only way to get an aircraft of this size to fly while modern wings are elastic so they won't break even when subjected to high forces metal Wings back then were stiff a large cross-section was required to prevent them buckling under loads boiling Clipper was so large that the engines were reached by a passageway a groundbreaking concept for the time foreign s became more powerful aircraft speeds also increased and the old Wing designs lacked the required aerodynamics over the decades Engineers developed many new Concepts pushing efficiency to new heights One Wing shape has now become widely adopted the swept wing [Music] the stronger the wing sweep the less flow resistance at the wings front [Music] air flows easier along the wing and the aircraft is able to fly faster [Music] designers of the iconic a350 opted for a high sweep of 35 degrees this gives the aircraft very good aerodynamics at high speeds enabling it to reach a cruising speed of over 900 kilometers per hour at extremely low fuel consumption the state-of-the-art wings are a key factor in the engineer's ability to reduce fuel consumption by 25 when compared to other long-haul aircraft curved wing tips called winglets optimize airflow to give improved uplift and reduced fuel consumption [Music] this idea was copied from birds of prey half a century ago these birds use their fanned wingtips to Glide slowly in the air and search a prey Airbus Engineers perfected the principle in the a350 by using the latest aerodynamic findings another advantage of the winglets is that they reduce the noise level of the aircraft thanks to its carbon fiber Composites the wings are extremely elastic the 32 meter long and 6 meter Wide Wings can sway up and down like the wings of a bird optimally adapting to aerodynamic conditions foreign [Music] there is no risk to passengers and tests lasting several hours the wings were moved five meters upwards and downwards with no evidence of cracking although the Boeing 314 Wings impress with their unique size for the time they cannot compete with the Ultra Modern wings of the a350 verdict in the category design with its innovative design the legend revolutionized Aviation the modern icon on the other hand impresses through its ingenious application of current day know-how and state-of-the-art materials we now continue with the Comfort category round one which of the two contenders gives its passengers more space and room to move [Applause] foreign the Boeing Clipper's cruising speed was almost 300 kilometers per hour to fly from Europe to America therefore took more than 20 hours ticket prices were comparable to those of a luxury Cruise a one-way flight from coins in Ireland to New York costs 375 US Dollars the equivalent today of seven thousand dollars in the b314 there was only one seating class namely first class after all only rich people could afford to buy tickets and they expected a certain luxury the flying Clipper had two decks the lower deck was reserved for passengers rather than sitting in rows one behind the other like today passengers sat in compartments the passenger deck was divided into 11 areas five compartments with 10 seats each the galley dining room exclusive compartment with just four seats two dressing rooms with toilets and a bridal Suite a bridal Suite on an airplane that has never had before all since passengers had to remain seated only during takeoff and landing and could otherwise move around the aircraft as they wished this was a completely new flying experience the luxurious interior made the huge flying boats famous all over the world can a modern plane compete here after the second world war technical advancements enabled aircraft to become increasingly larger and more powerful to fully utilize aircraft capacity and attract more customers Airlines adopted the class principle from the large transatlantic ships economy class was invented success within three months the passenger volume of Airlines offering the new class increased by 30 percent competition between Airlines is now huge if you went across the Atlantic you need only around six and a half hours and you also want to pay as little as possible the a350s challenge to maximize space for passengers and to fully utilize the aircraft's capacity to achieve this Engineers used a whole package of Innovations the round shape of the fuselage makes sides in the passenger cabin almost vertical and enables full use of the cabin's 5 meter 61 width but nine seats per row each passenger has 48 centimeters of space comparison to its legendary competitor but significantly more than in most other modern passenger planes [Music] the second factor for more Comfort is again the Wonder material cfrp thanks to its extreme strength Engineers can make the windows a good third larger than those of many other modern airplanes the huge windows make the cabin look bigger and just overall enhances the feeling of space however tricks by the aircraft designers have succeeded in ensuring that passengers have by today's standards plenty of room but it is still incomparable to times past the modern icon does not stand a chance against the Legends amount of space and freedom to move around foreign [Music] category which aircraft has the more impressive onboard offerings one of the top highlights on board the legend was the food instead of eating from a tray at their seats like today passengers on board the b314 went to a separate dining room in small groups they were served A6 course menu food was prepared by star chefs and then prepared on board