Introduced in the 1970s with Pan Am, nothing has ever screamed “American prosperity” quite like a double-decker plane, the Boeing 747.
Large enough to destroy even the most claustrophobic passenger’s fears, these airborne islands—with penthouse apartments for business class—blew minds every time their wheels eased off and on the tarmac.
The elephantine planes could have been reduced to a few years of hubristic service, but these jumbo jets beat the odds and rising fuel costs to enjoy an enormous reign as the “Queen of the Skies”.
They still hold a few routes today, thanks to Lufthansa, KLM, British Airways, and United.
They were cool when we were in kindergarten, and they’re still cool now. Here’re some awesome 747 facts you probably don’t know.
1. Boeing 747s have flown more than 3.5 billion people.
That is almost half the planet’s population.
2. The 350-400 person Boeing 747 once carried 1,087 people at once.
During the Operation Solomon evacuation, Israel played some serious clown airplane, tripling standard capacity by modifying the airplane.
This beat Qantas’ 747 evacuation record of 674.
3. It takes 90 gallons of paint to paint a Boeing 747.
This is the same volume as a 30-minute shower with a decent-flow/Kramer-approved shower head and looks sweet in time-lapse.
4. There are 14 stairs to the upper deck.
Maybe not that impressive on its own, but this is a plane with stairs, people. Think about that!
5. That upper deck alone has the same square footage as a 737.
Did we mention this is a big plane?
6. Boeing has modified around 15 of their 1,500 Boeing 747 planes for special purposes.
Air Force Ones, E-5 military command centers, space shuttle carriers, refueling tanker planes, and the Dreamlifter.
The plane looks like an anaconda that ate a horse. This one, in particular, was built to transport the fuselage of Boeing’s new jumbo jet, the Dreamliner.
A few others are also modified to be converted at a moment’s notice into cargo planes.
7. The Wright brothers could have fit their historic first flight inside a Boeing 747.
8. The landing gear tires are filled with nitrogen to prevent explosive tire blowouts.
This, in turn, prevents spilled Bloody Marys.
9. It was originally designed to be converted into a cargo plane.
When Boeing created the original design, they assumed supersonic travel was going to be the standard, but that subsonic cargo planes would be future-proof.
It turned out that subsonic travel was pretty future-proof as well.
10. There are 365 switches, dials, and lights in the incredibly confusing cockpit.
One for every day of the year. Apparently, this is down from 971.
11. The engine fan diameter is almost as girthy as a B-29 bomber.
Which was an enormous plane in its day.
12. The engine noise of the current Boeing 747 is about half that of the original Pratt & Whitney engines.
It is still, however, f***ing loud.
13. It would take Usain Bolt seven seconds to run from tip to tail.
To be fair, the 747 can cover 100 meters in 0.36 seconds, besting Bolt’s time by 9.22 seconds.
14. The 747 was initially envisaged as a single-aisle double-decker aircraft.
Boeing’s C-5 proposal had called for a double-decker aircraft, with a cargo deck below and a troop deck on top.
Thus, Boeing designers thought a similar twin deck configuration might work for the new 747.
Boeing was also leaning towards this design at the urging of Pan Am CEO Juan Trippe -who like the 747’s primary launch customer- had long dreamed of an aerial ocean liner of the skies.
But Boeing soon realized there were problems inherent to any double-decker design.
15. The test pilots marveled at how well the 747 handled turbulence from the very first flight.
As flew out, realize the airplane was very responsive and performing very successfully.
It probably handled turbulence better than other aircraft at the time, because it was larger and heavier and those same air currents would have less effect.
And in the end, the 747 transformed air travel because its operating costs per seat were 30% lower than competing airliners.
Thus, via lower ticket prices, opened up air travel to the masses.
Without the 747, there would likely have been no extended range Boeing 767s, 777s, and 787s; no Airbus A330s, 340s, or 380s.
16. Surprise, It’s Still The Fastest Commercial Plane
The Boeing 747 is the fastest commercial airplane, with a top speed of Mach .86, just over 650MPH.
And it’s only fitting that on its 50th anniversary in 2020, it set a transatlantic flight record between New York and London, making it in under 5 hours!
17. Some Passengers Are Closer To The Front Than Pilots
There’s an incredible novelty to the passenger experience on the Boeing 747.
It’s the only plane where passengers can either sit in a miniature upstairs bubble or directly in the nose, in front of the pilots!
Sitting in the downstairs nose of the Boeing 747 puts lucky passengers both lower and closer to the front of the plane than the pilots – and this provides incredible views during takeoff and landing.
It’s a bucket list experience, without a doubt