BOEING 747

The Boeing 747, sometimes nicknamed the "Jumbo Jet", is the first widebody commercial airliner ever produced. The original version of the 747 was two and a half times the size of the Boeing 707, one of the common large commercial aircraft of the 1960s. The 747 uses powered controls and advanced navigation systems so that early models required only three flight crew to operate the aircraft. The current 747-400 production models employ further advanced automation technologies to reduce the flight crew to two. Although the 747 typically carries 300 to 500 passengers, this represents only a fraction of the aircraft's lifting capability. High-density versions flown in east Asia routinely carry up to 800, and one Israeli 747 airlifted a staggering 1,087 refugees from Ethiopia in 1991. By 2001, over 1,250 747s had been built. Further development of the series continues with the 747-400ER extended range and 747-8 stretched models. Boeing hopes that these improvements will keep the 747 line competitive with the Airbus A380. The747-400, the latest version in service, flies at high-subsonic speeds of Mach 0.85 (913 km/h), and features an intercontinental range of 7,260 nautical miles (13,450 km). The Boeing 747 is a large, wide-body (two-aisle) airliner with four wing-mounted engines. The wings have a high sweep angle of 37.5 degrees for a fast, efficient cruise of Mach 0.84 to 0.855, depending on the variant. Seating capacity is more than 366 with a 3-4-3 seat arrangement.

Specification (747-400):
Cockpit Crew: Two
Typical Seating capacity: 524 (2-class), 416 (3-class)
Length: 231 ft 10 in (70.6 m)
Wingspan: 211 ft 5 in (64.4 m)
Height: 63 ft 8 in (19.4 m)
Weight empty: 178,756 kg
Maximum speed: Mach 0.92 (608 mph, 977 km/h)
Engines: four Pratt & Whitney PW4062 turbofans
or four Rolls-Royce RB211-524H turbofans
or four General Electric CF6-80C2B5F turbofans