Boeing 747

The Boeing 747 is a wide-body transcontinental commercial airliner manufactured by Boeing. It is known for its large size, and for its characteristic nickname "Jumbo" (from English: "Huge" or "Colossal"), and was the largest passenger plane in the world for 36 years (until the first flight of the Airbus A380 in 2005), being one of the most famous airplane models on the planet. It made its first commercial flight in 1969 and was the first wide-body airplane.

The Boeing 747's four turbofan engines are manufactured by Pratt & Whitney. The JT-9D engine was first used with that aircraft and has since been used by other wide-body aircraft, such as the Douglas DC-10. Its two-story cabin has given it much recognition in the air transport sector. With a typical distribution of three categories of passengers, it carries up to 416 people, while a two-class arrangement can accommodate a maximum of 529 passengers. The 747-8, the most recent version in service, flies at subsonic speeds of Mach 0.85 (about 913 km/h), and offers an intercontinental flight range of 8,000 nautical miles (almost 15 000km).

The 747 was predicted to be obsolete by the time the first 400 units had been sold, but the model has exceeded all expectations and, past those criticisms, production reached 1000 units in 1993. As of December 2017, 1,542 aircraft had been built, with another twelve units of the 747-8F variant awaiting delivery. The most recent version of this model, the 747-8, entered in service with Cargolux (cargo version) on October 12, 2011, and with Lufthansa (passenger version) on June 1, 2012.

The 747 is one of the most recognizable aircraft by the public. It has been used by millions of people to make international flights. In addition, it was the first civil wide-body aircraft, the largest, the heaviest and the pioneer in the use of high bypass ratio turbofan engines, which are less polluting and noisy than conventional turbojets.

The company announced the decision to stop producing it in 2022, when the last units in assembly were delivered to customers. The last copy left its production line on December 7, 2022 awaiting delivery to the airline Atlas Air by the year 2023, thus culminating 53 uninterrupted years of manufacturing the successful and most iconic Boeing aircraft.

The aircraft was delivered to Atlas Air on January 31, 2023, being the last to be produced at the Boeing factory in Everett.

Development

Background

In 1963, the United States Air Force began studying a series of projects for a large "strategic" transport aircraft. As the Lockheed C-141 Starlifter was under development, the military felt that a much larger and more capable aircraft was needed, capable of carrying a greater payload than other existing aircraft could carry. These studies led to the design commission for the "CX-X" (experimental cargo aircraft, no number) with a payload capacity of 81,600 kg, a speed of Mach 0.75 (805 km/h), a range without refueling of 5,000 nautical miles (9,260 km) and a payload of 52,200kg. The cargo unit was to be 5.18 m wide and 4.11 m high, with a length of 30.5 m, with accesses including gates at the front and rear of the fuselage.

Some early designs included six engines. However, neither surpassed the C-141 in enough aspects to make it worth developing. A new list of requirements for a Heavy Logistics System (Heavy Logistics System or CX-HLS) was drawn up and an official tender was called on April 27, 1964. This new list of requirements contemplated only four engines. The design also required the design of new engines, a significant increase in power and lower fuel consumption. Aircraft proposals were received on 18 May 1964 from Boeing, Douglas, General Dynamics, Lockheed, and Martin Marietta, while engine proposals came from General Electric, Curtiss-Wright, and Pratt & Whitney. Following selection, Boeing, Douglas, and Lockheed were awarded contracts to conduct studies on the aircraft body, and General Electric and Pratt & Whitney was awarded the motorization.

The three proposals from the aircraft manufacturers shared a large number of characteristics, but one in particular became iconic in the 747. As the CX-HLS needed to be loaded from the front, a door had to be placed where the cab usually was. All companies solved this problem by putting the cab over the cargo area. Douglas designed a small cabin just forward that was located above the wing spar, Lockheed designed a kind of spine that ran the entire length of the plane and was crossed by the wing spar, while Boeing combined both solutions, creating an elongated space that began at the nose of the aircraft and ended at the wing socket. In 1965, the Lockheed design and General-Electric powertrain were selected for the new Lockheed C-5 Galaxy. The nose door and raised cabin would be applied to the 747 design.

Proposal as passenger transport

The 747 was conceived in the 1960s, when travel was on the rise. This decade is considered the golden age of aviation. This new era of commercial jet transportation was made possible by the enormous popularity of the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8, which revolutionized long-haul travel. After losing the CX-HLS contract, Boeing came under pressure from Juan Trippe, the president of Pan Am (Pan American World Airways), one of its most important client airlines, to build a passenger plane that would double the capacity of the Boeing 707. During this period, airport congestion, made worse by the increasing number of passengers that had to be transported in relatively small aircraft, became a problem that Trippe believed could be solved with a much larger aircraft.

