The 747 – Boeing’s Biggest, Boeing’s Best

Chief engineer for the 747 project was Joe Sutter, who had worked on earlier Boeing models and the 737. The initial cost of the aircraft was set at $20 million – today it is more like $60 million a copy. Over 50 different designs were tried, and on the in­ existence of the airlines, a low-wing monoplane was the final choice – os­ ostensibly one of the reasons would be safety in ditching in the ocean. The en­tire enterprise was privately financed, a strong commentary on the free enter­prise system, with the multivarious spin-offs in industry and job oppor­tunities. A double deck design had also been considered but this was scrubbed in favour of a single deck with the cockpit raised above the primary deck so that the cargo version could have nose-in loading. Douglas, who also had a submission in the US Air Force design program, was in financial trouble and rightly believed that the 747 was ahead of its time in capacity and the airlines’ ability to handle such a large aircraft, opted out of the race and headed in the direction of the smaller wide-bodied trijet classified DC-10.

Wind tunnel testing was carried out on two models, with speeds up to Mach 1. 05, the cost of these models being more than a piston-engined airliner just a decade before.

The engines were moved further out­ ward, and the flaps chosen were those similar to the type used on the 727, triple slotted, the tail was modified and the landing gear was designed as a four-legged structure. While all this was go­ ing on, the weight of the structure was getting out of hand and posed serious problems for the Boeing engineers. A giant pruning project was begun and 1000Ib was pared from the wings alone, whilst a paper material, called Nornex, which is impregnated with a flameproof compound was used in the wing fairings. More titanium was used, and the gross weight was able to be kept at 675,000lb.

The go-ahead came on April 13, 1966, when Pan American placed an order for 25 Boeing 747 aircraft, the largest single order in the world for the cost of $525 million although only half of the initial Boeing cost.

Because this venture had no military precedent, the engines were complete­ly untried compared with the JT-3 engine used on the 707s which were powering the KC-135 tankers. The choice was narrow, either the General Electric CTF-39 powering the Galaxy or the Pratt & Whitney JT-9D. The Rolls­ Royce RB-178 was still on the drawing board.

The engine chosen had to be the JT-9D, but the events leading up to the choice would fill a book and involved a massive engineering and financial enterprise for Pratt and Whitney, which was almost too much. It was virtually the downfall of Rolls-Royce when developing the RB-211, and because of the weight problem with the 747, and the need for an instant engine with no military development and virtual on­ demand thrust of over 40,000lb many of the problems encountered in early models were directly attributable to the fact that any development stages had to be compressed into a single time slot. The thrust necessary for the new 680,000lb gross weight aircraft was now 44,000lb. The JT-9 engine is a high by­ pass ratio fan engine and special techniques were developed such as electron beam welding which enabled various thicknesses of titanium to be welded whilst reducing costs by 40 per cent. It took six years of research to develop the unique properties of this new powerplant. The high thrust coupled with relative quietness was due to sound-deadening material used in the cowling and the low speed fan up front coupled to 15 compressor stages, three low-speed compressor stages, and 11 high-speed compressor stages. The length of the engine is 12′ 8″ weighing 84701b. Interestingly, the engine at its development thrust had 87,000hp and produced 10hp per pound of weight.

By the time the Pan Am order had been taken, the wings had been chang­ ed to their specifications of range, for a greater span of 195′ 9″ and with less sweep back of 37. 5 degrees. The 12th inner wing enabled a higher cruise speed of Mach 0.9.

The first flight was planned for the last quarter of 1968 with certification and deliveries in late 1969. The basic price was estimated at $18. 5 million but this varied according to customer re­quirements for galleys, engines, accom­modation, and various instrumentation according to the particular company.

Then there are spare engine re­quirements, tooling, tugs, air stairs, cherry pickers to reach the top of the tail, and containers for the cargo hold, resulting in very little change left over from $25 million. A pure freighter was also planned, and a convertible passenger/cargo version.

