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  • Originally posted by oliverdave View Post
    Do you guys think that the first batch of long-haul A350s (SMA-SMU) will ever have their winglets refitted to the newer, larger ones we see on the A350R/ULRs? The A350 marketing director has previously said that these newer winglets deliver ‘huge benefits’.
    Based on this article, it doesn’t seem like a retrofit would be possible.

    Source: https://leehamnews.com/2017/11/01/ne...harklets-a350/

    The original and new winglets don’t have the same form. The reason is, the wings are not the same. To understand why, we need to understand how winglets work.

    Wings and winglets

    Wing extensions, like Sharklets, use the winglet device to change the spanwise pressure distribution of the wing. It’s the cooperation of the winglet and the wing that gives the air the impression the wing has a longer span than the physical span. The new span created with the wingtip extension is called the effective wingspan.

    There is a widespread misunderstanding that winglets are designed to change the way the wingtip vortices are flowing. This is mixing cause and effect. The winglet and wing changes the complete flow around and behind the wing. This total change of the flow pattern is what reduces the drag, not any local change in the vortices around the wingtips.

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    • 9V-SMW has returned to Toulouse from XFW after being painted. She will probably do 1 to 2 more Test Flights before being delivered. This could take place as early as next week or the week after.

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      • 9V-SMY had her second flight yesterday and is now wearing the full SQ colour scheme.

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        • Photos from the Second Flight of 9V-SMY.





          Photo source: a350production.net

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          • Originally posted by SQKevin View Post
            Photos from the Second Flight of 9V-SMY.





            Photo source: a350production.net
            Is that the RAT deployed on the first picture? Interesting!

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            • Originally posted by a340-313x View Post
              I'm wondering if it's got the 2013 seats in Y (as found in the 77W and current long-haul A350) or the newer 2017 ones (new A380, regional A350 and 787).
              I was browsing through pictures of the inaugural flight to SEA operated by 9V-SMV, when it suddenly struck me that the YCL seats are the 2017 versions!!

              Yes, the blue and grey ones found on the 787, A350 mid-haul, and new A380s. After further investigation, I believe they are more similar to the 787 ones, because they have the call button/reading light and USB port on the seat back, leading me to believe it is equipped with the Panasonic IFE system.

              The A350 mid-hauls, on the other hand, have the USB ports and call button/reading light integrated onto the IFE screen itself, which is common for Thales systems. On those seats, you'll just see a blank cover where the same buttons are on the 787 seat.

              I can't post pictures here because all these were seen through browsing Instagram so all pictures aren't mine and I can't really screenshot them either.

              So there you go! 1/22 chances (as of today) of getting the 2017 Y seat if you're traveling on a regular A350.

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              • The music video from the Seattle artist was taken onboard SMV and to me it looks identical to the 2013 Y. Could you further clarify?

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                • Well I’m guessing the external and internal shots of the video were taken on different aircraft. Go to Instagram, search the hashtag #singaporeair and look through the recent photos. You’ll see some YCL shots of the inaugural flight.

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                  • Yes, you’re right. I wonder what the reason for the change is, and whether the configuration is the same.

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                    • Originally posted by oliverdave View Post
                      Yes, you’re right. I wonder what the reason for the change is, and whether the configuration is the same.
                      I would guess it's because they can't source the 2013 Y seat anymore.

                      They're making more of the J seats because of the ULR anyway so they can probably throw in a few more orders, and I'd be interested to know if the PE seat is the ULR-modified one.

                      Makes me wonder, though, is the seat map the same between SMV and the others? And/or will they retrofit the earlier longhaul A350s with 2017Y at some point?
                      an infrastructure geek

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                      • Originally posted by yuuka_miya View Post
                        Makes me wonder, though, is the seat map the same between SMV and the others? And/or will they retrofit the earlier longhaul A350s with 2017Y at some point?
                        The seatmap is likely to be the same (or very similar) as Y seats can essentially be 1-for-1 replacements in terms of real estate. They have done something similar before with the regional 777 fleet - where the earlier aircraft had a different Y seat model and non-AVOD IFE, and the later ones had the Recaro seats with AVOD IFE (still in use on SQL, SYF, SYL, SVM and SVN today). The seatmaps for all of them were the same.

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                        • Originally posted by pokfur View Post
                          Yes, the blue and grey ones found on the 787, A350 mid-haul, and new A380s. After further investigation, I believe they are more similar to the 787 ones, because they have the call button/reading light and USB port on the seat back, leading me to believe it is equipped with the Panasonic IFE system.
                          You are correct! They are different also from the A380 ones, as those have an 11.1” 720p screen (Panasonic eX3), while the 787s and these new long haul A350s have a newer 11.6” 1080p screen (also Panasonic eX3). Why SQ chose to make the difference is beyond my knowledge though.

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                          • Originally posted by SQ957 View Post
                            You are correct! They are different also from the A380 ones, as those have an 11.1” 720p screen (Panasonic eX3), while the 787s and these new long haul A350s have a newer 11.6” 1080p screen (also Panasonic eX3). Why SQ chose to make the difference is beyond my knowledge though.
                            My guess is that it's all about the timing of the contracts that they signed for each batch of aircraft. Probably seats and IFE for the 5 new A380s were sourced at the same time, and at that time, the smaller screens were the best available? Most cost effective? Later on, when it came to the 787s, a newer, bigger screen was on offer, or within budget, so, why not! Technology moves so fast these days, and the cost of producing them decreases dramatically just over a short span of time once they go into mass production.

                            And the same applies to this next tranche of regular A350s. By now the 2013 seat is 6 years old. I'm sure SQ negotiated for the first 21 A350 at one go, then took a break from YCL for the ULRs. Then when the mid-hauls were introduced, they probably negotiated for the same seats for those as well as the additional 5 regular A350s. Keep in mind that SMU and SMV are 1.5 years apart. Although, confusingly, the IFE system isn't the same between the mid-hauls and the regular A350s. However I do recall reading an article somewhere that clearly stated that the Thales system was targeted for the A350 mid-hauls only.

                            I doubt there will be a refit of the earlier aircraft. If anything, they'll probably leapfrog the 2017 seats and be refurbished with the next generation of seats, which I'm guessing will be launched on the 777X.

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                            • From instagram
                              Not sure if the link work.

                              https://www.instagram.com/p/B2BfHAYh..._web_copy_link

                              https://www.instagram.com/p/B1_kop0h..._web_copy_link

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                              • Originally posted by pokfur View Post
                                However I do recall reading an article somewhere that clearly stated that the Thales system was targeted for the A350 mid-hauls only.
                                Sidetrack for a bit, but a shame about the new Thales IFE screens in Y is that they do not have the SQ-patented under-screen reading light that was present in the 10.6" Panasonic eX2 and the 11.1" Panasonic eX3 systems (not sure about the 11.6" Panasonic systems). It makes a whole world of difference.

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