Boeing’s biggest-ever plane makes maiden flight

Dow Jones Newswires-Wall Street Journal ^ | March 21, 2011

[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.

[LifePath]

That is a photo-shopped version of a real Russian airplane, the Kalinin K-7:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalinin_K-7

The real thing was fascinating, but it didn’t have any naval guns like your picture shows... :)

[tcrlaf]

"Don’t think the B747 can accomodate a forward or rear opening ramp." Uhhh... Yes it can. That's why the hump exists in the first place.

[tcrlaf]

That’s the version from the Indiana Jones movies.

PS- That aircraft’s creator was executed by Stalin as an “Enemy of the State” in 1938.

[TalonDJ]

Boeing is tweaking 40 yr old designs.

The 787 does a lot more that is innovative than they A380. Size does not mean everything. Boeing did not build a super sized plane because their very careful checks of the market conditions lead them to think there was not room to make money their. They customers said they wanted a mid-size aircraft that was a huge leap in efficiency. So that is what they made.

[TalonDJ]

So there you have it, the latest pax version of the 747 is a niche plane.
Every airliner is an niche plane. It is the nature of the market.

[TalonDJ]

So there you have it, the latest pax version of the 747 is a niche plane.
Every airliner is a niche plane. It is the nature of the market.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Because of the way the ceiling slopes, it’s very cozy up there.

One man's cozy is another man's claustrophobic. I've always avoided the 747 and especially the upper level on business flights to Europe - the 777 seems to have a taller ceiling, among other things.

[TalonDJ]

The flying wing design is a huge step in the right direction.

I was a subcontracter for them when Boeing was considering what to make next (before the 787) and I can tell you they thought VERY hard about building that flying wing. There are a lot of reasons they didn't. One is that it would not fit well at existing airport gates.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Prediction: obama will want to upgrade AF-1 to one of these...

I assume it would take quite a few years to prepare several new 747-8s for Air Force One duty. Even if Obama manages a second term he'd probably never fly one as president. And hopefully Congress would not approve the expenditure.

[Hodar]

The big airbus is a piece of crap, only suited for arabs with too much camel competition. Tell me when they can reliably match two electrical fittings together ;).

You mean Arabs, Germans, French, Singapore and Austrailia. And I think they got the two electrical fittings to fit together. I think you were referring to the tail mounted camera, that was about 2 inches too short. This is a super easy mistake to make, when you have a strain relief every 'x' inches over a run of several hundred feet. Easy to make, easy to fix.

[Boiler Plate]

Pretty cool, but it looks more like 1934 seeing there is a biplane in the background.

[toldyou]

“To make it effective they have to fill the seats don’t they?”

I’ve been checking out seats on United to Beijing. Capacity is approximately 268 on a 777, and today’s flight, leaving in 15 minutes, will have 20 empty seats departing Chicago. The 777 is overbooked out of SFO to Beijing, leaving at 12:07pm PDT today.

They’re also full returning. This happens almost everyday.

[driftdiver]

“Good point, let’s stop and cease all R&D efforts on aircraft, spacecraft, rockets, cars, boats and motorocycles. < /sarcasm>”

Well since R&D has continued unabated on the 747 the aircraft is far superior to what was originally designed. Its stupid to change things just to change them. The laws of aerodynamics haven’t changed so there is no need to change the basic airframe. The other areas which have advanced have been changed. So your entire premise is based on the entire Airbus business model, that of hot air.

[cornfedcowboy]

I fly to Europe 4 times a year. Planes are always near capacity although I believe they have reduced the number of flights over the years.

[driftdiver]

“No, let’s just sit on our butts and wonder why companies that didn’t exist when the 747 went into service, are kicking our butts today. “

Easy, its called government subsidies.

[driftdiver]

“Tell me when they can reliably match two electrical fittings together ;)”

Oh they can match them, their just made out of different metals.

[Hardraade]

And I think they got the two electrical fittings to fit together. I think you were referring to the tail mounted camera, that was about 2 inches too short. This is a super easy mistake to make,

No, I'm talking about that embarassment of having to redo thousands, if not *all* the links due to different standards used. It's the kind of minor scandal that tend to crop up whenever british *and* diverse EU contractors try technology. You know, like the old Citroens where you had to hoist out the engine to change sparkplugs :)).

[driftdiver]

Now wings that fail the strength test are not so easy to fix.

[driftdiver]

Most planes are full these days. The airlines figured out how to make money.

[hattend]

It’s been many years since I have not been on a completely full Alaska Air 737 to and from Anchorage. My sister works for Alaska and I keep telling her to suggest that they upgrade to 767s so they wouldn’t have to pack us in like sardines. Southwest is the same way.

I remember in the early 80’s I was flying a red eye from Philly to San Fran on a United (I think) flight. There were 8 people on board. We each had our own flight attendant. You’ll never see that again.