Manufacturing techniques were not too far removed from those of the 707 to eliminate many unproven design changes that could delay the program. Even the manufacture of this aeroplane necessitated some pretty fantastic building blocks, like the world’s largest volume building at Everett 30 miles north of Seattle. 200 million cubic feet, and the building com­menced on May 1, 1967. Surprisingly most of the work is subcontracted out, some 65 per cent of the weight and 50 per cent of the dollar value, spread over 1500 suppliers of components and 15,000 secondary suppliers, with all the supplies shipped to the Everett plant. At the start of construction over 10,000 employees were engaged on the 747 and by 1968 some 15,000 were employed. By 1971 this had been drastically reduced to some 6000 when the recession of the 70s hit the industry. Another factory was required to build the machinery to make the 747. At Auburn in Washington, the jigs, dies, templates, some as large as railway bridges, the skins, and spars for the wings are all formed and shipped to Everett.

A wooden mock-up was used to ex­amine and test every part used in the construction and this alone cost more than $1 million. One of its principal uses was in designing the interiors for individual airlines. A railway line was built right into the plant and special railroad cars were built to take some of the larger outsize pieces.

After the initial Pan Am order, the first foreign airlines were Lufthansa and Japan Air Lines, for three 100 Series each. Ten years later, new more power­ful models are still being delivered to both airlines, since that important day July 25, 1966.

One month after go-ahead 56 orders were forthcoming from seven airlines. Two years later 150 were on order. Market forecasts were for 488 by 1977, and although the recession early in 1970 has dented that figure, total orders to date are for more than 520 aircraft with over 330 in service.

Because of increases in structures and weights, gross weight increased to 710,000lbs and this necessitated Pratt & Whitney compressing several stages of planning growth because of this weight, the result in turn has been consumption, overheating, loss of specific thrust and ovation, to name a few. The JT-9D-1 was projected at 41,000lb with growth to 42,000lb used in the prototype and 43,500 in service.

The big day came on Feb 9, 1969, when the flight crew consisted of Jackfeet of the runway at 164mph. The gear was kept down, the one-hour 16-minute flight was as good as perfect, and the landing made on a wet runway was equal to the best. Jack Waddell is quoted as saying “As I approached the threshold of the runway I closed my eyes”.

Whether it is true or not it gives some indication of the docile handling characteristics of this great plane. Test equipment on the aircraft filled the en­tire cabin, weighed 60,000lb, and carried an extra 100 miles of wiring. Flight testing was preceded by ground taxiing at speeds up to 168mph, and the use of a mock-up on top of a truck to simulate the height above ground, which when it came to the real thing was no real problem. Flight testing of the engine was carried out on a B52 suitably modified to carry the JT-9 on the inboard pylon position on the star­ board wing, in place of the twin­ podded turbojets. One of the interesting aspects of the flight testing was when the tail was deliberately dragged on rotation. Fitted with a steel beam on the rear under-belly, the Boe­ ing prototype gave off a shower of sparks as she clawed for the sky, her rump still attached to terra firma. Designed for Mach. 97 she reached 98 on the test. A static rig was also set up for the eventual testing to the destruction of a complete 747 wing and fuselage. Initial­ly loads 50 per cent greater than max­imum were tested, the operational con­trols were fatigue tested and various loading and stress testing was carried out. Tests on the evacuation of 500 passengers were also carried out within 90 seconds. All up, some 1400 hours of flight testing was carried out till the next milestone.

The first commercial flight took place on Jan 21, 1970. But not without a hitch. The aircraft N733PA which had already made an Atlantic crossing on Jan 11, 1970, taxied out for take-off but had to return to the ramp with the engines overheating because of a blowback of exhaust gases whilst holding. After a seven-hour delay, a substitute 747 Clipper Victor renamed Clipper Young America took off for London, crossing the Atlantic in some six and a half hours. So, Clipper Victor made the headlines as being the first commercial flight of a 747, its fame was to be one of infamy seven years later. In fact seven years and six weeks later when KLM747 PH-BUF slammed into N736PA whilst taking off, the world’s worst air dis­aster claimed the lives of 583 passengers and crew.

The 747 was designed to carry 500 passengers. In actual airline service, the average load has been something like 350 in the first five years and something in the range of 400 in high-density seating for the APEX (advance purchase fares). The early low load factors could not have come at a worse time, as most of the airlines had purchased aircraft at huge capital outlay, when along came the slump of the seventies and many airlines went nearly to the wall. Pan Am was one of the first to feel the pinch. With 25 747s and a capital outlay of $500 million the interest charges alone would be staggering, and in an uncer­ tain business climate stagger is the definitive word, until stumble becomes the definitive verb.