In 1965, Joe Sutter was transferred from the Boeing 737 development team to studies for the new airliner, already numbered 747. Sutter began a design study with Pan Am and other airlines to better understand customer requirements. At the time it was thought that if supersonic passenger transport could be realized, an aircraft such as the 747 would be easily surpassed or become obsolete. Boeing responded to this by designing the 747 in such a way that it could be easily adapted to serve as a cargo aircraft in the event that its use as a passenger aircraft diminished. As a freighter, the clear need was to be able to transport containers using maritime shipping methodologies, which were introduced a decade ago and which were clearly becoming the new solution to cargo transportation. The standard containers were 2.4x2.4m in front (slightly higher if the attachment points are considered) and varied in length from 6 to 12m. This implied the possibility of introducing two containers in width and height with two or three of them towards the bottom if the requirements of the first CX-HLS project were taken into account.

In April 1966, Pan Am ordered twenty-five 747-100s, worth US$525 million. During the 747 contract celebration banquet in Seattle on Boeing's 50th Anniversary, Juan Trippe predicted that the 747 was going to be "a great weapon for peace, with a role to rival that of intercontinental missiles in the fate of humanity", according to Malcolm T. Stamper, one of the chief program managers of the 747 of The time. As a launch customer, and due to its influence prior to placing the formal order, Pan Am had powers to influence the design and development of the 747 beyond that of any airline before or now.

Design progress

Cabin of one of the first 747 produced, located at the top of the fuselage.

The 747 prototype, City of Everettat the Flight Museum in Seattle, Washington.

In the end, the high-wing design of the CX-HLS was not used for the Boeing 747, as this design would be supplanted by the company's new technologies. The original design included a double-deck fuselage of the same size, with rows of eight seats and two aisles in the cabin below, and rows of 7 seats and two aisles in the cabin above. However, concerned with plotting effective evacuation routes and not limiting cargo capacities, they abandoned this idea in early 1966 in favor of a wider fuselage. The cockpit was therefore located in a redoubt in the upper hallway, so that a fitted forward cargo hatch could include the nose cone; this design feature produced this "hump" hallmark of the 747. In the first models it was not clear what to do with the small space behind the cabin, since by removing the upper aisle, this "hump" it subsisted as part of the streamlined fuselage containing no seats.

One of the core technologies established for the big 747 was high-flow turbofan engines. Engine technology was researched to double the power of early turbojets while consuming a third less fuel. General Electric pioneered the concept, but was commissioned to produce the powerplants for the C-5 Galaxy and entered the market some time later. Pratt & Whitney, however, was working on the same concept, and by late 1966, Boeing, Pan Am, and Pratt & Whitney agreed to develop a new engine, called the JT-9D, for the 747.

The project was designed with a new methodology called fault tree analysis, which allowed calculating the effects of a failure in a single part and determining its impact on other systems. To drive safety and reliability approaches, the 747 design included structural redundancy, backup hydraulics, quadrupling the main landing gear and doubling the control surfaces. Additionally, some of the most advanced high-lift devices were added to the new design, so that it could operate at existing airports. These included slats on the leading edge of the wings that ran the length of the wing, and a complex three-layer flap system on the trailing edge of the wings. This underwing mounting allows the flaps to capture more airflow under them, thereby increasing “ground effect” (this occurs when the volume of air under the aircraft at low altitudes allows it to “hover” more easily, and is almost always proportional to the area of an airplane's wings).

Boeing agreed to deliver the first 747 to Pan Am in late 1969. The delivery date left only 28 months, two-thirds the normal time. The schedule was so tight that the people who worked for the project were nicknamed: "The Incredibles" (The Incredibles). Developing the plane was such an arduous technical and financial challenge that its administration said they had to "gamble the entire company" when they started it.

Production plant

Because Boeing did not have a plant large enough to assemble this plane, it had to build a larger one suitable for the project. The company considered possible locations in more than 50 cities, eventually settling on building a new plant about 30 miles north of Seattle, on a site adjacent to Paine Field military base near Everett, Washington. They purchased an area of 780 acres (316 hectares) in June 1966.

