So the SP is for "Special Performance". It has a shortened body and allows the plane to travel further and faster than the regular 747. Apparently only about 45 were ever made.
I've seen one of these LVS 747's in person. It may be "smaller" than the regular one, but it is truly massive. If you ever stay at Mandalay Bay and face the airport, you are basically looking almost directly over the LVS hangar. The only thing that would concern me if I were a super-whale that earned a trip on this plane is its age...nearly 40 years is a very long time in airplane years.
>> nearly 40 years is a very long time in airplane years
The reason it isn't, in fact, a very long time is that airplanes, unlike most other vehicles, are subject to highly rigorous regular maintenance and part replacement programs. The airframes themselves can last essentially forever (well beyond the decades time frame that we're discussing) if specified maintenance continues to be performed. Witness the many WWII and earlier aircraft still flying at seven or more decades of life.
For some reason, that brings back fond memories of Flight Simulator Aircraft and Scenery Designer... turning the jet aircraft into a "U-2" with a massive, thin wing w/ winglets and a ridiculously big vertical stabilizer. Oh and 80,000 lbs. of thrust.
Kind of the opposite of the SR (short range) that packs more people in for less range. Popular in Japan where they regularly carry North of 500 people on short routes like Tokyo to Osaka.
Before I went to school for CS, I was actually an aircraft mechanic. I personally worked on this plane at the L3 center in Waco, TX. And now for the rest of the story:
From what I recall, the plans for an air-born telescope were conceived around 1992-93. The plane was located and purchased (don't know from who, but it was first operated by PanAm) sometime before 1995 and brought to the L3 airstrip in Waco, TX. I came on board with L3 for another project in 2005, and the plane still had a lot of work to be done. Sometimes we 'd hit a 'slow week' on my current project and my manager would send me over to the hanger where Sofia was to 'help'. Which was where a bulk of the problems came from.
I don't think there was a steady stream of money for the project, or at least the parts we needed. So people were constantly moved from other projects onto Sofia as needed and there was always lots of rework and spin up time. The core team with the plane was probably only 10 people or so. When I was there, most of the mounts and cutout for the telescope had already been completed. I can't remember if the telescope remained installed or not, but there were pictures around various buildings of the 'first light', so the telescope had at least been installed at one time.
Most of my jobs were repairing damages to the aluminum flooring and ceiling substructures (not sure why they were damaged). Most of the time I was handed a mixed bag of aluminum floor repair brackets with a warning of 'careful, the last 2 guys that worked this DR (discrepancy report) don't work here any more', so the jobs were always stressful.
I would spend a lot of time just trying to find the damaged areas, and normally they weren't fixed because some equipment was in the way, so you ended up burning a lot of time on already over timed tickets just looking (hence why these tickets were the 'widow makers'). There were many large .5”-1” iron plates mounted all over the floors for ballast, can't remember if they were going to stay installed or removed when all the computer equipment was installed, but they were normally always in the way.
I finally managed to pull some strings with another manager that ran a night shift on a completely different project (P3 wing restoration) with a story about how I wanted to take training classes during the day at a local tech school. It worked and they put me on his team and my Sofia days were over. Shortly after that, due to another project needing hanger space, they pushed Sofia out onto an unused taxiway to make room. They then hung/installed all four engines on the wings for 'visual progress' even though they knew they wouldn't even be testing them for another few years.
I worked the night shift for about a year and a half before I moved in with some relatives and went to University for CS. This was partly motived by the German engineering team (don't know why they were all German) that would visit Sofia from time to time and plug in their laptops to all the telescope equipment on the plane and hack on stuff (I guess) while they laughed and joked all day. This made me quite jealous, and as a Linux geek, I then knew I was in the wrong place for a career path :)
Extra note: if I ever have another daughter, I am pushing my wife to allow me to name her Sofia, upon which I will hang a picture of this plane in her room :)
I don't doubt that they have money in the bank. I remember when an exec was accused of taking money from the company? it was like 75mil. Now if they would just organize their stores....