For a time there were anxious moments, and the Iranian Government was seen as a possible prop for Pan Am. However, a restructuring of the finances and a determination on behalf of the pilots and other employees of the com­pany brought the giant back from the edge of a calamitous drop.

If the Iranian Government under the Shah did not directly contribute to the provision of finances then indirectly they were able to provide an easy way out for TWA and Continental who had bitten off more than they could chew. During 1975 seven ex-TWA 747 – 131s were sold to the Imperial Iranian Air Force as tankers and freighters. Pan Am stored two of their machines at Wichita for five years.

The early days were not a bed of roses for every airline with 747s, but to­ day with traffic booming, load factors increasing and inflation playing merry hell with the prices, the 747 is the most sought-after wide-bodied airliner in the world, and the stretch that has taken place on the outside of all other aircraft has taken place on the inside of the 747. With the need for more seats 10 abreast seating and a narrower pitch is now common with most airlines. The up­ stairs lounge used as a first-class restaurant in Pan Am 747s and a haven for first-class passengers getting away from it all, with most other airlines is slowly but surely being converted to extra seating or sleeperettes for extra revenue-carrying passengers, and so the total number of passengers will soon be nearer to 500 as originally designed. In conjunction with this extra load-carrying capacity however, the engine manufacturers have not been idle, and General Electric, Pratt and Whitney and Rolls-Royce are offering engines with thrusts of up to 52,000lb and able to carry gross weights of over 820,000lb. This will enable one-stop London to Sydney flights thus narrow­ing the advantage that Concorde has over the subsonic types.

Boeing does have plans to stretch the 747 physically. A 40-foot stretch will enable the Super 747 to carry 750 passengers in the main body of the plane and in the lengthened upper deck. This type is expected to be offered to the airlines sometime in the mid-eighties, but whilst the customers still want the current series 200B and whilst the internal stretches are still tak­ ing place in a somewhat uncertain world economy Boeing is not rushing to spoil their order book for the current models, whilst they have their hands full with the two new models the 757, and 767, and possibly the 777.

Today’s 747 comprises a family of seven different models. The 747-100, 747-SR or Short Range, 747-2008, 747- 200C, 747-Combi, 747-200F Freighter, and 747-SP or Special Performance.

All have the same dimensions except for the SP. The 747-100 was the first 747 model, with a range of 4500 miles and accommodation for 442 passengers. The engine currently fitted to the 747- 100 aircraft one sees around the airports is the JT-9D 7A or 7W of 46,95016 dry thrust, at sea level. Pan Am’s passenger 747s are 100 series. Alitalia has two that we see in Australia -1-DEMA and 1-DEME. All the early series British Airways 747s from G-AWNA, through to WNP and G­ BBPU, PV, and PZ are 100 series. Japan Airlines has eight series 100 aircraft and although they do not come to Australia regularly, there are the in­ frequent times when they do, for extra passengers or charters. Lufthansa had three 747 100s on the Australian run.

In January 1971 Boeing introduced the first commercial 747-2008. It has a strengthened wing and undercarriage to permit higher take-off and gross weights. Higher take-off weight and in­creased fuel capacity give the 747-200B a greater range of 5350 miles and payload capacities although the dimensions are the same as for the 100. Imagine a fully laden Sandringham flying boat taking off from Rose Bay in the early seventies. It is this entire weight that 2008 carries above that of a 100 series aircraft fully laden, and this is one of the reasons that Qantas opted for the 747- 13200B. The Qantas 747s were the first in Australia, VH-EBA arrived in Sydney just over eight years ago on Monday, August 16, 1971, on its delivery flight non-stop from Honolulu to touch down on runway 16 wet after heavy rain dur­ ing the night but with the sun shining out of a cloudy sky.

The popular Singapore Airlines fleet of 200 series comes to Australia five days per week and visits both Sydney and Melbourne. The whole fleet is up for sale as the airline is renewing its fleet with the more powerful JT-9D-7Q engine-powered aircraft. This took place before the end of 1979, and current aircraft will be phased out.

