Boeing’s 747, the original Jumbo Jet, prepares for final farewell

Boeing’s BA.N 747, the original and arguably the most aesthetically pleasing “Jumbo Jet,” revolutionized air travel only to see its more than five-decade reign as “Queen of the Skies” ended by more efficient twin-engine jets.

Boeing’s last commercial jumbo jumbo jet will be delivered to Atlas Air AAWW.O in the surviving cargo version on Tuesday, 53 years after the 747’s instantly recognizable humpbacked silhouette captured global attention as a Pan Am airliner.

“On the ground it’s majestic, it’s imposing,” said Bruce Dickinson, the lead singer of Iron Maiden who piloted a specially liveried 747 nicknamed “Ed Force One” during the British heavy metal band’s 2016 tour.

“And in the air it’s surprisingly agile. For a huge plane, you can really launch it if you have to.”

Designed in the late 1960s to meet the demand for mass travel, the nose and upper deck of the world’s first twin-aisle wide-body airliner became the world’s most luxurious club above the clouds.

But it was in the seemingly endless rows at the back of the new jumbo jet that the 747 transformed travel.

“This was the plane that introduced flying to the middle class in the US,” said Ben Smith, CEO of Air France-KLM.

Before the 747, the average family couldn’t fly from the United States to Europe cheaply,” Smith told Reuters.

The jumbo jet also made its mark on world affairs, symbolizing war and peace, from the nuclear command post of America’s “Doomsday Plane” to papal visits in chartered 747 jets, nicknamed Shepherd One.

Now, two previously delivered 747s are being installed to replace the US presidential planes known worldwide as Air Force One.

As a Pan Am flight attendant, Linda Freier served passengers ranging from Michael Jackson to Mother Teresa.

“It was an incredible diversity of passengers. People who were well dressed and people who had very little and spent everything they had on that ticket,” Freier said.

Transformer

When the first 747 took off from New York on January 22, 1970, after a delay due to engine failure, it more than doubled the aircraft’s capacity to 350-400 seats, in turn reshaping the airport’s layout.

“It was the plane for the people, the one that really delivered the ability to be a mass market,” said aviation historian Max Kingsley-Jones.

“It was transformative in all aspects of the industry,” added the Ascend by Cirium senior consultant.

His birth became the stuff of aviation myth.

Pan Am founder Juan Trippe sought to reduce costs by increasing the number of seats. On a fishing trip, he challenged Boeing president William Allen to do something that dwarfed the 707.

Allen put legendary engineer Joe Sutter in charge. Sutter’s team, known as “the Incredibles,” took just 28 months to develop the 747 before first flight on February 9, 1969.

Though it eventually became a cash cow, the early years of the 747 were plagued with problems and billion-dollar development costs nearly bankrupted Boeing, which believed the future of air travel lay in airplanes. supersonics.

After a slump during the oil crisis of the 1970s, the airplane’s heyday came in 1989 when Boeing introduced the 747-400 with new engines and lighter materials, making it the perfect choice to meet growing demand. of transpacific flights.

“The 747 is the most beautiful plane and the easiest to land… It’s like landing in an easy chair,” said Dickinson, who also heads aviation maintenance firm Caerdav.

era of economy

The same wave of innovation that got the 747 off the ground has come to an end, as advances made it possible for twin-engine jets to replicate its range and capability at lower cost.

However, the 777X, which will take the 747’s place at the top of the jet market, won’t be ready until at least 2025 after some delays.

“In terms of impressive technology, great capacity, great economy… [el 777X] unfortunately it makes the 747 look obsolete,” said AeroDynamic Advisory managing director Richard Aboulafia.

However, the latest version of the 747-8 is set to take to the skies for years to come, primarily as a freighter, having outlived the European Airbus AIR.PA A380 double-decker airliner in production.

This week’s final 747 delivery casts doubt on the future of the gigantic but now underutilized Everett widebody production plant outside Seattle, while Boeing is also struggling after the COVID pandemic and a safety crisis. of the 737 MAX.

Chief Executive Dave Calhoun has said that Boeing may not design a new plane for at least a decade.

“It was one of the wonders of the modern industrial age,” Aboulafia said, “but this is not an age of wonders, it’s an age of economy.”

Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channel Youtube and activate notifications, or follow us on social networks: Facebook, Twitter and instagram.