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_11290227
If you've ever tried to buy anything at any of their stores, you'll notice you get sales people asking to scan your items and print you a quote. Fry's employees don't actually get paid hourly wages anymore, they need to write up merchandise that customers buy which have a per-item commission attached (generally .50- $5 per item, high margin items might be $5-$15). If an employee doesn't make their weekly minimum wage quota, they go into a debt (minimum hourly wage will be paid, but the difference is made into pseudo-debt), if they don't sell enough to get out of their debt or if they arn't making their large warranty quotas, they will be fired. Apparently Fry's used to offer their employees much better benefits, hourly + higher commissions, and there used to be some sort of "retirement" type bonus system where they earned a growing lumpsum of money that would only be paid out if they stuck with the company for more than 6 years or so, but they've scraped hourly pay for the commission-debt system, removed departments and dropped those employees into sales positions, and generally just cut corners everywhere possible without any real modernization.
Within the last few years they've pushed to match internet prices which is nice if you know their policy (limited list of official retailers, item must be in stock at that time, sometimes they arbitrarily add shipping costs). You'll piss off the sales person that writes you the price matched quote because they'll lose any normal commission. From talking to the employees, it's a toxic work environment and the entire store is feverishly being badgered to meet quotas for warranty sales.
Fry's is a crazy store, it's in a position to be cutting edge for the maker scene where Best Buy, and Radio Shack have failed, but it's still stuck behind 20 years and ridiculously inefficient and short sighted corporatcracy. On that note, if you walk into a home depot you'll probably notice a maker bot demo set up.
Don't forget the fact that they sell the same items for different prices in different areas of the store, and take the default position that you've stolen from them until you produce your receipt as you leave.
Ah, the Final Insult. After standing in the checkout line and paying, I just smile, say "My receipt looks correct, thanks" and walk right by the guy checking purchases at the door. They can't stop you. Been doing this since they instituted the practice (20 years ago?)
Man, try returning a computer, especially a broken one. A true conversation:
"This system doesn't work."
"Right. That's why I'm returning it."
"We can't take it back if it's not working, it means we can't put it back on the shelf."
Facepalm. And reasoned argument, escalating into rather loud voices until they give me my money back just to get rid of me. Do not ever, ever buy a white box computer at Fry's.
This is why you buy things with credit cards. You don't have to yell at employees, you just have to call your credit card company. Part of the contract you have with the credit card companies and the contract the credit card companies have with retailers includes guarantees of robust return policy very often extending the retailer's.
I've never had any luck with that. I called the CC company in front of the Fry's folks and the CC folks just said, basically, "tough, if they won't take it back, that's not our problem"
I realize this is splitting hairs, and no comfort to the customer who is inconvenienced, but... I used to work at the periphery of the security industry, and the primary focus of retail security measures are directed at the employees. Notice that the highest concentration of security cameras in big-box stores are directly above the cash registers. There is equipment that simultaneously records the register transaction data stream on top of the security video.
I've encountered the same receipt-checking at Guitar Center on the rare occasion when I've shopped there, and GC's employees also work on some sort of screwy commission system that at least superficially resembles a sweatshop. I suspect that there are some kinds of fiddles that involve ringing you up for one item and walking you out the door with another.
As long as it's not a membership situation (where one can lose the membership over that), that is your right, but it is also their right to ban you for life if you refuse.
I believe that doesn't happen often, so I don't doubt that it hasn't been an issue for you so far, but it doesn't mean it will never be an issue.
Several years ago I used to bike to a Costco to get my meds at the pharmacy (you didn't need to be a member to use it). I used to get pissed off they'd want to search my backpack on the way out-what were they going to do, revoke my non existent membership? Find a giant pallet of toilet paper I hid in it?
I urge you to change your perspective. You are punishing the receipt checker for trying to enforce a policy they have no say in or control over. If their boss sees you walk past them, they can get fired, in which case you will have directly harmed them. In contrast, showing your receipt takes less than 5 seconds.
That's stupid. If they've been given a job which is impossible to enforce and been told they'll be fired if they don't enforce it then that's obviously silly and it's not my fault that it's silly. If an employee is tasked to make everyone hop from the door to my car should I also do that? What about if an employee is tasked to make everyone fly from the door to their car? What about then?
Is there any documented evidence that Fry's is sinking(/losing money)?
