3/21/2023 0 Comments 747 wingspanTo appease concerns about the safety and flyability of such a massive aircraft, the 747 was designed with four backup hydraulic systems, split control surfaces, redundant main landing gear, multiple structural redundancy, and sophisticated flaps that allowed it to use standard-length runways. Four of these engines mounted in pods below the wings power the 747. ![]() Pratt and Whitney developed a massive high-bypass turbofan engine, the JT9D, which was initially used exclusively with the 747. The factory is the largest building by volume ever built, on over 780 acres of land. The development of the 747 was a huge undertaking - Boeing did not have a facility large enough to assemble the giant aircraft, so the company built an all-new assembly building near Everett, Washington. The expected slow-down in sales of the passenger version in favour of the freighter model has only been realized in the early 2000s, around 2 decades later than expected. But the 747 outlived many of its critics' expectations and production passed the 1,000 mark in 1993. The 747 was expected to become obsolete after sales of 400 units. The supersonic transports, including the Concorde and Boeing's never-produced 2707, were not widely adopted, such planes being difficult to operate profitably at a time when fuel prices were soaring, and also there were difficulties of operating such aircraft due to regulations regarding flying supersonic over land.Ĭargolux 747-400F with the nose cone loading door open The cockpit was moved to a shortened upper deck so that a nose cone loading door could be included, thus creating the 747's distinctive "bulge". Boeing knew that if and when sales of the passenger version dried up (see below regarding the future sales of the 747), the plane could remain in production as a cargo transport. In a shrewd move, Boeing designed the 747 so that it could easily be adapted to carry freight. Issues with evacuation routes caused this idea to be scrapped in favour of a wide-body design.Īt the time, it was widely thought that the 747 would be replaced in the future with an SST ( supersonic transport) design. The original design was a full-length double-decker fuselage. Pan Am ordered 25 of the initial 100 series for US$550 million, becoming its launch customer. In 1966 Boeing proposed a preliminary configuration for the airliner, to be called the 747. Boeing lost the contract to Lockheed's C-5 Galaxy but came under pressure from its most loyal airline customer, Pan Am, to develop a giant passenger plane that would be over twice the size of the 707. The era of commercial jet transportation, led by the enormous popularity of the Boeing 707, had revolutionized long distance travel and made possible the concept of the " global village." Boeing had already developed a study for a very large fixed-wing aircraft while bidding on a US military contract for a huge cargo plane. The 747 was born from the explosion of air travel in the 1960s. The prototype 747, City of Everett, at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington. ![]() In 1989, a Qantas 747-400 flew non-stop from London to Sydney, a distance of 11185 miles (18001 kilometres) in 20 hours and 9 minutes, although this was a delivery flight with no passengers or freight aboard. In some configurations this is sufficient to fly non-stop from New York to Hong Kong - a third of the way around the globe. The 747-400, the only series currently in production, flies at high-subsonic speeds of mach 0.85 (567 mph or 913 km/h), and features intercontinental range (7260 nm (13446 km)). As of November 2006, 1469 planes have been built with 89 more on order in various 747 configurations, making it a very profitable product for Boeing. The hump created by the upper deck has made the 747 a highly recognizable icon of air travel. A typical three-class layout accommodates 416 passengers, while a two-class layout accommodates a maximum of 524 passengers. The four-engine 747, produced by Boeing's Commercial Airplane division, uses a two-deck configuration. The Soviet-built Antonov An-225 cargo transport remains the world's largest aircraft in service, while the Hughes H-4 Hercules had a larger wing-span. First flown commercially in 1970, it held the size record for more than 35 years until surpassed by the Airbus A380 (due to enter service in 2007). The Boeing 747, commonly called a Jumbo Jet, is among the most recognizable jet airliners and is the largest passenger airliner currently in service. 1970- 01-22 with Pan American World Airways and Trans World Airlines
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