Boeing Chairman William M. Allen called on Malcolm T. Stamper, then head of the company's turbine division, to inspect the construction of the Everett factory and then begin construction of the 747. To level the ground, more than 3.1 million cubic meters of earth had to be moved. Time was so short that the full-scale test model of the 747 was built before the roof of the factory above it was completed. The plant is the building with the largest internal volume ever built so far on the entire planet.

Development and testing stage

Before the first 747 was assembled, testing of many components and systems began. One major test involved the evacuation of 560 volunteers inside the test model's fuselage using the plane's emergency escape hatches. The first full-scale evacuation took two and a half minutes, exceeding the 90 seconds mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and many volunteers were injured. Subsequent test evacuations achieved the estimated time of 90 seconds, but caused many injuries. The most complicated part was the evacuation of the upper division; volunteer passengers, instead of using the conventional slide, escaped using harnesses attached to a rope.

Boeing built an unusual training device known as Waddell's Wagon (referring to a 747 test pilot, Jack Waddell) or "Praying Mantis". », which consisted of a model cabin mounted on the roof of a truck that housed scaffolding and other structures. While the first 747 was still being built, the device allowed pilots to practice taxiing maneuvers from the actual height at which the plane's cockpit would be mounted, which at that time (and still today) was quite unusual.

On September 30, 1968, the first 747 rolled out of the assembly building at the Everett plant, preceded by press conferences and uniformed flight attendants representing each of the 26 airlines that ordered the plane.

Over the next several months preparations were made for the maiden flight, which took place on February 9, 1969, with test pilots Jack Waddel and Brien Wygle at the controls and Jess Wallick as flight engineer. Despite some minor issues with one of the flaps, the flight found that the 747 handled superbly. The aircraft turned out to be highly immune to “Dutch roll” (Dutch roll), a phenomenon in which two alternative movements occur simultaneously (for example by moving the nose to one side at the same time as the aircraft rolls in the opposite direction), and to which early large-wing jets were very vulnerable.

After several stages of the test flight program, surface vibration tests (flutter testing) showed that the wings oscillated under certain conditions. The issue was partially resolved by reducing the stiffness of some wing components. However, severe high-speed vibration was resolved by using depleted uranium (DU) counterweights as ballast on the outside of the engine nacelles on early 747s. Although this measure was relatively common, it raised concerns when one of these planes might crash, as in the case of China Airlines Flight 358 at Wanli in 1991, and El Al Flight 1862 at Amsterdam in 1992.

The test flight program was hampered by problems with the Pratt & Whitney JT-9D aircraft. Difficulties included engine stalls caused by rapid control stick movements and distortion of the turbine shrouds after a short period of service. The problems delayed delivery of the 747 by several months and stranded about 20 aircraft at the Everett plant while awaiting installation. The program was severely delayed when one of the five test planes was badly damaged during a landing attempt at Renton Municipal Airport, site of Boeing's Renton plant. The test aircraft was during its flight test with refurbished equipment and a newly installed cockpit, when pilot Ralph C. Cokely skidded off the short runway and broke the landing gear. However these difficulties did not stop Boeing from taking one of its test aircraft to the 28th Paris Air Show in mid-1969, where it was first shown to the general public. The 747 obtained its airworthiness certificate from the FAA in December 1969, making it ready for entry into service.

The high cost of developing the 747 and the Everett plant led Boeing into debt with a banking syndicate. During the months leading up to the delivery of the first aircraft, the company had to repeatedly request additional funds to complete the project. Had these been rejected, the company would not have been able to complete the project, and therefore would not have survived. Ultimately, the investment was successful, and Boeing took over a monopoly on the production of large passenger planes for many years.

Commission to service

First Latin American Boeing 747 (PH-BUG), operated by the former Venezuelan airline VIASA.

In the 747-100 and 747-200, a spiral staircase communicated the main cabin with the upper cabin.

Avianca became the first operator in Latin America to continuously use a Jumbo jet.

On January 15, 1970, United States First Lady Pat Nixon christened Pan Am's first 747 at Dulles International Airport (later renamed Washington Dulles International Airport) in the presence of Pan Am President Najeeb Halaby. Instead of champagne, the plane was doused with red, blue and white water. The 747 entered service on January 22, 1970, on a Pan Am route from New York to London. The flight was planned for the night of January 21, but an overheating of the engines meant that the plane destined for this task could not be used. They found a substitute who made the historic flight more than six hours late the next day.