by the stewards the tables were set with linen and the food came on a real Chinese porcelain watching blockbuster movies like today was of course not yet possible with Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs color films had celebrated their breakthrough just a few months before the first regular film screenings and airplanes have only been taking place since 1961. passengers on board the flying Legend instead leisurely passed the time with philosophizing reading playing cards and parlor games [Music] spacious bathrooms were available for calls of nature hot water included [Music] an ingenious system provided the hot water a hydraulic pump in one of the four engines pumped glycol incidentally still used as a coolant in cars today into a boiler inside an exhaust pipe behind the engine the exhaust gases heated the glycol which float into a heater to warm the water the hot water then flowed through a sophisticated system of pipes to the bathrooms and Galley having hot water on board was the icing on the cake of this luxurious equipment the unique range of on-board facilities meant the Clipper was also known as the flying Hotel unbeatable aircraft offerings or perhaps not the modern icon also aims to entertain passengers on flights taking up to 19 hours the ideal way to do this is with an onboard Entertainment System 11.6 inch full HD displays are available for movies series and games they can also be used to watch your own movies via USB in the meantime some Airlines even allow passengers to put together their own in-flight entertainment package before they get on the airplane via an app Wi-Fi is also standard in the a350 thanks to an extra powerful antenna in a dome on the fuselage at an altitude of over 3000 meters servers inside the plane connect to satellites these share signals with ground stations connected to the internet passengers are then able to access the network of wireless access points [Music] modern aircraft cannot provide dining rooms for the mass of current day passengers the standard practice now is to Simply Place pre-cooked meals into a steamer when it comes to taste the airlines themselves are in demand some of them test meals in a compression chamber to simulate conditions during a flight at lower pressures taste and smell senses are poor similar to having a cool meals therefore need to be spicier [Music] verdict when the a350s entertainment is good the modern icon is far behind the legend for on-board services especially regarding food the final round in the comfort category which plane has the better features compartments that can be converted into bunks is a special feature on board the b314 of course the guests didn't have to do it themselves this was the job of the stewards designers took the idea from Railway sleeping cars two armchairs could be converted into a bed fold down bunks were also available to create a type of loft bed curtains ensured maximum privacy [Music] however the b314 only had 36 births the reason why the aircraft which actually had room for 74 were only ever half booked on transatlantic flights every passenger was to have a berth [Music] thank you the luxurious and unique facilities in the 314 Clipper destined it to become the world's first presidential aircraft in 1943 Franklin D Roosevelt then president of the USA traveled in one of the legendary flying boats to the Casablanca conference in Morocco a secret meeting of the anti-hitler coalition [Music] in the 21st century things look different no wonder when 71 of seats in a modern aircraft such as the a350 are in economy class passengers here can only dream of stretching out to sleep seeds can be reclined only by a few centimeters the only way to impress here is again through state-of-the-art technology such as the mood lighting system lighting in the cabin can create over 16 million different colors simulating different lighting moods sunrise and sunset included this helps to keep passenger biorhythms as balanced as possible and reduces jet lag a second decisive factor in ensuring that passengers leave the aircraft rested is the cabin ventilation air in the a350 undergoes complete renewal every two to three minutes the engines suck in fresh air for this purpose so-called bleed air as the ozone levels are higher at high altitudes the ozone is filtered out the air is cooled down and mixed with purified cabin air the cleaning filters for the cabin air are the same as those used in operating rooms the cabin air is not only extremely fresh but also 15 percent more humid than in any other aircraft mucous membranes won't dry out as much and passengers feel fitter here again cfrp plays a hero it can cope with much higher levels of humidity and an Ultra Modern ventilation system mean even economy class passengers in the a350 arrive refreshed but in a direct comparison the flying boat with its beds remains ahead time for the verdict in the comfort category and it's pretty clear despite its state-of-the-art technology against the Legends luxury the modern icon doesn't stand a chance but then ticket prices for the legend were horrendously expensive time for the third category in the contest between the aircraft Giants technology first which of the two contenders has the better flight control and navigation systems at least a five-man team was needed to fly the gigantic flying boat safely across the Atlantic three Pilots a navigator and a radio operator All crew members had Naval ranks because Pan Am President Juan Tripp called his flying boats Clippers after the famous clipper