From kls Mon Nov 15 12:23:29 1993 Newsgroups: sci.aeronautics.airliners Path: bounce-back From: drinkard@bcstec.ca.boeing.com (Terrell D. Drinkard) Subject: Re: 757 Boarding References: Message-ID: Approved: kls@ohare.Chicago.COM Organization: Boeing Commercial Airplane Group Sender: kls@ohare.Chicago.COM Date: 15 Nov 93 12:23:29 PST In article , Stan Jones wrote: >Last night while boarding a United 757 in Chicago (using the front >door for everyone), the gate agent asked for our co-operation because, >as she said, the 757 is an awkward plane to board. This was the first >time I had been on a 757 boarding at the front door (United boards >757s at the middle door in Toronto) and it was awkward and slow. How >much attention is given to boarding in the design of aircraft? Is the >757 particularly bad or was I setup for seeing this by the gate >agent's comment? Did the 757 design intend that the normal boarding >be by the mid-door or the front door? How many airports are setup to >handle mid-door boarding (Toronto has movable Jetways - but slow to >get into position, while Chicago has fixed position Jetways)? Believe it or not, the 757 was designed with the idea that boarding through door 1L would be the standard. Door 2L was designed to allow it to be used as an alternate boarding door, if desired. Door position was determined primarily by evacuation requirements, I believe. The right hand doors are designed for galley servicing. We do pay attention to boarding when designing a new airplane. The larger the airplane, the more attention payed to boarding. As long as the aircraft can be boarded in less than twenty minutes, it doesn't matter much. Refueling, cabin cleaning, baggage & cargo handling, all take time, so a total thirty minute turnaround is about standard for single-aisle aircraft. Interestingly, people are quite motivated to get off the airplane, so the passenger/minute rate jumps way up compared to boarding, where everyone tends to lollygag in the aisles. :-) I have no idea how many airports are set up for door 1 vs door 2 nor even left (standard) vs right (creative). Terry -- Terry drinkard@bcstec.boeing.com "Anyone who thinks they can hold the company responsible for what I say has more lawyers than sense."