The 747 had a fairly comfortable entry into service, contrary to the concerns of those who believed that many airports would not be able to accommodate such a large aircraft. There were a few glitches, but they were relatively minor and could be easily fixed. After the aircraft's introduction with Pan Am, other airlines that had purchased the 747 began using it in order to stay competitive with the inaugural customer. Boeing estimated that half of early 747 sales went to airlines that required the plane's long range, rather than its increased payload. Since the 747 had the potential for the lowest operating cost per seat only if it was fully filled, costs per seat increased rapidly if occupancy dropped. This was because the fuel consumption of a moderately loaded 747, with 70 percent of its seats occupied, used more than 95 percent of the fuel required by a 747 fully chartered.

Economic problems in the United States and other countries after the 1973 oil crisis caused passenger traffic to drop considerably, and many airlines found they did not have enough passengers to use the 747 cheaply, and replaced them with the smaller and recently introduced Douglas DC-10 and Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, which are also wide-body aircraft (and later the twin-engine Boeing 767 and Airbus A300). American Airlines tried to attract more customers by removing some seats to put a bar with a piano, and finally they relegated their 747 to cargo service, until in 1983 they changed their 747 with Pan Am for the DC-10; Delta Air Lines also replaced its 747 after several years of service.

International flights that avoided traditional airports and landed in smaller cities became more common during the 1980s, giving the 747 more market share as a passenger aircraft. However, many cargo airlines continued to use the 747 on routes over the Pacific. In Japan, domestic 747 routes were configured to accommodate the maximum number of passengers.

The 747 quickly achieved iconic status, appearing in several films such as Airport, Air Force One and Critical Decision.

Later developments

The models of the 300 and 400 series were characterized by an elongated upper cabin, called big top in English.

A comparison of sizes of five huge planes: The Scaled Composites Stratolaunch (in lila), the historic Hughes H-4 Hercules (in line) beige), Soviet hexarreactor/Ukrainian Antonov An-225 (green), Airbus A380 (in pink) and Boeing 747-8 (in light blue).

After the initial model 747-100, Boeing developed the variant -100B with higher maximum takeoff weight and the version -100SR (Short Range or Short Range) with greater passenger capacity. Increasing the maximum takeoff weight allowed the plane to carry more fuel and have a longer range. The -200 model that followed it entered service in 1971. This featured more powerful engines and higher takeoff weight. Passenger, cargo and mixed-use versions were produced. In the mid-1970s, the 747SP (Special Performance) appeared, a version with an extended maximum range characterized by its short fuselage.

The 747 line had a more notable development with the appearance of the 747-300 in 1980. The -300 arose from studies of Boeing to increase passenger capacity for the 747. Solutions such as wingtip tanks and a second deck extending the full length of the fuselage were rejected. The first designation for the -300 version was 747SUD (stretched upper deck or elongated upper deck) and then 747-200 SUD, followed by 747EUD, before the designation 747-300 was used. The -300 model was first produced in 1983. It included a lengthening of the upper part of the fuselage (SUD), a higher cruise speed and more accommodation for passengers. Passenger versions, Short Range (short range) and various passenger-cargo combinations were produced.

In 1985 development of the 747-400 began. The new variant would have a cabin with an innovative glass cockpit (glass cockpit) that allowed the cabin crew to be two people instead of three. Development costs rose, and production delivery delays occurred as airlines ordered new technologies. An inexperienced and unreliable workforce during this time contributed to the early production problems of the 747-400, which finally entered service in 1989.

Since the advent of the 747-400 several types of aspect ratio have been proposed for the 747. Boeing announced designs for the stretched versions 747-500X and -600X in 1996. However, these new variants would cost more than $5 billion to develop, and not there was too much interest in launching the show. Boeing also offered the more modest 747X and 747X Stretched, which would arrive in 2000 to counter the competition from the Airbus A3XX. However, the 747X family did not attract much interest in development either. Boeing went from the 747X to carry out studies that would allow the development of the Sonic Cruiser (a supersonic passenger transport) and after putting it on hold, launched the 787. The 747-400ER used various ideas from the 747X development study. Following the abandonment of various proposed variants, many industry analysts became skeptical of Boeing's new developments. However, in early 2004, Boeing announced solid plans to make a 747 Advanced that finally came to fruition. Similar to what was planned with the 747X, the 747 Advanced would use technology from the 787 to modernize the design and its systems.

