In Praise of Wing-Mounted Engines

Since 9/11, I have become something of an airplane afficianado, constantly looking up in the sky whenever I hear an airplane, then trying to determine what type of plane it is, and, if it is a 757 or 767, mentally comparing its image to the images of the planes from the north and south tower hits.

But apart from this habit, what I can say is that the Boeing 757 and the Boeing 767 are simply beautiful craft. There is something about the wing-mounted engine that makes the plane very aesthetically pleasing. I am not sure why this is. The only thing I can figure is that it makes the plane futuristic and space-age looking-- not unlike the Star Ship Enteprise, which in a way also has wing-mounted engines and has a very aesthetic design.

Conversely, what I find completely ugly are airplanes with fuselage mounted engines, such as the MD80, the MD90 or the Boeing 717. As far as I am concerned these airplanes are the ugly step-sisters of the aviation fleet. How unimaginative is it to just slap an engine onto the fuselage like that? There is just something very crude and inelegant about these fuselage-mounted engine planes. The only unusual feature on these planes is the tail configuration, with the tail fins mounted on top of the rudder. But even this is not particularly attractive, as far as I am concerned.

The Boeing 727, with the sculpted-into-the-fuselage third engine, is slightly better than the MD80, MD90 and the 717, but it still cannot hold a candle to the elegant beauty of the 757/767.

There is just something special, something indescribeable about the look of a plane with wing-mounted engines...