- Start
- Feb 9, 196990% CONFIDENCEsource
The Boeing 747 Makes Its First Flight
Main competitors
- McDonnell Douglas DC-10 · McDonnell Douglas
About 270 seats in two classes (399 maximum) - DC-10-10 range 3,500 nmi (6,500 km), DC-10-30 up to 5,200 nmi (9,600 km) - three engines - in service since 5 August 1971
Source - Lockheed L-1011 TriStar · Lockheed
Up to 400 passengers - range over 4,000 nmi (7,410 km) - three Rolls-Royce RB211 engines - entered service with Eastern Air Lines on 26 April 1972
Source
The first Jumbo Jet flew from Paine Field with test pilots Jack Waddell and Brien Wygle at the controls. Despite a minor flap problem the flight confirmed the 747 handled well and was largely immune to the Dutch roll that had plagued early swept-wing jets.
- The 747’s first flight took place on 9 February 1969, with test pilots Jack Waddell and Brien Wygle at the controls and Jess Wallick at the flight engineer’s station.[1]
- Despite a minor problem with one of the flaps, the flight confirmed the 747 handled extremely well and was largely immune to Dutch roll.[1]
- The aircraft was conceived for Pan Am, which wanted a jet 2½ times the size of the 707 to cut seat cost by 30%, and ordered 25 in April 1966.[1]
- Boeing had no plant big enough, so it built one on a 780-acre site next to Paine Field near Everett, Washington – the world’s largest building by volume.[1]
- The first 747 was rolled out on 30 September 1968; the programme cost US$1 billion in 1968 money.[1]
- The type was certified in December 1969 and entered service with Pan Am on 22 January 1970 as the first wide-body airliner.[1]
Notable features
- The 747 is a four-engined, two-aisle, partial double-deck airliner; its cockpit is raised above the main deck, creating the hump, so freighters can load through a nose cargo door, and the upper deck behind it holds a lounge or extra seats.[1]
- It was built around the high-bypass turbofan: Pratt & Whitney developed the JT9D for it with Boeing and Pan Am, a technology expected to give twice the power of earlier turbojets on one-third less fuel.[1]
- The wings are swept 37.5° for a cruise of Mach 0.84 to 0.88, triple-slotted flaps keep landing speeds low enough for standard-length runways, and the weight rests on four main landing gear legs, each with a four-wheel bogie.[1]
- Ten-abreast (3–4–3) economy seating lets it carry 366 passengers in three classes, and the first 747-100 had a maximum take-off weight of 735,000 lb (333 t).[1]