The latest arrival in Australia is Cathay Pacific’s green and white VR-HKG, which made its debut on Saturday, August 4, and flies non-stop to Hong Kong. HKG is a Rolls-Royce-powered aircraft incorporating all the latest developments and modifications and is without the small hump seen on some earlier models just at the rear of the up­ per deck. This was a provision for astral navigation, now deleted in favour of either INS or Omega, fitted to all 747 aircraft. The 747 SR is a 747 100B with options necessary for frequent take­-offs and landings associated with short-range routes. Included is a dual-position cabin pressurisation controller, a forced-airbrake cooling system, and heavy-duty tyres, wheels and brakes.

The 747 200B Combi entered service in March 1975 and features a side cargo door for main deck cargo and passenger accommodation in the forward section of the aircraft. Conver­ sion can be made to all-cargo or all­ passenger configuration in 14 hours. The Combi gives a DC-10 passenger loading with the cargo loading, by volume, of a 707 freighter.

Qantas became the second operator of the Combi on October 27, 1977, when VH-ECA arrived from the US and soon set about its standard pattern of operations. ECA covers four routes. Once a week it flies from Sydney to Auckland, to Port Moresby via Brisbane, and to San Francisco via Honolulu, and twice a week direct to Tokyo. The average load for the aircraft is 28.8 tonnes of cargo plus 267 passengers. One of the heaviest loads carried has been 41. 2 tonnes, but the load varies with the number of passengers carried, the trim of the air­ craft, the sector it is flying and other operational factors.

The 747-200F Freighter was in­troduced in April 1972 and accom­modates up to 29 standard containers side by side. Containers and other large, outsize cargo can be loaded through the swing-up nose door. Floor with a 5000 mile range, and 50,000lb with a 6500 mile range. The maximum take­-off weight would be near the maximum so far carried by a 474 ie; 820,000 lb depen­ding of course on the temperature runway length available, and runway altitude.

The 747-200C Convertible commercially introduced in May 1973, loads cargo on the main deck through the 200F Freighter swing-up nose door and simultaneously carries passengers aft.

Conversion to all passenger or all freight configurations takes some 24 hours. This entails removing in the passenger configuration, all carpets-seats, upper deck stairs, lavatories, galleys, partitions, overhead stowage bins and dropped ceilings. The cargo kit is then installed which includes the cargo handling hardware and the lightweight stair between the main deck and the upper deck.

The 200C variant is the least popular model, because of its reduced payload, and less passenger appeal in the mixed configuration, whereby the passengers cannot use the upper deck. Once in service, an aircraft stays in its usual configuration whilst working for a par­ticular airline, as time out changing in­teriors is money lost and interruptions to regular timetables. However, as time goes by and airlines lease out their old 200Cs then they will prove to be a valuable asset.

They will be able to go to either freight or passenger customers or be seasonably altered according to traffic. The 747 SP was introduced in April 1976 to provide economical operation on routes requiring less than the stan­dard 747 passenger or cargo capacities. This aeroplane has a shorter body, reduc­ed take-off and landing weights, a simplified flap system, a lighter struc­ture, and the same wing as the 747-200, but the empty weight is 56,000lb less than the 747-200B. As a result, the fuel burn­ed is 21 per cent less and aeroplane mile costs are 14 per cent less than a 747-200B on a comparable mission. Lower t/o and landing weights have enabled the landing gear and the wing structures to have lighter construction. The tail is five feet higher, the horizon­tal stabilisers five feet wider, and the rudder is double-hinged to maintain the same handling characteristics as the 747. One of the important features is that flight crews are interchangeable on both 747 models. Spares etc remain 90 per cent common although hangars and maintenance docks are not inter­ changeable and this is a serious setback to the 747 fleet owner wishing to add an SP to the fleet, and this is one of the problems facing Qantas, as it is propos­ed to use a 747SP on trans-Tasman routes in 1981 and docking facilities are not suitable at Mascot for the SP. However it is not an insur­ mountable problem, and the SP has shown itself to be a worthy performer. It has pioneered non-stop routes such as Sydney-San Francisco, Sydney-Los Angeles, New York-Tokyo, Taipei-Los Angeles, New York-Teheran, and Hong Kong-San Francisco. The aeroplane has unique take-off performance from hot and high and sea level elevation airports and flies between 4000 and 6000 feet above other airline traffic. This has led to some ozone sickness among passengers initially, but charcoal filters have been in­ stalled in the airconditioning system and this has reduced this unpleasant effect. Dehydration is another problem at high altitudes, but the remedy is to consume plenty of extra fluids. The aeroplace is supplied with the basic JT9D-7A engine with which it performs admirably well. Other manu­facturer’s engine options are available, but so far all operators have the Pratt & Whitney engine.