The 747 remained the largest passenger aircraft until the entry into service of the Airbus A380, which began operating in 2007. In 1991, the mark of 1087 passengers that were transported in 747, as part of Operation Solomon. The 747F (Freighter) was the heaviest regular-duty cargo aircraft before the Soviet Antonov An-124 entered service in 1984. The 747- 400ER resumed this title in the year 2000. The Antonov An-225 Myria cargo plane (based on the An-124 and with two more engines than it) It still remains the largest aircraft in the world for several factors (including the highest measurements of maximum takeoff weight and overall length). The Hughes H-4 Hercules remains the largest aircraft, but it flew only once. Only two Antonov An-225 have been produced and only one of them continued to fly until 2007, while the 747 and the Airbus A380 were made for mass production.

Some 747 aircraft have been adapted for special uses. A 747-100, owned by General Electric, is used as a test model for its engines, such as the General Electric GEnx. A prototype fire aircraft was built by Evergreen International. Ultimately, the 747 was replaced by the new “Y3” design (the latest stage of Yellowstone's long-term technology renewal project, which provides for the replacement of existing Boeing family aircraft).

Orders and deliveries

• Boeing information, 31 January 2019.

747 Model Overview

Design

Economic class in the main cabin of a Boeing 747-400 from Japan Airlines with a layout of 3-4-3 seats per row. The fuselage is narrower than that of an A380.

A 747-400F of Cargolux with the fully open mortar.

Horizontal view of a Boeing 747-400 by JAL Cargo.

The Boeing 747 is a large, wide-body (it has two aisles) passenger jet with four wing-mounted engines. The wings have a large swept angle of 37.5 degrees for fast and efficient cruising, ranging from Mach 0.84 to 0.88, depending on variant (making it the fastest passenger and freighter Boeing ever).. This angle also allowed the 747 to fit into existing hangars. Passenger capacity starts at 366, arranged in rows of three on one side, four in the center and three seats on the other side in economy class, and a 2-3-2 configuration in first class in the main compartment. The upper compartment has a configuration of 3-3 in economy class and 2-2 in first class.

Placed above the main compartment, the cockpit jutted out and created a hump that made the 747 distinctive. The cockpit was made this way to allow the opening of the nose in the cargo variants. The space behind the cabin could be used as a lounge or as space for more seats. The SUD version was optionally available on the 747-100B variant and was standard starting with the 747-300.

The maximum takeoff weight of the 747 ranged from 333,400 kg for the -100 version, to 440,000 kg for the -8. Its range has been increased from 5,200 nautical miles (9,800 km) on the -100, to 8,000 nautical miles (14,815 km) on the –8I.

The 747 have many components of structural redundancy, including four hydraulic systems and a four-link main landing gear with 16 wheels, which provide a smooth and safe landing in case of airbursts. wheels. This redundant wheelset allows you to land with two wheel arms without having to use the other two if they are malfunctioning. Additionally, the 747 features split control surfaces and sophisticated three-layer flaps that minimize landing speeds and allow it to land on common runways. In order to have spare engines, early 747s could accommodate a dead fifth engine under the wing of the aircraft between the first working engine and the fuselage.

Variants

The 747-100 was the original variant, launched in 1966, followed by the 747-200 in 1968. The 747-300 was launched in 1980 and the 747-400 in 1985. More recently, the 747-8 was announced in 2005. Several versions of each variant have been produced, and many of the first variants were produced simultaneously. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) classifies variants using an abbreviated code formed by the combination of the model number and the variant designator (for example "B741" for all -100).

747-100

The first version of the Boeing 747, the 747-100, rolled off the Everett assembly line for its maiden flight on February 9, 1969, being certified in December of the same year. The 747-100 enters service in January 1970, with its first customer, Pan Am.

The -100 class aircraft can travel more than 9,000 km without refueling. The first 747-100 were built with six upper deck windows (three per side) to accommodate overhead salon areas. Later, as airlines began using the upper deck for premium passenger seating instead of lounge space, Boeing offered a ten-window upper deck as an option. The -100 was equipped with Pratt & Whitney JT9D-3A. Although no freighter version of this model was developed, many 747-100 found a later role when converted to freighters. A total of 167 units of the 747-100 were built.

747-100SR

The 747-100SR variant (Short Range) is created for very short flights. With a capacity of 570 passengers in a single class, it was created for the Japanese market, where its flights are oversaturated.

