New "dot-com" Livery

[CLT-Douglas]

Here you go Light Years, Express in Red, the Shuttle in White, and Mainline in Blue. I changed the the belly on the shuttle to blue because the gray on top of white made it look dirty. I used all A319's to conserve time.



Red,White & Blue Schemes

and here is a further take and would make for a better usairways.com scheme in my opinion.

US Airways Fantasy schemes

 

[Light Years]

Double post, sorry!

CLT-Douglas, I figured it was you, you'd mentioned one time you would make them up! They are beautiful!

 

[ringmaruf]

It was chosen because every 2,500 cycles it needs to be inspected due to the lap joint repairs, so it would have to be stripped of paint at every inspection.

Is that the official number? I've been hearing all sorts of numbers thrown around, some as low as 1,000 cycles.

 

[ITRADE]

That's low - about once a year - if not less.

 

[USAirBoyA330]

I saw the dotcom plane today in PHL. It looked HORRIBLE and 2 passengers even commented and said "what's the matter with that plane"?

 

[tadjr]

I saw 573 last week before the .com was added. You dont realize how bad the patches make it look until its painted over and disappears. Take a look at some other planes that are painted and you hardly notice the patches, but this one stands out because of the extent and placement of the patches down the whole side of the plane. Maybe some decorative painting where the inspections arent going to take place would distract from the massive patch jobs? Maybe some flowing cheat lines or waves or something? Otherwise no matter what you do to it, its going to look terrible and isnt really a good indication of how a .com paintjob would be on a plane that was polished all over and not patched so much.

Just got an idea, maybe they can paint black around the outside of the patches with a big CLICK HERE-> note attached like its supposed to look that way on the computer?

 

[700UW]

Reading into the 573's history there are several types of repetitive inspections due, some as low as 250 flight hours some as high as 2,500 cycles, and the kicker is the repairs done are not the final version, Boeing and US are working together to come up with permanent repairs that don't require such repetitive inspections.

 

[phllax]

Maybe they'll do some "legacy" liveries with PSA, PI, AL, the 1st US livery, Mohawk, Lake Central, etc.

 

[Bluestreak]

That photo is terrible. I have seen the new silver 737's in PIT and CLT. They look really nice. The photo linked above was taken in horrible conditions. The background is nothing but dead grass and old taxiways. Also, the lighting isn't the best. It looks like that photo was taken near midday which is the most unflattering time to take an aircraft photo.

I like the silver 737s. They look kind of retro mixxed with modern, sort of like the desk lamps they sell at Target. Southwest is the Wallmart of the airline industry. Maybe Dave is trying to transform US into the Target of the airlines.

 

[N607P]

Forgive me for sounding like such a dumbass, but why exactly does this particular plane need to be repaired so often?

 

[700UW]

It is all ready repaired, but a final repair has to be planned by Boeing and US.

A/C 573 was found to have cracks in the lap joints and crown of the fuselage, it is on top where two pieces of metal meet and there is a compound in the joint.

Upon a mechanic doing some touch up paint work, the paint kept disappearing and cracks were found. Upon a surprise inspection at the AvEx in New Iberia, LA by the FAA, it was found they were stripping paint with razor blades and digging out the compound between the lap joint so remove all the paint.

All paint work ceased and the airplane ferried back to PIT and underwent major structural repairs that took almost four months to complete.

 

[Art at ISP]

I flew on US 690 last Friday (I think it was ship 422, a 737-400). On the nose section right below the captain's windshield there appeared to be a patch of some sort held on with duct tape..you could see the duct tape-like substance from a significant distance.

Is this possible?????? Does anyone care at CCY???????

Then again, the PEOPLE make the difference.

My best to you all.......

 

[smfav8r]

Art,

I was most likely speed tape. Similiar to duct tape, but made more of a metal material and it can withstand high speeds without coming off if intstalled correctly.

I agree it looks like pretty bad, but sometimes it needs to be used in the short term before the aircraft has some scheduled down time for corrective mx.

If it was around the one of the windows, that window may have just been replaced, but the aircraft needed to be in service. If that's the case, there is a procedure to put speed tape around the window for a period of time untill the window has fully cured.

Every airline uses speed tape, but I agree it looks like s**t!

 

[Light Years]

Interesting article about the unveiling of the current US Airways livery (one of the best in the industry in my opinion)...

US Airways

Interesting how much emphasis was placed on making sure the airline was not percieved as a "regional carrier". Oh, how times change...

 

[1-800-IFLYSWA]

A little bit of marketing, at last. Maybe there is hope.

True, there appears to be more marketing going on at US Airways than once thought.

Say what you want about the picture, the inspections, etc., if you read the press release, this is a big move to push sales through UsAirways.com