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I think they meant composite materials that would give Boeing 737s at least 20% bettter FE than the current metal ones. They could be read within ten years.

CNN Story (http://www.cnn.com/2006/TRAVEL/07/17/plastic.planes/index.html)

speaking of plastic planes. What is going to become of plastic once the oil runs out? Can you make plastic out of other materials?

Hi Tom:

___I am glad I see a lot of news as the following might just answer your question ;)

DuPont to Produce Polymers Made with Renewable Resources. (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1284)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

I think they just made an error when they said "new 737" in the lower part of the article. I don't believe there are any plans to rebuild the 737 as a composite airframe, although I wouldn't doubt it if they really did mean it. For a point of comparison:

Boeing 737-800: $70 mil, 190 passengers ($368k / passenger)
Boeing 787-3: $140 mil, 300 passengers ($466k / passenger)

So the 737 is still cheaper per passenger, at least in the varients compared.. the 737-600 carries around 100 passengers and is about $50 mil, which does not compare quite as favorably, unless you take in to account it's harder to sell out a 300-passenger flight than a 100 passenger flight. At any rate, I think it's extremely funny the 737 - an aircraft launched in 1967 - is still selling in large numbers to this day, and will possibly continue to sell in quantity for many years to come.

Didn't Henry Ford invent a plastic using soy beans back in the 1920's??