I don't doubt it per se, I just want to pin down that notion. I find it shocking that they outlived Circuit City and Radio Shack, so I'm beginning to wonder if maybe they're actually profitable and we're just annoyed that their target market doesn't necessarily capture us anymore (the way it did in the 90s and to some extent the 00s in my case).
(note: a descendent comment asking about a Best Buy reference pointed out that I inadvertently said Fry's outlived Best Buy; I meant Circuit City and corrected it, but that may just add more confusion with the resulting conversation)
No, and in fact it is quite the opposite, they have been putting their competitors out of business and were cited by Radio Shack at one point as to why they were going out of business[1].
In the Bay area they have replenished some of their "maker" supplies to be more relevant again but it is spotty. They prefer high margin items like laptops or washer/dryer combinations. This is quite a bit lower than when parts distributors Wyle and Arrow were complaining that Fry's was selling individual parts at the 1K quantity price and cutting off their margins.
They also managed to kill off the electronics stores in the Bay area, Sunnyvale Electronics, Jade Systems, JDR Microdevices, Quement, Quest, Etc. JameCo has survived but in part because they have a decent mail order business and hold the line on their prices. I wrote a letter to Bill Fry complaining because after they killed off those businesses their component supply dropped off dramatically leaving folks in Silicon Valley ordering from a company in Minnesota to get parts they use to source locally.
That said, I find it hilarious when they have in their display case test equipment offered for sale from companies that are no longer in business.
[1] Of course Radio Shack probably cited everything at one time or another as to why they were going out of business.
They also managed to kill off the electronics stores in the Bay area
I'm sure Fry's had a lot to do with it, but a good deal of the problem is that "times are changing".
More stuff gets built exclusively in Asia nowadays, leaving fewer part overruns in the USA that can be sold to surplus companies that used to be in the Bay Area.
As SoCs become more prevalent there is just less need for glue chips. This is all across the board. E.g. 20 years ago every desktop PC needed a graphics card, or at least a graphics chip. But now the vast majority of video needs are satisfied by Intel's on-die graphics. Same with USB, it's in the Intel chipset. No need for SATA cards or chips, it's all in the Intel chipset. So is ethernet. Etc.
Plus in the old days hobbyists had a chance of being able to work with DIP components, or even SOICs. Nowadays the resistors and capacitors are almost too small to see without a stereo microscope. And BGA components can't easily be soldered or reworked without sophisticated equipment.
With more stuff being designed, debugged, and manufactured in Asia, I'm not surprised that Fry's has a lot of older test equipment collecting dust. No demand for it anymore.
We live in interesting times. Sucks for people who used to make a good living in electronics.
Compared to 30 years ago, I think the hobby electronics market has changed a lot.
Partly it's because a lot of the kids who would have been assembling Heathkits in 1980 are now making minecraft mods.
But even without that, there's been a shift in the electronics market. There are high demand, medium demand, and long tail components. Everyone has the high demand components at home. The long tail components aren't in high enough demand to stock in expensive-to-run high street stores, so they can only be mail ordered. The medium demand components are in between - the range is wide enough that people don't have them all already, but limited enough and in high enough demand that a high street store can satisfy demand and make enough money to stay in business.
30 years ago, medium demand components were things like 7400-series logic chips. Today, microprocessors like the arduino have most of that stuff built in, or can be programmed to do it. Nobody needs to go to the shops because they need a positive edge triggered dual D-type flip-flop and all they have at home is a dual master slave JK flip-flop.
I tend to largely agree with this, although if there was a store that stocked what Sparkfun or Adafruit have in their online store that I could go into and browse, I'd probably spend $100 a week in there.
Well, HSC is most certainly still around. Often cheaper than Digikey, with a great selection of jellybean components, as well as a really long tail of more obscure parts.
They're privately owned, so I'm unaware of any data. While an anecdote is not data in and of itself, the Fry's here in WA has been emptier and emptier (both in terms of merchandise on the floor and people) each time I've stopped by from 2008 to the present. I can't say for sure if it's a national trend, but out here Amazon Prime has eliminated the need of basically everyone I know to visit Fry's.