Boeing 747-200 Specification

A Pan Am 747SP set a world record for a round-the-world flight of 40 hours with two stops, Tokyo and Delhi, New York to New York.

Pan Am have 10 SPs registered N530PA – N539PA. With the advent of wide-bodied services to Australia, South African Airlines commenced ser­vices in 1976 from Johannesburg to Sydney via Mauritius, and Perth using SP aircraft, ZS-SPA,B,C,D,E,F. which were delivered early in 1976. However, since Qantas pulled out of the route, and South Africa commenced a twice-weekly Tuesday and Saturday service, the larger capacity 200 series are more evident. The Boeing Demonstrator went on to become Pan Am’s N533PA and is a frequent visitor to Sydney. But apart from these two airlines, we do not see any other SPs. Closest to our shores is the one owned by China Airlines of Taiwan, Iran Air operates four, Saudi Arabian one, and Syrian Arab two. Braniff in the US has ordered two and that is the world’s total SP fleet.

Accommodation in the SP is for 321 mixed class passengers including 32 op­tional upper deck seats. If the straight stair is installed and two emergency exits are included, up to 45 economy class passengers can be carried on the upper deck. The interior is reduced in length to 137 feet and a longitudinal galley is installed in the forward section, whilst a second galley is at the rear of the plane. Seating is either nine abreast or 10 abreast. The upstairs lounge may be reached by either a spiral or conventional staircase. Whilst discussing the 747 family we have briefly touched on the engine variants. Three manufacturers produce a variety of turbofans, environmentally acceptable as far as noise levels are concerned and able to operate under all conditions efficiently at noise levels well within domestic and international aviation requirements. The manufac­turers, Pratt & Whitney, General Elec­ tric, and Rolls-Royce, make three physically different engines with similar characteristics.

In choosing an engine, an airline must be guaranteed a specific thrust to meet its requirements, and in the case of Lufthansa and KLM the GE, engine was chosen as it was also the power plant of their DC-10 fleet and A300 fleet in the case of the former. This reduces the spare inventory and facilitates the overhaul and removal of the engines with common equipment.

The Rolls-Royce RB211-524 B2 engine develops up to 50,100Ib of thrust at take-off and has carried the highest recorded maximum take-off weight of a 747 – some 825,000lb. A new development of this engine will be retrofitted to Qantas’ two new aircraft in approximately one year after delivery, and should be capable of, delivering over 52,000lb thrust.

To reduce engine maintenance, manufacturers are recommending us­ ing reduced thrust take-offs, and an autothrottle system can be provided to maintain a preselected combination of thrust and temperature values, right through the climb.

Some airlines have countered with the criticism that they are not getting the thrust that they paid for.

On average, the RB211-524 B2 gives a shorter take-off run at maximum AUW sea level and 4000ft. The JT-9D-7Q gives the best range and performance of any engine, using less runway. However, the RB-211-524 B was chosen by Qantas for maximum serviceability, guaranteed thrust, lowest maintenance, and the best financial terms. On all 747s a fifth pod can be carried under the port wing root, for transporting a spare engine from one port to another.

The average 747 flies nine to 11 hours per day with some exceptions flying up to 14 hours daily. An annual total of 3500 flight hours is usual. Maintenance reliability is 97 per cent. Whilst the structurally limited payload of a 747-200F is 127 tons, the space-limited payload is 99 tons. Just carrying 25 per cent of that, ie: 24 tons will pay the direct operating costs of the aircraft.

The Qantas cabin mock-up, for train­ ing the cabin crews is the largest in the world. Whilst the upper lobe cabin is unique in its18th century Captain Cook Endeavour theme, it is being phased out in favour of additional seating in the shape of reclining sleeper chairs, which rather reduces the areas for first-class passengers to move about and relax whilst on long daylight flights.

