What took 53 years to build 1570 version off?

(should be "versions of")

The last 747 just rolled of the assembly line in Everett Washington.  The first Jumbo jet.   

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/06/business/last-boeing-747/index.html

Thought these went out of production years ago. Definitly a "if it aint broke, dont fix it"

If you haven't read Sutters book, read it.

Boeing gambled the entire company on that plane...and won. Joe was the ringleader, and he tells the incredible story.

I'm sad to see her go.

There are a lot of them sitting out in the desert that could be flown.

But the airlines have downsized.

There is an IDEAL use for them firefighting, the guys at Evergreen put together a package they install into a 747 that makes it a weapon. You can cover huge areas with retardant in one pass with one of those babies. But it seems fire fighting is a huge industry, and things need to burn a little bit to keep the emergency money flowing.....

These are also probably the planes that the air freight guys are wearing out. I think that airframe's lifting capacity makes it well suited, a large supply of flyable airframes for cheap.

Probably the most iconic civilian airliner of all time. Glad I got to fly on one once, on a trip to Japan in 2008. It was a Delta plane that dated back to the Northwest merger. The projectors still had the old Northwest logo burned in. 

Search for some videos of the pre-production stress testing they did to the first couple 747 airframes.

Drag its ass halfway down the runway and take off like normal?  Check.

Land at a 45d crab angle?  Any time.

747s racked up an astounding amount of trouble free air time before one was lost other than to pilot error or malicious action.

Gearheadotaku (Forum Supporter) said:

Thought these went out of production years ago. Definitly a "if it aint broke, dont fix it"

I am pretty sure most all of the planes built in the past 20 (?) years have been cargo versions, so passenger wise, you are not incorrect in thinking that.  You can see the last one is a cargo version (no windows).

Flew a 747 to and from Desert Storm.  The flight back we were loaded pretty heavy and I remember it took a LOOOOOOONG time to get airborne.  

MTOW of 970000 pounds. That's almost 450 tons. That impressive. 

I was only upgraded "upstairs" once , this was when it was just nicer seats and food , 

the first ones had a lounge upstairs  with a bar etc  , 

I am sure they cost a lot more to fly per hour than the newer models , 

"

Wow. An iconic plane. We were very lucky to be on the maiden commercial flight of one returning from Schiphol to DTW before 9/11. We'd never seen so much extra security and double checking at that time. Initially we had no idea until we were boarding, then the captain announced it was making its first commercial flight. Funny, it seemed like an old plane then, and that was over 20 years ago. 

KyAllroad said:

Flew a 747 to and from Desert Storm.  The flight back we were loaded pretty heavy and I remember it took a LOOOOOOONG time to get airborne.  

 

Hot desert air is thinner and aircraft take longer to get up to what is flying speed at the available air density.   Being heavy doesn't help...

I've seen the stairs but never been up them. 

I last flew on one to Hong Kong in 2019.

I started to tell a flight attendant how majestic I thought the plane was but she interrupted me with an apology saying "this is one of its last flights and will soon be replaced with a nice new Airbus."

Beeerk Airbus  

My last 747 flight was 1991 on a British Airways flight from DTW to YMX--sat in 1st Class.  Still the best flying experience I have ever had. 

RX Reven' said:

I last flew on one to Hong Kong in 2019.

I started to tell a flight attendant how majestic I thought the plane was but she interrupted me with an apology saying "this is one of its last flights and will soon be replaced with a nice new Airbus."

Beeerk Airbus  

Say what you want, but the last couple of times I've flown to Korea has been on some big Airbus, and that's a pretty nice ride, too. One thing I really noticed was how much better the pressurization is on modern planes. I don't have nearly the issues with ear popping and such on newer birds.

However, nothing rode as smooth as that big 747. Turbulence was basically not a thing.

Now I want to watch "Airport 77". 

I road on one from LA to Hawaii a long time ago, in the very last row right in front of the bathrooms. It was a LONG view looking up towards the cockpit and you could see just how big that thing really was trying to take off. Pretty freaky sitting back there during the climb also.

It was supposed to be the C-5. Boeing lost to Lockheed for the C-5 contract. They took everything they used to vie for the C-5, and decided to go big.

All the jetliners, especially those from Boeing were narrow, single isle cabins. All Boeing jetliners, 707, 720, 727, 737 used the same size fuselages that were 148 wide. Boeing thought that the drag penalty for going wider would be drastically offset by the revenue of carrying 3x4 the passengers.

They also looked to the future where the 747 could be used as a freighter They wanted the ability to drive straight in, rather than load from the side. To do that you have to go through the cockpit. So you move it out of the way. Sutter and his team put it above the cabin, creating the iconic hump.

In the dictionary, under worldbeatter theres a picture of a 747.

In reply to RX Reven' :

Pre 2007, I would be a cheerleader for Boeing too. But when they didn't stay Boeing and went MD (to the MASSIVE benefit to Ford) the Boeing that created this wonderful creation was lost. 

aircooled said:

Gearheadotaku (Forum Supporter) said:

Thought these went out of production years ago. Definitly a "if it aint broke, dont fix it"

I am pretty sure most all of the planes built in the past 20 (?) years have been cargo versions, so passenger wise, you are not incorrect in thinking that.  You can see the last one is a cargo version (no windows).

Of 155 total orders for the last (-8) iteration since 2011, 48 were passenger, and 107 were freighter. Granted, of the last 30 since 2017, only 1 has been a passenger model that was delivered last year... A opposed to the 767 which hasn't even been offered as a passenger plane since 2014.

I'm sad to see it going away.  In my opinion it's quite possibly the most versatile airframe ever built, with nothing likely to ever be be built again that could fill some of those unique roles once it's gone for good. I predict that there are going to be a few companies (possibly including Boeing) that will end up nursing the last handful of these along (B-52 style) for decades longer than anybody ever intended.

It's going to be exciting to be at the send-off party, but the factory is going to feel a LOT emptier now.

Driven5 said:

 

 

Somewhere in a box at my mothers house in England there's an old box with a pic I took of the Shuttle piggyback flying over Paris.  I was there on a school trip in 1982, it's taken on a pocket 110 camera.  If you squint you can actually make it out.  I was so proud of that shot.  We had no idea it was flying over that day, don't know why, just an amazing case of the right place at the right time.

I had quite a few 747 flights years ago, a few up front, and one or two on the upper deck. By the time I was there, the upper deck was nothing special - the same as first class down below, but with lower ceilings and less room. Last flight was BA from Heathrow to JFK, maybe a decade ago. No matter where you were riding, they were unlike anything else in the air, and I mean that in the best possible way.

My only flight on a 747 was was a nearly empty (or so it felt) hop from Chicago to Minneapolis. Northwest Airlines ran their international flights out of Chicago, but their main hub was in Minneapolis. So getting to many places from Chicago meant a stop in Minneapolis, and if there was a 747 headed that way for maintenance anyway, it might as well have at least a few paying customers on board.

Two more are in the pipeline as a new Air Force One.   You'll find it hard to believe, but the project has been delayed by cost over runs.