I don't know that this indicates a business downturn but Fry's used to have its own 4-6 page insert in the S.J. Mercury in the Friday edition. For the last several years, this advert has been reduced to a single page on the back of one of the regular sections. Also, although very subjective, it appears to me that the huge parking lots at the Sunnyvale, San Jose, and Fremont stores are less crowded than I remember. Indicators? Maybe.
If you've ever tried to buy anything at any of their stores, you'll notice you get sales people asking to scan your items and print you a quote.
Is this a relatively recent change? And if not, are you sure it isn't for very specific departments, or certain price points or such? I don't go to Fry's all that often -- Amazon Prime blah blah etc. -- but I never saw them print out a quote sheet unless I did the internet price matching. The most recent purchase I've made there I can confirm is December 2013, though.
It's been something that the salespeople have done off and on through the years, but definitely something that's happening more frequently now. Usually they would just ask if you were also buying memory or something, now they'll ask if you just pass by and ask where something is.
> it's in a position to be cutting edge for the maker scene
I remember in the early 2000's there were a lot more discrete electronic components. Last time I went you could still find the soldering irons and oscilloscopes and resistors and such, but it wasn't nearly as impressive. Kind of sad! I guess not as many people do low-level circuits hacking in the age of surface-mount parts and Arduino boards on Amazon...
Five times $2 isn't much -- and sometimes I'm willing to pay to have something today: Not in 3-4 weeks. It's not like arduinos (or whatever) are something I'm burning through often enough to worry about a few extra dollars.
Oh definitely, I've done my fair share of Digi-Key orders too. The lack of a good actual-local-physical-store option for that one missing resistor on a Saturday is a little unfortunate though.
I do wonder what the overall trend is. I mean, it's certainly harder to build anything close to "state of the art" in miniaturization without having a custom PCB fabbed and soldering SMT. And it seems with all the premade building blocks (Arduino shields and such) fewer people would actually need to design from scratch. Also our idea of what's "interesting" has shifted a bit... the radio receiver and burglar alarm and amplifier kits I built as a kid (in the 90's) might not be be as exciting today. But then maybe the maker movement brings an influx of new experimenters regardless. Awesome if so.
And I also don't do hardware hobbyist stuff much anymore so I'm inclined to take your word for it if low-level circuit hacking really is getting popular again :-)
Not to say that their focus hasn't changed (and I particularly lament the loss of IC pinouts and mini datasheets in the catalogue) but they still have a substantial range of components for sale.
I've always managed to get what I need when I goto Fry's, but I did find the whole salesman thing odd. For a $20 cable or electronic product its nuts. There is nothing wrong with having a guy on the floor who can help customers make the right purchase, but trying to make a living off commission on $10 products is just a crazy idea.
I tried to buy cat6 patches at Fry's Santa Clara in a pinch. I couldn't check out with an extra $20 of cables in my cart until I found a checked out employee in the aisles to write up their commission.
You bet. I used to work at Fry's in 2001. Frys used to have so many cashiers those days; salesmen used to make $6.75 (then CA min wage) + commission. Commission was also good then: like $100 for a $2500 toshiba laptop; 15% commission on perf warranties. Weekends used to so busy with shoppers.
Now you have merchandisers doing the cashier task. And you hardly see a row of cashiers. Even vendors are not happy with Fry's due to late payments.
I ran into that the other day when I went to Fry's to purchase an item, they had a big sign up that they beat Internet prices, so I checked the item on my phone and asked the sales person if they would match the price and they said that it was sold out. I just got a feeling that the whole place is circling the drain based on the over all shabbiness of all the displays and so on. It just has that look to it.
There is a Fry's here and I like the store because it has a lot of computer electronics, and I've seen what you describe in action, I can't think that it is sinking either.
There are like 50 registers and not but a few are ever in use, and it is such a huge store with so many employees I can't understand how they can keep making money.
This is strange. Service at my local Fry's is absolutely terrible and they no longer try to write me up for a quote. I even bought a desk for $150 (which has to have high commission) and no one tried to get a piece of the sale. I don't think it works like that at my local one, or the incentives are completely rewired.
