Posted on 03/21/2011 8:47:48 AM PDT by ConservativeStatement
Boeing Co.’s newest 747 passenger jet, the largest commercial plane it has ever built, took to the skies for the first time Sunday, marking the third maiden flight of a new Boeing commercial airplane in the past 15 months. (See video)
Painted in its orange and red “sunrise” livery, the massive, four-engine 747-8 Intercontinental lifted off from Paine Field, north of Seattle, at 10 a.m. local time under partly cloudy skies and gusty northerly winds. At 250 feet long, the 747-8 is 18 feet longer than its predecessor.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagobreakingbusiness.com ...
The 747 is a brilliant design. They’ve been able to stretch the upper deck, re-wing it twice (once on the -400, now again on the -8i), upgrade the engines multiple times...it’s a beautiful piece of engineering.
}:-)4
This is the 747-8:
Sometimes bigger is not better. To make it effective they have to fill the seats don’t they?
Am I color blind or is your picture ... ?
So, while Boeing is making leaps of 20 ft to a design that is closing in on ~40 years old; Airbus is throwing down an aircraft like the 380, 49% larger than the Boeing 747-400.
THAT is progress.
Boeing, what has happened? You used to lead the world, now you are polishing a 40 yr old design, and crowing about your achievements.
Is the next generation 747, the 747-9 going to have the upper deck go all the way back to the rudder? It’s half way there on the -8 now. the upper deck has slowly been increasing in length over the years. Why not go all the way on the next itteration. It would look pretty cool, too. It wouldn’t lose much of its sleeknes and would look a lot better than that whale Airbus built, the 380.
Love the paint scheme. Red, orange (red + white) and white. It says to me “communism is creeping up from below and coming at us from behind”.
With Airbus, the pilot is a voting member...with obvious results when flying in thunderstorms.
With Boeing, the pilot is the commander.
‘Nuff said.
With Airbus, the pilot is a voting member...with obvious results when flying in thunderstorms.
With Boeing, the pilot is the commander.
‘Nuff said.
IIRC the Airbus A380’s owners are having difficulty finding runways that can withstand its gigantic weight, while the Boeing 747 & variants can land at almost any scheduled airlines airport. Boeing seems dumb like a fox to me.
What’s wrong with design upgrades? Works for the C-130 and its 55+ year old airframe.
< bragging>
Best flight I ever had was upstairs on a British Airways 747 for an 11 hour flight. The sevice was wonderful and the lay flat seats mad it very easy to sleep. Because of the way the ceiling slopes, it’s very cozy up there. The bragging part is I got an unexpected upgrade at the airport. I was expecting to fly in coach!< /bragging>
Its red where Boeing insignia is and orange above.
And the Dreamliner? what happened to that?
Are they making the coach seats any wider? Sitting in the middle seat of a 737 is torture unless one is stick twig thin and neighbor is not a whale.
Sorry, I just noticed you reply to post 2, not 4.
Sales of the passenger version of the -8 are anemic to put it kindly. However, sales of the cargo version are strong. Lufthansa is buying some of the pax versions and described the plane as “filling a niche between their A-340’s and the A-380”. So there you have it, the latest pax version of the 747 is a niche plane.
That may be the 747-8F. The 747 freighters all use the old 747-100/-200 forward fuselage with the short upper deck. The passenger variants starting with the -300 and into the -400 got the upper deck stretched back to near the leading edge of the wings, but all 747 freighters including the 747-400F and the new 747-8F still have the short version. The only 747 freighters you’ll see with stretched upper decks are ones that have been converted from -300 or -400 passenger variants.
}:-)4
What? Did you drink orange juice for breakfast, or drive in to work?
The Pilot is the commander on every aircraft. He makes the calls, it doesn’t matter in the least whether it’s Boeing, Airbus or a CRJ.
Boeing has been milking a design for 40+ years. That is PATHETIC. The 747 is older than the Space Shuttle. The technology available when the 747 was created is utterly obsolete now. Time to scap the 747, and move forward and actually INNOVATE.
The competition is there, they are innovating and creating competition on both the small (CRJ lines) as well as the large international (Airbus) side of the industry.
Boeing is tweaking 40 yr old designs. At this rate, they will be GONE in another 10 years (at best).
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