Boeing Delivers the Last 747 Aircraft! Boeing 747 Production Comes to an End!

Boeing Delivers the Last 747 Aircraft! Boeing 747 Production Comes to an End!

Photo © Paul Weatherman – Boeing Airplanes.

 

In the image, the last Boeing 747-8i produced by Boeing registration N863GT during the delivery ceremony to the customer Atlas Air. Boeing thus ends production of the iconic plane known as the "Jumbojet" or "Queen of the Skies".

 

There were 1,574 Boeing 747s produced, including passenger and cargo versions. The end that will leave a huge legacy in aviation around the world. Read it in full below and at the end of the text I prepared for you who are a huge fan of this jet, some curiosities about this wonderful plane!

 

Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Atlas Air Worldwide (Nasdaq: AAWW) joined thousands of people – including current and former employees as well as customers and suppliers – to celebrate the delivery of the final 747 to Atlas, bringing to a close more than a half century of production. The aircraft received registration N863GT.

 

Boeing employees who designed and built the first 747, known as the "Incredibles," returned to be honored at the Everett factory where the journey of the 747 began in 1967. The factory produced 1,574 airplanes over the life of the program.

 

"This monumental day is a testament to the generations of Boeing employees who brought to life the airplane that 'shrank the world,' and revolutionized travel and air cargo as the first widebody," said Stan Deal, president and chief executive officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "It is fitting to deliver this final 747-8 Freighter to the largest operator of the 747, Atlas Air, where the 'Queen' will continue to inspire and empower innovation in air cargo."

 

"We are honored to continue our long history of flying this iconic aircraft for our customers around the world," said John Dietrich, president and chief executive officer, Atlas Air Worldwide. "Atlas Air was founded over 30 years ago with a single 747-200 converted freighter, and since then, we have spanned the globe operating nearly every fleet type of the 747, including the Dreamlifter, Boeing's 747 Large Cargo Freighter, for the transport of 787 Dreamliner parts. We are grateful to Boeing for their shared commitment to safety, quality, innovation and the environment, and for their partnership to ensure the continued success of the 747 program as we operate the aircraft for decades to come."

 

As the first twin-aisle airplane and "jumbo jet," the "Queen of the Skies" enabled airlines to connect people across vast distances and provide non-stop trans-oceanic flights. Its development solidified Boeing's role as an industry leader in commercial aviation. The airplane's core design with its distinctive hump and seating in the upper deck has delighted generations of passengers and operators alike. Boeing continued to improve on the original design with models like the 747-400 in 1988 and the final 747-8 model that was launched in 2005; across all the models, the jet has delivered unmatched operating economics and efficiency to travel and air cargo markets.

 

Some facts about the Boeing 747:

• It has more than 6 million pieces;

• It has a complex electrical system consisting of wiring and various components. If you stretch out all the electrical wiring, however, it stretches over 150 miles (241.4 kilometers);

• There are 365 switches, dials and lights in the incredibly confusing cockpit;

• The initial construction time of the aircraft until the delivery phase to the customer lasts about 18 months;

• The aircraft carried more than 3.5 billion people;

• With capacity for 350-400 people, the 747 has carried 1,087 people at one time;

• In almost 50 years of service, the fleet of Boeing 747 aircraft of the Australian airline Qantas has flown more than 3.6 billion kilometers, the equivalent of 4,700 round trips to the Moon or 90,000 round the world;

• It takes 90 gallons of paint to paint a 747;

• There are 14 steps to the upper floor;

• The first main-deck passenger seats are further forward than the pilots on the upper deck;

• The Wright brothers could have taken their first historic flight inside a Boeing 747;

• The Boeing 747 first flew in February 1969, five months before Apollo 11 landed on the moon;

• Boeing didn't have a large enough facility to build the 747, so they had to build a new assembly plant in Everett, WA;

• The 747 has a wingspan of 37.5 degrees – more than any other commercial aircraft in the world;

• The wings of the Boeing 747 in the -400 version are 213 feet (64.92 meters), large enough to accommodate 50 parked cars;

• The tail height of the Boeing 747 plane is 64 feet (19.5 meters), the equivalent of a six-story building;

• It has 18 wheels (16 on the main landing gear located in the “belly” region of the plane and two wheels on the trike, located in the nose region);

• Powered by four GEnx-2B 787 Technology Engines, the 747-8 can travel the legth of three FIFA soccer fields in one second;

• The 747-8 Freghter is capable of transporting 10,767 solid gold bars from Fort Knox. At 504.340 per gold bar, that's $5.4 bilion;

• Based on a 2017 table, the latest version of the Boeing 747 starts at US$378.5 million in the passenger version (-8F) and in the freighter version (-8F) starts at US$379.1 million;

• According to the OneMonroe website, the Boeing 747 program and project cost more than $1 billion, Boeing went all-in on the 747. It's important to note that $1 billion reflects the cost of the 747 program when it was conceived. Factoring in inflation, the current cost of the 747 program is estimated at over $7 billion;

• The first version of the 747 (-100) cost an average of $24 million in 1967;

• The first Boeing 747 delivered was for Pan American in the (-100) version, the aircraft received the registration N736PA and received the nickname “Clipper Victor”. The same plane delivered, also became the first 747 to be hijacked, when it flew to Cuba on August 2, 1970. Still, the same N736PA on March 27, 1977, Clipper Victor made history in the Tenerife disaster;

• As of the date of this article, there are a total of 343 Boeing 747 aircraft operating across the planet;

• The largest operator of the Boeing 747 in the fleet is Lufthansa with 27 aircraft in the passenger version and UPS with 41 aircraft in third comes Cargolux with 29 Boeing 747 freighter aircraft;

• As of this writing, the oldest operational Boeing 747 on the planet is flying for military and government use. This is the Boeing 747-200 (E4B SN 20682), built on June 13, 1973, 49.81 years old at the time of writing;

• The oldest passenger aircraft in commercial operation is the Boeing 747-400 EP-MEE (SN 24383) operated by Mahan Air, a private Iranian airline. According to the IBA Insight Flights website, this aircraft makes frequent trips between Tehran and Moscow. It should be noted, however, that the US government considers the operator to be a de facto part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

And do you like the 747? Leave it here in the comment below about your admiration or history with this mega plane!

*DISCLAMER:

The aviation news website MAIS QUE VOAR (MORE THAN FLY) does not agree with Fakenews. This publication contains content with sources from press.

 

This publication was written in Portuguese (Brazil) and automatically translated by Google robots to English. MORE THAN FLY, adopted Google technology for everyone around the world to have access to information and optimize our time and budget with translations. We ask for common sense to take into account translation errors. After all, every robot is limited and is never compared to the superiority of a human intelligence.