Perhaps the most unusual role ever carried out by a current modern jet air­ liner is that of the space shuttle mother ship. From its sheer size, the 747 was chosen as the ideal vehicle to transport the Rockwell space shuttle Orbiter. An American Airlines 747 which had been sold back to Boeing was converted to carry the giant space vehicle pick-a-back style on supports attached to the top of the 747 fuselage. Extra fins were attached to the horizon­ tal stabiliser for increased directional stability as the space vehicle masks the effectiveness of the rudder. Test flights have been carried out successfully, with the space vehicle detaching itself, and the 747 flying off for a perfect breakaway. The first test flights have seen the space vehicle wearing a shroud over the rocket exhausts, and all landings have been made as a gliding vehicle. Future tests will see the rocket exhausts uncovered and the effects of the turbulent air around these will be monitored in terms of handling for both the 747 and the Orbiter.

A USAF proposal for an Advanced Tanker Cargo Aircraft (ATCA) with more powerful engines of up to 56,000lb thrust and capable of carrying 478,000lb of fuel or as a cargo aircraft a payload of up to 195,000lb, has been shelved. The contract went to Douglas for its proposal to use the DC-10 in a version to be designated KC-10. However the 747 has the capabilities and capacities to meet these proposals, and its talents will no doubt be useful in this sphere at a later date, when the need arises.

The 747 has enjoyed one of the highest safety records of any commer­cial aircraft ever built, and considering the enormous number of hours flown already by the world’s fleet, it can be safely said that the 747 is the world’s safest aeroplane which is, of course, a tribute to the designers and builders of this truly remarkable transport vehicle. However, there have been some ma­jor mishaps, but in every instance, the design of the plane and its structural in­ integrity have not been at fault.

The dubious honour of being the first airline to lose a 747 went to Lufthansa. Their 747-100 D-ABYB was taking off from Nairobi on November 20, 1974, when it failed to get airborne from the hot and high runway after rotation and simply settled back onto the ground, where it was subsequently destroyed in the ensuing fire. The captain survived the accident, and the look of utter despair on his face as he walked away from the burning wreckage, is quite unforgettable. The cause of the accident was the failure of the crew to en­ sure that the leading edge flaps remain­ ed in the extended position. The wins simply could not get enough bite in the thin air at Nairobi and failed to act as an aerofoil capable of lifting the com­bined weight of plane and passengers.

The first 747 destroyed was Pan Am’s N752PA when it was hijacked by Palestinian guerillas, forced to land at a remote airstrip known as Davis Field in Libya, and after the evacuation of the passengers and crew was summarily blown up. What a waste of a beautiful aeroplane with a sum total of 1497 hours on its log book on September 6th, 1970.

Whilst taxiing out for take-off at Anchorage, Japan Airlines 747 JA8122 on December 1975, was blown down a 60-foot embankment in high winds on ice-covered taxiways. This was the first 747 repaired by Boeing’s AOG Aircraft On the Ground team who travel anywhere in the world and return to service repairable aircraft. 8122 was repaired on the site at a cost of millions and was back in service by October 1976.

On May 9, 1976, an Iranian Air Force 747 5-8104 hit high ground SO miles SE of Madrid after encountering a severe electrical storm.

Japan Airlines lost JA8109 when it was hijacked after take-off from Paris en route to Tokyo. Forced to divert ul­timately to Benghazi, it was blown up on July 24, 1973.

Overheated brakes and tyres burst into flame on Air France’s F-EBP and flight AF193 caught fire whilst taxiing at Bombay, and burnt for six hours. The 392 passengers were evacuated, but the aircraft was destroyed.

Air India 747 EBD “Emperor Ashoka”, departed Bombay in January 1977 with a full complement of passengers and crew. Several minutes after take-off EBO plunged into the sea killing all on board. Subsequent analysis of the “black box” showed that the failure of the flight director had misguided the cap­tain and EBD entered an inverted dive and hit the sea with full power on at over 500 miles per hour. Failure of the flight director had occurred in some 747s previously and a thorough ex­amination was carried out on similar equipment to prevent a subsequent catastrophe. The most tragic loss of human life and aircraft ever en­countered in the annals of commercial aviation, took place in March 1977 when KLM 747 PH-BUF taking off from Los Rodeos Airport Tenerife, struck Pan Am’s N736PA 747 just turning off the runway as BUF became airborne. (See “Air Safety”, elsewhere in this issue) Both 747s were totally destroyed, and the entire complement of passengers and crew on BUF were annihilated, but many passengers including the captain of the Pan Am 747 miraculously es­caped the conflagration.

It is to be sincerely hoped that this chapter will never be enlarged upon.

