Introduction
Commonly know as "Jumbo Jet" this wide body aircraft is used as cargo aircraft and also as the commercial passenger plane. This was very common aircraft in 1960s and who took it;s commercial flight on February 9, 1969 and joined the service on January 22, 1970. It has a top speed of 920 km/h and has range of 13,450 km. As of now approx. 1,554 units of this aircraft has been made and already in the sky.
The capacity of this aircraft is from 440 to 660 passengers depending on the class configuration of the plane.
Development
It started in 1963 when US Air Force started a study for the large aircraft. In 1960s due to to increase in commercial air travel the company decided to use this 747 aircraft for commercial transportation. This was also the time when the air traffic was increased as large number of passengers were travelling through small aircrafts. The introduction of this large passenger aircraft at that time also reduced the air traffic to some extent.
The engines of Boeing 747 were designed in such a way that they uses less fuel as compared to the engines of that time and delivers more thrust. In June 1966 Boeing bought approx. 780 acre of land in order to assemble such a giant aircraft.
On September 30, 1968 the first ever 747 was displayed to the press and also to the 26 airline companies of that time. Finally, on February 9, 1969 the first flight of Boeing 747 held by test pilot Jack Weddell, Brien Wygle and Jess Wallick. In first flight it had some issues with flaps of one side which was later taken care of.
January 22, 1970 the first 747 entered the service from at Dulles International Airport. The route for first 747 was set from New York to London.
Accidents
Total of 146 accidents of 747 occurred all over the world, out of which 61 were hull-loss accidents and killed approx. 3722 people.
TWA Flight 800 exploded in mid-air on July 17, 1966.