ships that transported Freight and passengers across the Atlantic in the 19th century [Applause] the maritime flare the crews wore navy blue uniforms and were referred to as Captain first officer or Steward titles have held their own in aviation to this day in the front of the plane were the pilots the captain and one of his two officers their task was to control the plane the radio operator was responsible for contact with ground stations wireless communication at the time worked only over very short ranges communication was therefore via Morris code receiving the latest weather reports was vital at a maximum altitude of 3 000 meters the flying boat was much more exposed to storms than today's aircraft which fly almost three times as high navigation on the b314 worked like on a ship information on flight Direction came from the Navigator GPS and radar were not yet invented so navigation AIDS were maps and a Sextant at the beginning of the 18th century the Sextant revolutionized positioning at Sea it enabled legendary figures such as James Cook to undertake spectacular expeditions the Navigator used a Sextant to measure the angle between the Horizon and celestial bodies such as the moon stars or the Sun recording also the exact time at which the measurement is taken the data is then checked against a table of codes to give a position the b314 had a glass Dome on board the Astrodome giving a panoramic view of the sky the biggest problem however of the Clipper was that it only flew at an altitude of 3 000 meters that is below Cloud height that means you could go the entire duration of the flight in the clouds and never see the stars one of The Navigators tricks in poor visibility small Flags attached to the wingtips enabled Navigators to assess Crosswinds and calculate how much counter steer Pilots needed to apply to continue flying straight ahead [Music] sophisticated navigation techniques flight Crews took the flying boats safely to their destinations even under adverse conditions bringing the modern icon safely to its destination now only needs a pilot and co-pilot the rest is performed by computers the Airbus a350 has in addition to standard systems such as autopilot many other tools to make flying even safer and more efficient the cockpit of the a350 is one of the most modern in the world one of these systems is the automatic weather radar while pilots in other aircraft need to repeatedly call up and check weather radar the a350 system reports as soon as a storm appears on the planned route Pilots then have time to choose an alternative course another system is BTV brake to vacate before landing Pilots enter the taxiway to be used to vacate the runway BTV then breaks the aircraft exactly according to this input such assistance systems provide additional safety and minimize wear and tear on the aircraft Pilots also have head up displays on semi-permeable fold down mirrors they see important flight data such as horizon line course altitude and speed thanks to this they can keep a constant eye on the surroundings for the future the aircraft manufacturer is planning to enable the a350 to take off and land fully autonomously initial tests have already been successful more advanced technology is hard to imagine verdict despite the legend having the first autopilot the modern icon is ahead in terms of flight systems the next round in the technology category which aircraft had the most efficient engines for its time when Boeing Engineers were planning the b314 they knew that to get the gigantic flying boat into the air required engines more powerful than any that had gone before their choice fell in a new development from the Wright Curtis Company the right r 2600. Wright Curtis had developed these engines together with the American Military and had 14 cylinders each with a capacity of around 30 liters delivering an impressive 1 600 horsepower in comparison cars at the time had an average of just 30 to 50 horsepower of the new powerful aircraft engines were mounted onto the Boeing clipper they each drove a steel propeller with a diameter of four and a half meters the Boeing 314's powerful engines meant it could reach a maximum speed of 320 kilometers per hour [Music] the power of the engines was so strong that the aircraft could fly with only three engines in an emergency but the engines required constant monitoring every flight therefore had minimum one engineer on board who could control each engine individually via a panel if an engine overheated the engineer could direct more air through an outer flap to cool it the flight engineer was even able to access the entrance via a passageway in the huge wings and make repairs during the flight the extremely powerful engines made the b314 the fastest and most reliable passenger aircraft of its time the propeller engines such as the ones of the b314 have their limits [Music] problem is that if the propellers rotate too fast the airflow stops and they become inefficient this limited the speeds of such aircraft no problem for a passenger aircraft but the military required faster planes at the end of the 30s the Englishman Frank Whittle and the German Hans vanowhein therefore began independently researching a new type of engine the jet engine from 1942 the first series produced jet-powered aircraft began flying initially only as military aircraft such as the Messerschmitt me 262 after the second world war the new engines began to be used also for civil aviation in the course of time these engines were developed into the aircraft engines of today