Responding to requests from Japanese airlines for a large-capacity aircraft to serve domestic routes between major cities, Boeing developed the 747SR as a short-range version of the 747- 100, with lower fuel capacity and higher payload capacity. The 747SR had a useful life of 52,000 flights over 20 years of operation, compared to 24,600 flights over 20 years for a typical 747. The initial model 747SR, the -100SR, had a reinforced structure and landing gear to withstand the added stress accumulated from a greater number of takeoffs and landings. Additional structural support was built into the wings, fuselage and landing gear, along with a 20 percent reduction in fuel capacity.

747SP

The development of the 747SP stemmed from a joint request between Pan American World Airways and Iran Air, who were looking for a high-capacity aircraft with enough range to cover Pan Am's New York-Middle East routes. and the Tehran-New York route planned by Iran Air. The Tehran-New York route, when launched, was the longest non-stop commercial flight in the world. The 747SP is 14.73m shorter than the 747-100. Fuselage sections were removed fore and aft of the wing, and the center section of the fuselage was redesigned. The SP flaps used a simplified single-slot configuration. The 747SP, compared to previous variants, had a narrowing of the upper fuselage aft, a double hinged rudder, and longer vertical and horizontal stabilizers. Power was provided by Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7 (A/F/J/FW) or Rolls-Royce RB211-524.

The 747SP was certified on February 4, 1976, and entered service with launch customers Pan Am and Iran Air that same year. The aircraft was chosen by airlines wishing to serve major airports with short runways. In 1987, Boeing reopened the 747SP production line after five years, to build one last 747SP for a United Arab Emirates government order. In addition to commercial use, a 747SP was modified for the NASA/German Aerospace Center SOFIA experiment. Iran Air was the last civilian operator of the type; its last 747SP (EP-IAC) was retired in June 2016.

747-200

While the 747-100, powered by Pratt & Whitney JT9D-3A, offered sufficient payload and range for US domestic operations, was marginal on long international routes. Demand for longer-range aircraft with higher payloads quickly led to improvements to the -200, which offered more powerful engines, increased MTOW, and longer range than the -100. Some early -200 retained the -100's three-window configuration on the top deck, but most were built with a ten-window configuration on each side. The model 747-200 was produced in versions of passengers (-200B), freighters (-200F), convertibles (-200C ) and combi (-200M).

The 747-200B was the basic passenger version, with greater fuel capacity and more powerful engines; it entered service in February 1971. In its first three years of production, the -200 was equipped with Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7 (initially the only engine available). Range with a full passenger load started at over 5,000 nmi (9,300 km) and increased to 6,000 nmi (11,000 km) with later engines. Most of the -200B had an internally elongated upper deck, allowing up to 16 passenger seats. The cargo model, the 747-200F, could be equipped with or without a side cargo door, and had a capacity of 95.3 tonnes and an MTOW of up to 378,000 kg. It entered service in 1972 with Lufthansa. The convertible version, the 747-200C, could be converted between a commercial jet and a freighter or used in mixed configurations, and offered removable seats and a cargo door in the nose. The -200C could also be fitted with an optional side cargo door on the main deck.

The combi model, the 747-200M, could carry cargo in the rear section of the main deck through a side cargo door. A movable partition on the main deck separated the cargo area at the rear from the passengers at the front. The -200M could carry up to 238 passengers in a three-class configuration, with cargo carried on the main deck. The model was also known as the Combi 747-200. A total of 12 747-200 were built.

After launching the -200 with Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7, on August 1, 1972 Boeing announced that it had reached an agreement with General Electric to certify the 747 with CF6-50 series engines to increase the aircraft's market potential. Rolls-Royce began the design of the RB211-524B engine with a launch order from British Airways for four aircraft. The option of the RB211-524B engines was announced on June 17, 1975. The -200 was the first 747 to provide an engine choice from all three major airframe manufacturers. engines.

A total of 393 examples of the 747-200 versions had been built when production ended in 1991. Of these, 225 were -200B, 73 were -200F, 13 were -200C, 78 were -200M, and 4 were military. Many 747-200s are still in operation, although most large operators have withdrawn them from their fleets and sold them to smaller operators. Big carriers have accelerated the withdrawal of the fleet after the 9/11 attacks and the consequent decline in demand for air travel, scrapping some and converting others to freighters.

747 Supertanker

A variant of the 747-200 is the Supertanker. This model was modified by the American company Evergreen International Aviation as a firefighting aircraft, capable of operating with 94,850 liters of retardant.

