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Three yacht designers talk about their crossover work on aircraft interiors.
by Mark T. Masciarotte
11/01/2004
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Yacht designers accustomed to working on very large yacht projects often find
their first foray into aviation design an eye-opener.
 On Winch’s BBJ2, dark mullions and
door frames break up the tube and
appear to
be
structural
members. (Click image to
enlarge)
“First, the owners
spend in the neighborhood of
forty
million
dollars, and they only get a green
airplane,” said
Andrew
Winch,
referring to
the totally stripped interior
condition in
which large
jets are delivered. With
ring frames and longitudinal
girders bare
except for a coating
of primer, a green
aircraft
looks much like a
submarine without
its interior. In this
state, it is
not even fit to
carry
cargo, let alone transport
people.
Welcome to the world of
executive aviation,
where it
is not uncommon to invest $60 million for
an
enclosed
space that is not
quite 12 feet wide and 80 feet
long, less
than 1,000 square
feet.
More and
more designers are crossing the
line
between
marine
and aviation transportation
to serve the needs of
clients who
own both and want to personalize each one.
Winch
recently
finished his first aviation project, a
second-generation
Boeing
Business Jet, or
BBJ2, a modified Boeing
737-800
airliner with 200
square feet
of additional
floor space. It is
the first BBJ2 ever
entered into British
registry.
What he
found remarkable – in addition
to
the cost –
were the
limitations imposed by the space itself
and
by
the aviation
regulations.
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