Boeing 1030 Large Airliner:

Even with the tensions, the Earth just before the coming of the Rifts was an extremely mobile place. Air travel was more popular than ever before with airliners traversing the world in incredible numbers. Business never stopped and tourism was extremely popular. While there were trans-sonic aircraft flying the skies, the vast majority still were subsonic with top speeds under Mach One. The supersonic liners were extremely expensive to maintain as well as their noise levels still creating problems. Subsonic aircraft also carried the majority of cargo carried by aircraft around the world as well.

With subsonic aircraft, there were three common size classes. There were the smaller commercial jets with the ability to carry from about one hundred to around two hundred passengers. These usually flew the less traveled routes and were often used for short range hops. Medium sized airliners normal passenger load was from two hundred to three hundred and fifty passengers. These covered the routes which there was more traffic than the smaller airliners could handle but not enough passengers for the largest airliners. They often covered longer distance routes than the smaller airliners. Finally, there were the heavies. Passenger loads were in the three hundred and fifty or greater range. Originally they were called "Jumbo Jets" and they covered the heaviest loads and longest range routes.

One of the largest manufactures of airliners in the years before the coming of the Rifts was the Boeing company. It was already huge at the end of the Twentieth Century and had grown throughout the Twenty-First Century. The company was one of the few to still manufacture airliners and bought out several other companies over the years. They manufactured both military and civilian designs. Arguably, their most famous aircraft was the Boeing 747, the original Jumbo Jet. In many ways, it can be considered the ancestor to the 1030 Airliner.

Like the smaller 1010 and 1020 designs, the 1030 is a blended body design with the wings blended into the fuselage. In that way, the aircraft looked completely different than the airliner it replaced which was the basic tubular construction. With three classes of passenger, the airliner can carry four hundred and eighty passengers while in a two class configuration, the airliner can carry six hundred passengers. When configured as a cargo aircraft, a total of three hundred thousand pounds of cargo can be carried. Many airlines flew the 1030 prior to the coming of the Rifts. As well, there was a number of military uses for the huge aircraft. Both the United States military and other militaries operated this airliner. Airforce One at the time of the coming of the Rifts was a Boeing 1030 and there is rumor the aircraft survived.

Instead of steel and aluminum, the 1030 was constructed from high strength composites and alloys not available in the beginning of the Twenty-First Century. This greatly reduced fatigue and corrosion to extend the life space of the heavy airliner introduced in the Twenty-Seventies. A secondary advantage is that often the transports could survive a missile hit. Several airliners had surface to air missiles fired at them by terrorists. These new composites allowed some of these airliners even to survive the coming of the Rifts.

Instead of two engines with Boeing's smaller airliners, the 1030 has four engines blended in the wings. The blending allowed for a reduction in air resistance and the large airliner has a cruising speed of Mach 0.95 and a maximum speed of Mach 0.98 when on emergency power. Like most other Boeing designs, the 1030 uses fusion turbines. These give virtually unlimited range and are extremely low maintenance. These type of engines were originally developed for military aircraft but soon found their way into civilian aircraft including airliners. Because of the huge size of the 1040, the engines were designed with vectored thrust engines although the aircraft is far from a VTOL design.

Standard crew is two, a pilot and co-pilot. The cockpit is one the most advanced ever built with multi-configuration display, advanced fly by wire avionics, and one of the most advanced automatic pilot systems ever built. Pilots commented about how much of a pleasure the new Boeing 1000 series airliners were when they were first introduced. Military versions often carried additional electronic systems as well as missile decoy systems. These were often carried of airliners operated near areas with civil unrest as well.

In three class version of the airliner, the first class area are on an upper deck and a total of sixty first class passengers can be carried. There is a full wet bar and an incredible number of amenities. The aircraft has a total of one hundred and twenty second class passengers. These are as comfortable as most first class passengers are on smaller airliners. There is a total of three hundred seats in economy / coach. With versions only having two classes, the first class section is different with a total of one hundred and twenty first class passengers and four hundred and eighty carried in coach / economy. In all versions, there are full entertainment systems, a high quality wireless communication system, and wireless internet service.

The version, known as the VC-45, used by the president has space for up to eighty to ninety passengers in a comfort not equaled even in the first class quarters in other versions. The aircraft has its own galley, its own medical area which includes the ability to perform surgery, an incredibly advanced communication system both as an emergecy command post and for press purposes, and other features. The president has his own quarters which include his own office and several couches which can be folded into beds. Electronics are even more advanced than standard military models.