747-300

The 747-300 has an upper deck 7.11 m longer than the -200. The elongated top deck has two emergency exit doors and is the most visible difference between the -300 model and previous models. Before being made standard on the 747-300, the elongated top deck was previously offered as a retrofit, and appeared on two Japanese 747-100SR aircraft. The 747-300 introduced a new straight staircase to the upper deck, instead of the spiral staircase on previous variants, which creates space for more seating. Minor aerodynamic changes allowed the cruise speed of the -300 to reach Mach 0.85 compared to Mach 0.84 on the -200 and -100 models i>, while retaining the same takeoff weight. The -300 could be equipped with the same Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce than the -200, as well as upgraded with General Electric CF6-80C2B1 engines.

Swissair placed the first order for the 747-300 on June 11, 1980. The variant revived the designation 747-300, which had previously been used in a study design that did not reach production. The 747-300 first flew on October 5, 1982, and the first delivery was on March 23, 1983. In addition to the passenger model, two other versions were produced (- 300M, -300SR). The 747-300M has cargo capacity at the rear of the main deck, similar to the -200M, but with the lengthened upper deck it can carry more passengers. The 747-300SR, a short-range, high-capacity domestic model, was produced for the Japanese markets with a maximum seating capacity of 584. No production freighter version of the 747-300 was built, but Boeing began modifications of -300 passenger models into freighters in 2000.

A total of 81 747-300 series aircraft were delivered, 56 for passenger use, 21 -300M and 4 -300SR >. In 1985, just two years after the -300 entered service, the model was superseded by the announcement of the more advanced 747-400. The last 747-300 was delivered in September 1990 to Sabena. While some 300 customers continued to operate the model, several large carriers replaced their 747-300 with 747-400. Air France, Air India, Pakistan International Airlines and Qantas were some of the last major carriers to operate the 747-300. On December 29, 2008, Qantas flew its last scheduled service 747-300 from Melbourne to Los Angeles via Auckland. In July 2015, Pakistan International Airlines retired its last 747-300, after 30 years of service.

747-400

The 747-400 is an improved model with a longer range. It has 1.8m wing spans and 1.8m winglets, improving the model's fuel efficiency by 4% compared to previous versions of the 747. The 747-400 introduced a new glass cockpit designed for a flight crew of two instead of three, with a reduction in the number of dials, gauges and knobs from 971 to 365 through use of electronics. The model also features tail fuel tanks, upgraded engines and a new interior. The longer range has been used by some airlines to avoid traditional fuel stops, such as Anchorage. Powerplants include the Pratt & Whitney PW4062, General Electric CF6-80C2 and Rolls-Royce RB211-524.

The -400 was offered in passenger (-400), freighter (-400F), combi ( -400M), domestic (-400D), extended-range passenger (-400ER), and extended-range freighter (-400ERF). The passenger versions keep the same top deck as the -300, while the freighter version does not have an elongated top deck. The 747-400D was built for short-range operations with a maximum seating capacity of 624.

The passenger version first entered service in February 1989, with launch customer Northwest Airlines on the Minneapolis to Phoenix route. The combi version entered service in September 1989 with KLM, while the freighter version entered service in November 1993 with Cargolux. The 747-400ERF entered service with Air France in October 2002, while the 747-400ER entered service with Qantas, its sole customer, in November 2002.

In March 2007, Boeing announced that it had no plans to produce other passenger versions of the -400. The latest passenger version of the 747-400 was delivered in April 2005 to China Airlines. Some of the last 747-400 built were delivered in Dreamliner livery along with Boeing's 777 signature modern interior. A total of 694 of the 747-400 series aircraft were delivered.

747LCF

The 747-400LCF or Dreamlifter is a Boeing-designed modification of the existing 747-400 to a larger configuration to transport subassemblies of the 787 Dreamliner. Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corporation of Taiwan was contracted to complete modifications of 747-400 into Dreamlifter in Taoyuan. The aircraft first flew on September 9, 2006 in a test flight. The modification of four aircraft was completed in February 2010. The Dreamlifters have been put into service transporting sub-assemblies for the 787 program to the Boeing plant in Everett, Washington, for final assembly. The aircraft is certified to carry only essential crew members and no passengers.

747-8

Boeing announced a new variant of the 747 to compete against the Airbus A380 on November 14, 2005. The 747-8 uses the same engine technology and cabin than the 787. The variant is designed to be quieter, more economical and more environmentally friendly. The fuselage of the 747-8 stretches from 70.8 to 76.4 m. Power is supplied by General Electric GEnx-2B67 motors.