The end of this year will see the 10th anniversary of the roll-out of the first 747, and the 747 still has a long way to go as far as Boeing is concerned to reach the break-even point and beyond. Only then will a new develop­ ment emerge from the Boeing factories for another onslaught in the never-en­ding battle of the big three aeroplane manufacturers for a larger slice of the airline market. The 747 is the un­disputed king of the skies in every way. To keep it there requires careful plan­ ning by the manufacturer so that orders are delivered on time at the rate of seven per month, and the earliest delivery dates are somewhere mid-1981 so that a new customer would have to wait some 28 months for an aircraft, as compared to 15 months a few years ago.

As already described the giant roll­ overs are already taking place. Lufthan­ sa, Singapore Airlines, and Korean Airlines are completely changing over their entire fleets for later more power­ful models with longer ranges and greater payload. Alitalia has recently placed an order for nine new 747-200s and Combis and these will form the basis of a rollover. On delivery of the next two Rolls-Royce-powered aircraft Qantas will sell its first two aircraft and progressively as newer aircraft become available to them, the older models will be sold off. This will release a steady stream of wide-bodied aircraft on to the second hand-market, which because of their relative scarcity, will maintain high resale values, something in the order of $20 million each which is almost equal to the new price when purchased a decade ago, and as they are written down in book value to zero, they really haven’t cost their owners very much, except that the price of the 1979 model is now approaching $60 million each. And as far as Boeing is concerned they are in the business of selling new aero­ planes and a surplus of second-hand aircraft would seriously affect their production lines.

Most of the advances in the past decade are all on the inside and are a result of the battle being waged by the engine manufacturers, and the airlines themselves to put more people onto seats. In some cases, 10-abreast seating has taken over, and first-class lounges are giving way to recliner seats, and sleeperettes. Weights have gone up with the increased engine power available and the latest maximum gross weight now being offered is 833,00016. Avionics are being updated, but with large fleets, many airlines are reluctant to deviate from any commonality with the rest of the fleet so major changes such as cathode ray instrument panels, and electronic data display cockpits, will come as slow changes in the next decade.

Improvements such as a more efficient wing, and active ailerons, will fly on the next generation Boeing aircraft the 757, 767, and 777, but the 747 must wait for reasons of standardisation, whilst it is still the number one airliner in production. The most feasible modification will be the proposed stretch of some 280 inches overall, with the upper deck extended back to the wing leading edge, by the addition of a 320-inch stretch. This will bring capacity up from 440 to 570 seats and will take about three years to develop. Only a drastic downturn in the supplies of aviation fuel will spur a more speedy development, and this is quite on the cards.

While the 747 started out with a passenger capacity of 360-370 seats, today’s version, with economy seats on the upper deck, accommodates 442 seats. And the overall dimensions re­ main the same. Better utilisation of space is also the prime consideration at Boeing in order to increase capacity. A split-level galley is being considered, putting to use the wasted roof space, and locating some storage areas beneath a raised working area. It replaces some of the mid-cabin galleys, allows a tidier and more flexible inter­nal arrangement and guarantees another eight to 12 seats for revenue and because it is in the rear of the air­ craft, cooking smells are kept to a minimum, where they can be dumped overboard by the air-conditioning system.

Meanwhile, Lockheed is jockeying for sales with their new long-range ver­sion the L1011-500, McDonnell Douglas are planning to stretch the DC-10, Boe­ing is toying with the 777, and Airbus Industry is looking at the A3008-11 with four engines, perhaps the CFMS6 General Electric engine, which will be used to re-engine 707s and stretched DC-8s, as well as current 707 models still being produced. All these factors will have some influence on the future development of the 747.

Beyond the pale, comes the advanced freighter, with a SO per cent greater payload, and the advanced freighter family, with either 2, 3, or 4 engines, and either single or double lobe fuselages, and even further into the future, very large freighter concepts, such as a flying wing, with spans as great as 500 feet, but it all depends very much on fuel availability, alternative fuels such as hydrogen, or even solar or nuclear power, but there is no mis­ taking, the current generation of gas turbine aircraft, epitomised by the 747 will be the last of their type ever in the history of mankind. The 747 is thus a pinnacle of perfection in the current state of the art, of building large transport aeroplanes, and as such is one of the great milestones in the develop­ ment of transport around the globe, and a worthy product proudly carrying the name of Boeing for the major air­ lines of the world.