Model Type: Boeing 1030
Class: Heavy Passenger Airliner / Cargo Aircraft
Crew: Two (Pilot and Co-Pilot) as well as eight flight attendants on most passenger flight

Passengers:	Three Class	60 First Class, 120 Second Class, and 300 Coach Passengers
	Dual Class	120 First Class and 480 Coach Passengers
	VC-45	90 Passengers
	Cargo	6 Passengers

M.D.C. by Location:

	[1] Wings (2):	480 each
	[2] Elevators (2):	120 each
	[2] Rudders (2):	120 each
	Front Cargo Bay Doors (Heavy Cargo Versions):	180
	Side Doors (4):	40 each
	[2] Engines (4):	240 each
	Reinforced Pilot’s Compartment / Cockpit:	320
	[3] Main Body:	1,200
	Landing Gear (3):	40 each

Notes:
[1] Destroying a wing will cause the plane to crash.
[2] Destruction of rudders or one elevator will still allow the aircraft to be controlled by the varying of power levels of the engines but aircraft has a penalty of -10 to dodge, and a -30% penalty to all piloting rolls. Destruction of both of the elevators will leave the plane uncontrollable. The destruction of one engine will reduce the aircraft's top speed by one quarter and give the pilot a -1 penalty to dodge as well as giving a 10% penalty to piloting. Each destroyed engine causes cumulative effects. Destruction of four engines will cause the aircraft to crash.
[3] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will shut the aircraft down completely, rendering it useless and causing it to crash if in flight.

Speed:
Driving on Ground (Taxiing): Only possible for take offs and landings as well as for parking and storage. Speed is 40 mph (64 kph) when traveling and not on take off or landing.
Flight: The Boeing 1040 has the ability to make short take-offs and landings. It has a maximum speed of Mach 0.98 (646.8 mph /1,040.92 kph) and a cruise speed of Mack 0.95 (627 mph / 1,009.06 kph.) Maximum altitude is 60,000 feet (18,288 meters)
Range: Due to Fusion engine effectively unlimited range, need to cool down after 16 hours of flight at maximum speed. At cruising speed, range is increased to 24 hours of flight.

Statistical Data:
Length: 263.12 feet (80.2 meters)
Wingspan: 204.72 feet (62.4 meters)
Height: 67.26 feet (20.5 meters)
Weight: 375 tons (340.2 metric tons) fully loaded, 225 tons (204.1 metric tons) empty
Power Source: Nuclear, Should have an average life span of 10 years.
Cargo: Passenger Models: 100,000 lbs (45,360 kg) not including passengers. Cargo Models: 300,000 lbs (136,080 kg)
Market Cost: 105 million for Civilian versions and 108 million for military versions (VC-45 costs 148 million)

Weapon Systems (None Standard):

Anti-Missile Chaff Dispenser (Military Version / VC-45): Located at the very tail of the aircraft are two chaff dispensers. When tailed by a missile, a cloud of chaff and other obtrusive particles can be released to confuse or detonate the enemy's attack. Rifts Earth decoys systems are assumed to not operate against Phase World missiles due to technological difference. Reduce effects by 20% against smart missiles (Add +20% to rolls for smart missiles.)
Effect:
Also note that the chaff cloud will also blind flying monsters that fly through cloud. They will suffer the following penalties: reduce melee attacks/actions, combat bonuses, and speed by half. Duration: 1D4 melee rounds.
Payload: Eight (8)

Special Equipment:
Military Versions:
The aircraft has all the standard features of a standard fighter (same as standard robot including loudspeaker and microphone on this aircraft) plus these special features listed. These are also carried on the VC-45.

Internal Active Jamming Gear: Causes -25% to detection but when it is active, other vehicles/ bases can detect that it is jamming, and some missiles will home in on jamming signals. Jamming also causes a -4 penalty to all radar guided weapons.
E.S.M.: Radar Detector, Passively detects other radars being operated.
FLIR: Forward Looking Infrared. Allows pilot and weapons officer to get visuals on targets at night.
Laser Navigational System: Allow flight at low altitude without use of Radar. Gives a map of the Terrain.

Special Equipment for the VC-45 / Airforce One:

Advanced Communication Package: Give the aircraft the ability of multi-direction communication of 800 miles (1290 km) as well as direction communication out to 500 miles (800 km) to up to 20 individual targets. The system also has 20 laser/microwave communication systems that are only limited by line of sight (Range of about 100,000 miles / 161,000 km).

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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