Ive never seen that, but i used to work for this company and repair computers for them. and FUCK man after seeing some of the shit that comes from Frys, i ended up giving this dude a new computer, the work was so bad that I would have essentially have had to replace almost 80% of the parts, and i would not know the reliability of the repair. Ended up just telling the manager to give him a new one.... that dude was hella funny, he came back two years later and i saw him and he instantly remembered me.
That being said, in the sales department we instead just paid everyone remotely the same, no commission on anything. Never was a toxic environment, never was any banter amongst people, and i feel that it def. helps sales due to not overselling shit to people.
Frys is a mess, but so is big box retail.
DEEPSEA / SPACE EXPLORATION get the workers in on that shit lets get off this stupid rock. its fucking about to be 2020 where the hell are the flying cars.
$1.5M is a lot lower than I would have guessed, unless this is like everything else in the Bay Area and the listing price is the floor and not the ceiling.
According to the owners manual for the 747, the most likely answer is that it requires a "D check", which is the 4th major maintenance check on the aircraft and will likely need major repairs. Also there is a modification called the "section 41" mod which is required of this aircraft, but most likely hasn't been done either. They estimate it at 7.5M to do both, and that was in 2005.
Throw in the fact that this thing isn't really that useful to an airline and you can see why the market value is so low.
Also, the manual states:
"Values of most 747-200s have now fallen to scrap level. That is, the intrinsic value of an aircraft is directly related the market value of its engines and any salvage value that can be derived from its rotables"
Which leads me to my last point - this aircraft might not have engines. Usually power plants are listed.
Maybe because it has 46000+ hours on it? thats almost 3.5 hours a day, every day. Also, owning a plane like that comes with some ridiculous expenses - you gotta park it somewhere, you have to maintain mechanical on it (annuals), and you have to pay for fuel. The cost of the plane probably pales in comparison to the cost of owning that plane.
There is an oversupply of 747s, though not this specific model; my understanding is Boeing hasn't really bothered with true production once the factory became backfilled with them, and that a 747 can be had disproportionately cheaply. Not $1.5M cheap though, not at all...
Interesting. Looks like it has mostly been parked. It has only logged 250 hours of use since November 2004, when it was listed for sale. Fry's bought it several months later. So that averages to only a few minutes daily since it was bought.
Probably Boeing. They have a vested interested in keeping their planes in operation with a good safety record. When you only produce a few hundred of something at the most it isn't that difficult to keep track of them all.
Both teams played (or play) at the SAP Center (San Jose Arena). Probably, the 747 tail advert was a deal-clincher, goodwill/promotion gesture or both. It makes a lot of sense to drive/cross-promote advertising, sponsorships and other business into a common ecosystem.
As it happens, I used to hang out with the Sabercats and (now former) Saberkittens at (undisclosed) because of a Stanford hookup. Since I don't find drinking fun anymore, I'm old and boring now. :)
I'm not a pilot, but my understanding is that type certifications are held to ATP standards. Is there some reason why a pilot would need both outside of being a commercial pilot who might encounter other types in his or her career?
I find it more entertaining that Bruce Dickinson flies commercial airliners for a hobby, and has flown his band around the world in a suitably-liveried 767.
Great book! I learned a lot from that (already was a huge 747 fan). In particular, compare the Boeing SST project at the time to the 747. It's obvious in hindsight why an efficient high capacity plane beat an inefficient low capacity plane- people want cheap tickets more than they want to get the destination in the least amount of time (hell, you can spend as much time in car traffic at the destination as you did in the air!).
Regarding the seating, it's in the overkill range for a corporate jet, but the 747-SP is a significantly smaller plane compared to the regular 747. Capacity-wise, and size-wise, it's about the same as a 767 or 787, which do see some service in the corporate charter/owned jet.
Wow, looks like they are doing good for themselves. I was at the the first store grand opening in 1985, but my parents and grand parent, and grand grand parent's shopped at their Dad's grocery store.
After moving to Texas, when the bought out the Incredible universe stores, it was nice to have them. Now a days, I only go to them if I need something in a pinch.
I heard a rumor once that the SP in 747SP really means South Pacific, and that it was built to carry enough gas for flights from LAX to New Zealand and Australia.
I think the newer more fuel efficient airplanes from Boeing and Airbus have taken over that market.
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