5 ms·

I was used to seeing mostly smallish domestic flight planes up close and to me they seemed big but not imposing. Once I saw one of them parked next to 747, and

I was used to seeing mostly smallish domestic flight planes up close and to me they seemed big but not imposing. Once I saw one of them parked next to 747, and boy was I blown away. The small plane's fuselage was sort of same size as the 747's engine; and 747 had four of those engines! That's when I realised how humongous 747 is. I still marvel at human agency; not only can they build structures as big as 747 it can also fly across continent, reliably and safely carry hundreds of passengers in total comfort.

moloch-hai 4y ago
A 747 once carried more than 1000 people. No seats.
- teh_klev 4y ago
  For anyone else wondering, this happened during Operation Solomon in 1991: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Solomon#World_record https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Solomon#World_record
Aperocky 4y ago
> in total comfort. That depends..
- eCa 4y ago
  It certainly does. Not a knock on Boeing[1], but my least comfortable flight ever was on a Virgin 747 from London to New York. At 194 cm (6”4) I’m tall, but not insanely so. I got a middle seat in the middle section where it was physically impossible to fit my legs. Thankfully, before even taxiing out I was able to move to a bulkhead seat in the family row. Since then I insist on picking the seats (emergency exit row ftw) when travelling with someone. [1] Though I believe that aircraft manufacturers should require some minimal level of comfort on planes they make.
  - pixiemagic 4y ago
    Ultimately they're making planes for the airlines to buy though. If the airlines say they'd rather fit in 300 people by making most of the rows cramped together than 250 people with more legroom, the aircraft manufacturers will make sure they account for that in their design.
eastbound 4y ago
What astonishes me is that they built the 747 first, before the small planes. It’s like Airbus’s birth was initiated with the Concorde, then the mass-passenger planes. All with negative timestamps, since we were before 01/01/1970 (joke). Leaders of that time knew they had to start with the grandest project before cascading for a full range of smaller products; whereas leaders today roll out an MVP and try to grow from there. It truly was another epoch, the epoch of mass amounts of money and resources, not little optimizations.
- pixiemagic 4y ago
  I don't think that's true. Pretty sure the 707 and 727 were launched and in service before the 747 even started development. The 737 was certainly in development as well, and was in service before the 74. So by the time the 747 was flying with airlines, they already had the 707, 727 and 737 flying.
- jaywalk 4y ago
  The 747 was the first widebody (dual aisle) plane ever produced, but the 707, 727 and 737 all came before it.
- mrguyorama 4y ago
  Boeing quite literally "bet the company" on the 747 and if it hadn't been as popular as it was the company would have struggled to continue, saddled with enormous debt and no products companies wanted to buy
  - WillAdams 4y ago
    Interestingly, one of the ways that they hedged this bet was by designing it to be easily converted into a cargo plane (though the assumption was the supersonic aircraft would be the replacements).
pbh101 4y ago
One of my favorite pictures is from 2007 when Boeing lined them all up and you can just how big the 747 is. https://twistedsifter.com/2010/11/picture-of-the-day-boeing-7-series-lineup-nov-14-2010/ https://twistedsifter.com/2010/11/picture-of-the-day-boeing-...
- mjg59 4y ago
  Of those aircraft, the upper lobe of the 707, 727, 737 and 757 is the same. There's a lot of history still being carried over into aircraft manufactured today.
  - pixiemagic 4y ago
    Indeed. I find it fascinating that the widespread modern generations of the 737 still have largely (or maybe entirely?) the same fuselage design as the now-ancient 707.
mjg59 4y ago
The https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Electric_GE9X https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Electric_GE9X used in the 777x (assuming it eventually gets certified) is significantly larger than the 747 engines. Even the engines used on the original 777 from the 90s outsize individual 747 engines, which is somewhat terrifying.
- deergomoo 4y ago
  The 777X engine diameter is about the same as a 737 fuselage https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-e4288424b0e63bb7cb098c31b2cc39dc-lq https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-e4288424b0e63bb7cb098...

moloch-hai 4y ago

A 747 once carried more than 1000 people. No seats.

teh_klev 4y ago
For anyone else wondering, this happened during Operation Solomon in 1991: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Solomon#World_record https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Solomon#World_record

Aperocky 4y ago

> in total comfort. That depends..

eCa 4y ago
It certainly does. Not a knock on Boeing[1], but my least comfortable flight ever was on a Virgin 747 from London to New York. At 194 cm (6”4) I’m tall, but not insanely so. I got a middle seat in the middle section where it was physically impossible to fit my legs. Thankfully, before even taxiing out I was able to move to a bulkhead seat in the family row. Since then I insist on picking the seats (emergency exit row ftw) when travelling with someone. [1] Though I believe that aircraft manufacturers should require some minimal level of comfort on planes they make.
- pixiemagic 4y ago
  Ultimately they're making planes for the airlines to buy though. If the airlines say they'd rather fit in 300 people by making most of the rows cramped together than 250 people with more legroom, the aircraft manufacturers will make sure they account for that in their design.

eastbound 4y ago

What astonishes me is that they built the 747 first, before the small planes. It’s like Airbus’s birth was initiated with the Concorde, then the mass-passenger planes. All with negative timestamps, since we were before 01/01/1970 (joke). Leaders of that time knew they had to start with the grandest project before cascading for a full range of smaller products; whereas leaders today roll out an MVP and try to grow from there. It truly was another epoch, the epoch of mass amounts of money and resources, not little optimizations.

pixiemagic 4y ago
I don't think that's true. Pretty sure the 707 and 727 were launched and in service before the 747 even started development. The 737 was certainly in development as well, and was in service before the 74. So by the time the 747 was flying with airlines, they already had the 707, 727 and 737 flying.
jaywalk 4y ago
The 747 was the first widebody (dual aisle) plane ever produced, but the 707, 727 and 737 all came before it.
mrguyorama 4y ago
Boeing quite literally "bet the company" on the 747 and if it hadn't been as popular as it was the company would have struggled to continue, saddled with enormous debt and no products companies wanted to buy
- WillAdams 4y ago
  Interestingly, one of the ways that they hedged this bet was by designing it to be easily converted into a cargo plane (though the assumption was the supersonic aircraft would be the replacements).

pbh101 4y ago

One of my favorite pictures is from 2007 when Boeing lined them all up and you can just how big the 747 is. https://twistedsifter.com/2010/11/picture-of-the-day-boeing-7-series-lineup-nov-14-2010/ https://twistedsifter.com/2010/11/picture-of-the-day-boeing-...

mjg59 4y ago
Of those aircraft, the upper lobe of the 707, 727, 737 and 757 is the same. There's a lot of history still being carried over into aircraft manufactured today.
- pixiemagic 4y ago
  Indeed. I find it fascinating that the widespread modern generations of the 737 still have largely (or maybe entirely?) the same fuselage design as the now-ancient 707.

mjg59 4y ago

The https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Electric_GE9X https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Electric_GE9X used in the 777x (assuming it eventually gets certified) is significantly larger than the 747 engines. Even the engines used on the original 777 from the 90s outsize individual 747 engines, which is somewhat terrifying.

deergomoo 4y ago
The 777X engine diameter is about the same as a 737 fuselage https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-e4288424b0e63bb7cb098c31b2cc39dc-lq https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-e4288424b0e63bb7cb098...