Altas Air, which bought the last 747 produced, chose a special route for its maiden flight after collecting it from the company. It was chosen so that it formed a crown with the number of the model.
The Boeing 747 has served many of the world’s most famous and best airlines, has carried billions of passengers for five decades, and has been the “air taxi” of US presidents for three decades. Years ago, it even helped transport space shuttles, and today it is the base for the SOFIA flying telescope.
Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet farewell with fanfare
Colloquially called the Jumbo Jet, but also the “Queen of Heaven”, the Boeing 747 has been continuously produced since 1967 in Everett, Washington. On Thursday, February 2, thousands of factory workers gathered to say goodbye to the last aircraft of this model they created.
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Among them was John Travolta, who privately is a fan of aviation and a pilot. He recalled his training in a Boeing 747-400. “It was the hardest program a commercial pilot will ever have to complete,” said the actor.
The farewell party was also attended by people who in the 1960s helped design the “Queen of Heaven” and who were called “extraordinary”. incredibles) –
Boeing announced the end of production in 2020. Their new largest model, the 777X, won’t go on sale until 2025.
The legendary Boeing 747
From the beginning of his existence, he was the pride of Pan Am, where he made his greatest career. It is still one of the most recognizable, but also the most successful machines in history. Traveling on its upper deck is a destination in itself for many aviation enthusiasts. What are we talking about? Meet the Boeing 747.
The history of the iconic Boeing model began a few years before the first flight. The beginning of the 1960s saw a huge boom in air travel in the USA. The American public fell in love with the possibility of fast travel and wanted to fly more and more and further.
In part, the legendary airline Pan Am spurred the creation of Boeing’s next generation of larger aircraft. The airline’s president at the time, Juan Trippe, challenged Boeing to design a plane twice the size of a 707.
Boeing took up the gauntlet and in the mid-1960s began designing and building a new machine, much larger than the previously known jet-powered aircraft. Pan Am quickly agreed to buy the plane that was still on the drawing boards. In 1966, he ordered as many as 25 machines for the then exorbitant amount of $ 525 million. Pan Am was also the largest recipient of the 747 in history – over the years, over 70 machines of this type have passed through the carrier’s fleet.
The world saw the new 747 for the first time on September 30, 1968, at a special show organized by Boeing. It made its maiden flight a few months later – on February 9, 1969. Then began the Boeing 747’s year-long test flight program. Despite some landing gear problems in the test examples, Boeing took the new aircraft to the Paris Air Show in December 1969. In the last days of the seventies of the 20th century, he received permission from the US Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) to operate a new aircraft.
Despite the considerable weight, the plane was not (for those times) too fuel-hungry. Per passenger, it was cheaper to operate than its predecessor. This, combined with the large number of seats on board, as well as the much greater prestige associated with operating this machine, made the aircraft quickly accepted on the market, despite the oil crisis in the early 1970s.
The Boeing 747 was best known for being bore the honorable title of the world’s largest passenger aircraft for as many as 35 years. Only in 2005 Airbus flew the giant A380, which, however, did not match the fame of the Queen of Heaven. It also did not achieve such a big sales success. The Boeing 747 has been built so far in a total of 1,562 copies. A competitor from Europe produced 6.5 times less of its giant planes.
According to Boeing, on the 50th anniversary of the aircraft, a total of over 5.9 billion passengers made their journey on board Jumbo Jet, and the 747 traveled a total of over 120 billion kilometers. Although the “Queen of Heaven” is slowly becoming a thing of the past, millions of more travelers will probably still have the opportunity to see its spacious interior. However, even after the end of the adventure with the transport of passengers, the Boeing 747 can count on a further career in cargo transport and performing special tasks.
You can read the full story of the Boeing 747, which appeared on our website on the occasion of the 52nd anniversary of this legend
Source: Gazeta
Mabel is a talented author and journalist with a passion for all things technology. As an experienced writer for the 247 News Agency, she has established a reputation for her in-depth reporting and expert analysis on the latest developments in the tech industry.
