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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!amd!phil
From: phil@amd.UUCP (Phil Ngai)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: $7400 coffepots
Message-ID: <406@amd.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 10-Oct-84 00:18:22 EDT
Article-I.D.: amd.406
Posted: Wed Oct 10 00:18:22 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 10-Oct-84 06:10:48 EDT
References: <222@boulder.UUCP>
Organization: AMD, Santa Clara, CA
Lines: 25

> The following excerpt from the _Boulder_Daily_Camera discusses the airplane
> coffee brewers bought by the Air Force for the small price of $7400
> each.  The problem was apparently not one of overcharging by the vendor,
> but of bizarre product specification by the Air Force.

According to Aviation Week the coffee brewer under discussion was in fact
a commercial coffee brewer such as Delta or United would use. $7400 sounds
like a lot but there are a lot of strange things happening in airplanes.
Among the requirements met by the coffee brewer were that the coffee pots
wouldn't fly out and kill somebody if the airplane changed altitude
suddenly. A reasonable requirement I think. Also coffee making is more
demanding (faster, various atmospheric pressures, etc) on an airplane.

Boeing and other commercial aircraft manufacturers pay about $2800 for the
same model. I believe the vendor was doing a small run for an obsolete
aircraft or something like that. In any case once the situation was examined
the costs did not seem out of line to me.

Which is not to say I don't think our defense budget is obscene. But
let's use real reasons in our discussions.
-- 

 Phil Ngai (408) 982-6554
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