known as turbo fans they are more fuel efficient and quieter [Music] the a350s engines were specially developed for the new aircraft and are among the most efficient and quietest in the world fuel is the biggest cost item for an airline today in addition airport fees are often calculated upon the noise level that an aircraft makes this makes the engine the decisive cost factor in constructing an airplane the manufacturer Rolls-Royce spent nine years developing the new Trent xbw engine it has a diameter of 3 meters and delivers the equivalent of more than 50 000 horsepower two are mounted on the a350 the inlet propeller called The Fan consists of 22 titanium blades and sucks in more than a ton of air per second this amount of air is sufficient to fill an entire stadium in about two minutes the sucked in air divides into two streams inside the engine ER Airstream is compressed flows into the combustion chamber and is mixed with kerosene and burned the hot air stream spreads quickly and drives several turbine stages a three shaft principle ensures Optimum speeds the external airflow which accounts for around 90 percent of the Trent xbw is directed around the core engine and accelerated in the exhaust nozzle speed at the exit provides a major part of the thrust and makes the engine around 15 percent more efficient and quieter than any other the newly designed engines enable the a350 to achieve a top speed of 960 kilometers per hour while consuming an extremely low amount of fuel verdict both Legend and modern icon can claim to have the most powerful and efficient engines of their time for the final comparison which plane is safer when Boeing began building the new flying boat in 1937 one of the biggest Aviation disasters of the time happens in New Jersey the Hindenburg airship disaster on Landing a hydrogen tank ignited the Hindenburg crashed uncontrollably to the ground and burst into flames [Music] the crash of the Hindenburg shocked the world and to this day the cause is not clear without a doubt shocked by the accident Boeing made even greater efforts to make the b314 as safe as possible the fuselage had a double floor design like a ship in case the Boeing collided with an obstacle during takeoff or Landing the raised floor in turn was divided into 10 separate cells [Applause] watertight bulkheads prevented the entire aircraft from filling with water and sinking in the event of an incident s were also installed in each bulkhead to keep water levels in an emergency as low as possible for as long as possible [Music] slower fuselage section designed as a boat hole made the flying boat virtually Unsinkable in the event of ditching towards the end of World War II when a severely damaged plane had to be sunk during a towing maneuver the Navy had to put 1300 rounds into it before it sank each passenger had a life jacket under their seat additionally there were eight lifeboats [Applause] for emergency exit the windows of the passenger compartments were used they were located close to the water surface so that exit would be relatively easy all materials used in the aircraft were also Fireproof whether seeds tapestries or tablecloths each piece has been tested for fire resistance by a specialized Institute and the measures paid off the Boeing 314 was the safest aircraft of its time despite the millions of kilometers flown only one heavy crash occurred in a failed Landing incident the modern icons Engineers also did everything they could to make the aircraft safe to put the new materials used in the a350 through its Paces prototypes had the past many stringent tests during such tests aircrafts are exposed to loads many times higher than those encountered in normal flight operations the toughest were the cold tests for example engineers in Norway investigated how the a350 behaved at temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius during test flights test pilots took the aircraft to its maximum limits with extreme maneuvers they also tested how long the plane could remain in the air with only one engine the result was an impressive seven hours it's ensures on all routes around the world that an a350 can reach an airport in case an engine fails the a350 has four emergency exits in case of evacuation one directly behind the cockpit one in front of and behind the wing and one at the end of the aircraft the special feature three of the four emergency exits have a double evacuation slide this allows passengers to leave the aircraft even faster in an emergency the a350 is among the nine types of aircraft that have never crashed since 1959 in terms of safety both Legend and modern icons set new standards in the event of emergency ditching you would even be safer in the historic flying boat [Music] the verdict in the technology category in terms of flight systems and engine efficiency the modern icon leads but on safety the legend can definitely keep up they are both milestones in aviation history the Boeing 314 the largest and most powerful passenger aircraft of its time and the a350 the world's most modern and environmentally friendly long-haul aircraft weather in design Comfort or technology both Legend and modern icon set new standards in aircraft Construction [Music]

Channel: Free Documentary - Engineering

Views: 31,315

Keywords: free documentary, free documentary engineering, engineering, engineering documentary, tech, tech documentary, constructions, constructions documentary, technology documentary

Id: ZlQXDLpzrhw

Length: 48min 0sec (2880 seconds)

Published: Fri May 12 2023