From: pmc@home.merit.edu (Philip M. Chuang)
Newsgroups: rec.travel.air
Subject: Re: Aircraft Age
Date: 9 Oct 1992 15:32:23 GMT
Organization: Merit Network, Inc.  Ann Arbor, MI
NNTP-Posting-Host: home.merit.edu

As far as the DC-8 with the seat that did not recline, was it in a row
before an exit?  Those seats are rigged not to recline so that in case
of an emergency the seat would never have a chance of blocking an exit
by being stuck in a reclined position.
 
As far as the Window/Wall seats on DC-8's, it is a pretty good reminder
that although humans in greneral have grown larger in the past 40 years,
airline seats have become smaller.  Douglas had designed DC-8's with a
large-panoramic window for each row.  Of all the jetliners, only the
Comet 1 had larger windows.  As the years go by, airlines put more and
more seats into the planes by putting the rows closer and closer to
each other (pitch reduction, they call it).  So more recent designes
use more, and smaller windows to be sure that each row has some window
view.  Fokker did this a few years ago when they updated their F-27
Friendship to the F-50.  They eliminated the nice large oval windows
and replaced them with the small windows that Boing first introduced
in the 707.
 
On the subject of old windows, my favorite design is that of the French
Caravelle, which had triangular-oval window with a wide bottom so the
passengers can see more of the scenery below.  Alas, since Air Inter of
France withdrew this type about one year ago, it is now very hard to
fly in this airplane.
 
As for why some modern jetliners do not have windows on certain rows,
first, many airlines publish their seating charts in their timetables,

although I know United put out a separate seating chart brochure, and
Delta has one in their travel-agent handbook.  Many of these charts,
(e.g. Swissair) will denote special seats for the handicapped, no
recline, no movie, and NO WINDOW view.  Much of the same information is
also available now on the desktop editions of the Official Airlines Guide,
though the OAG charts are often a bit out of date.  Nonetheless, it is
a good source to figure out where the seat is.
 
The best I can figure out why some seats do not have windows is that,
from what I can tell of the cutaway drawings (such as in Flight or Air
International) those rows have the air conditioning ducts running the
air from the AC/unit below decks to the AC nozzels abovehead embedded
in the walls.  So certain rows of each aircraft will never have windows
(such as 747's have three windows "missing" in front of the #3 exit,
CFM-powered 737's have another window "missing" at the front of the
wing...etc).
 
Another reason for missing windows is that the previous owner of the aircraft
might have blocked the window for some reason.  For example, when
America West bought some used 747's from KLM, KLM's original layout
has most of the windows on the starboard (right) side between #1 and #2
exits blocked off because that was where the galley was.  America West
could change the cabin layout, without replacing the windows.  I don't
know if they put in the windows or not, can anyone tell me?
 
And then there's a sepcial case covering 747-200's and 747-300's.  A
few years ago the FAA permitted Boeing to "deactivate" the overwing
exit of 747's.  There was a hot debate on whether enough people could
evacuate a fully-loaded 747 in 90secnds with only 4 working exits (the
standard FAA test).  Many airlines took advantage of this reuling, blocked
the exits, and put more seats in.  These seats generally terrible, with
no movie, no windows, and the bathroom on the other side of the wall.
Eventually, all later 747's, and the '400's, all had the overwing
exit put back in.