From kls Thu Feb 19 01:33:57 1998 Path: bounce-back Newsgroups: sci.aeronautics.airliners Date: 19 Feb 98 01:33:57 From: bobo@algonet.se Subject: Re: 747 with engines on the wings? References: Message-ID: Approved: kls@ohare.Chicago.COM Sender: kls@ohare.Chicago.COM Organization: Algonet/Tninet In article , RLION@worldonline.nl (Lion's Pers Agentschap) wrote: > What is the reason that airliners have engines under the wing instead > of on it? > > Possibly it will take a little bit more aluminium to construct > airliners this way, but with overwing engines the wing can deflect a > big portion of the noise for people living around airports. (This can > be reached even without improving the engines themselves!) Well, I think the main reason is that weight of the engines help relieve the bending forces on the wing structure. And it so happens that "a little bit more aluminum" is the last thing an airline wants to push around the sky. Can't help thinking about Roy Braybrook's insightful statement in some issue of Air International: "An airliner is a tubular device for making money". /MJ