The 747-8 freighter, or 747-8F, is derived from the 747-400ERF. The variant has 16 percent more payload capacity than its predecessor, allowing it to carry a further seven standard air cargo containers, with a maximum payload capacity of 140 tonnes. As in previous versions, the 747-8F features a nose door and a main deck side door, plus a lower deck side door ("belly" 34;) to help loading and unloading. The 747-8F made its maiden flight on February 8, 2010. The variant was jointly awarded the modified type certificate by the FAA and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on August 19, 2011. The -8F was first delivered to Cargolux on October 12, 2011.

The passenger version, named 747-8 Intercontinental or 747-8I, is designed to carry up to 467 passengers in a 3-class configuration and fly more than 8,000 nmi (15,000 km) at Mach 0.855. As a derivative of the now common 747-400, the 747-8 has the economic benefit of similar formation and interchangeable parts. The model's first test flight occurred on March 20, 2011. The 747-8 has surpassed the Airbus A340-600 as the world's longest passenger aircraft. The first -8I was delivered in May 2012 to Lufthansa. The 747-8 received 138 total orders, including 88 for the -8F and 50 for the -8I as of October 2016.

Accidents and incidents

Representation of the Los Rodeos accident in 1977 in which two Boeing 747 collided and were destroyed, dying 583 people. It is currently the most serious and deadliest air accident in history.

Pan Am Flight 103 horse, shot down by a bomb on Lockerbie in 1988, killing 270 people.

Catch a CIA animation from TWA flight 800, which accidentally exploded in full flight in 1996. 230 dead.

As of 2015, the Boeing 747 has been involved in 122 incidents, including the loss of 48 aircraft, resulting in a combined death toll of 2,850. There have been 35 747 aircraft hijackings, causing a total of 882 deaths.

A few crashes have been attributed to design errors in the 747 itself.

• The disaster of Tenerife was due to a pilot error and a communications failure, while the accidents of Japan Airlines flight 123 and China Airlines flight 611 were due to inappropriate repairs. For its part, United Airlines Flight 811, which suffered an explosive decompression on board on 24 February 1989, led to NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) to issue the recommendation that the loading doors of the 747-200 similar to those of the incident plane were redesigned.
• El Al flight 1862 was an air catastrophe that took place on 4 October 1992 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The cargo plane from New York, USA. The U.S. made a stopover at Schiphol International Airport to load fuel in its deposits and perform various ground operations. After this technical stop, his flight was scheduled to continue his journey to Tel Aviv, but a few minutes after taking off, he lost the two right wing engines, experienced a loss of control and crashed into a neighborhood in Amsterdam called Bijlmermeer. After research, a design defect was discovered that affected all 747.
• In 1983, Korean Air Flight 007 was shot down by the Soviet warplanes after entering the territory of the USSR. One of the consequences of that demolition was that then U.S. President Ronald Reagan decided to allow in civil aviation those until then strictly GPS military (Global Positioning System, Global Positioning System) to prevent similar navigation errors.
• After the 747-100 TWA flight 800 exploded in the air on 17 July 1996, FAA (United States Federal Aviation Administration) proposed the installation of a new inertized system in the central fuel tank of large aircraft, to reduce air oxygen concentration and reduce the possibility of an explosion of fuel vapors when the tank is almost empty. In July 2008, after several years of investigations, regulations were established. The new system, which weighs only about 90 kg, is expected to cost between $100 000 and $40,000 per aircraft.
• The last serious incident that has been reported was in 2013, exactly on April 29th: one B747-400F (carguero) operated by National Airlines; after taking off the plane went into loss and crashed. They killed their 7 crew members. It is believed that the accident was caused by the movement of a poorly adjusted cargo that modified the gravity center of the plane and damaged the flight controls from the back.
• On 16 January 2017 the last fatal air accident occurred in the city of Biskek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, starring in a 747 Turkish Airlines Cargo.

Specifications

Descriptive geometry of the Boeing 747 aircraft family.

Sources:

• Official Boeing Specifications for the B-747 family, The Boeing Company.
• 747 airplane characteristics for airport planning ("Characteristics of the 747 plane for aeroport planning"), Boeing.

Related aircraft

Related Developments

Similar Aircraft

• Boeing 777
• C-5 Galaxy
• Airbus A380
• Airbus A340-600
• / Antonov An-124

Designation sequences

• Sequence Numerical (interna de Boeing): ← 733 - 737 - 739 - 747 - 757 - 767 - 777 →
• Sequence C-_ (American freight forwarders, 1962-present): ← C-15 - C-17 - C-18 - C-19 - C-20A-D/F-H - C-21 - C-22 →