Aircraft

Boeing 747 Facts

Parts:

• A 747-400 has six million parts (half of which are fasteners) made in 33 different countries.
• A 747-400 has 171 miles (274 km) of wiring and 5 miles (8 km) of tubing.
• A 747-400 consists of 147,000 pounds (66,150 kg) of high-strength aluminum.
• The 747-400 has 16 main landing-gear tires and two nose landing-gear tires.
• The 747-400 tail height is 63 feet 8 inches (19.4 m), equivalent to a six-story building.
• The outer skin, is only .2 in (5 mm) thick. Only 7.5 in (19 cm) separate the passengers from the outside.

Wings:

• One 747-400 wing weighs 28,000 pounds (12,700 kg), 10 times the weight of the first Boeing airplane, the 1916 B&W.
• One 747-400 wing measures 5,600 square feet (524.9 m2), an area large enough to hold 45 medium-sized automobiles.
• Four World War I vintage JN4-D "Jenny" airplanes could be lined up on each of the Boeing 747 wings.
• How much weight does an additional 6-foot (1.8 m) wing-tip extension and winglet add to the 747-400 wing? None! A weight savings of approximately 5,000 pounds (2,270 kg) was achieved in the wing by using new aluminum alloys, which offset the weight increase of the wing-tip extension and winglet.
• The 747s wing tips can flex 26 feet before they snap off.
• The sheet metal on the wings near the tip is only .08 in. thick (2 mm).

Flight:

• The 747 fleet has logged 20 billion statute miles (32 billion km) -- enough to make 42,000 trips to the moon and back.
• The 747 fleet has flown 2.2 billion people -- the equivalent of nearly 40 percent of the world's population.
• The 747-400 range is approximately 8,400 statute miles (13,515 km), an increase of nearly 2,300 statute miles (3,700 km) more than the first 747.
• A 747-400 typically takes off at 180 mph (290 km/h), cruises at 565 mph (910 km/h) and lands at 160 mph (260 km/h).
• For a typical international flight, one 747 operator uses no fewer than 5.5 tons of food supplies and more than 50,000 in-flight service items.

Engines:

• Engine thrust has grown from 43,500 pounds (19,730 kg) per engine on the early 747s to 62,100 pounds (27,490 kg) on the current model.
• The diameter of the 747 engine cowling is 8 feet 6 inches (2.6 m).
• Engine noise from today's 747-400 is half of what it was on the original 747s delivered in 1970.
• Just one engine on a 747 produces more thrust than all four engines on a Boeing 707 put together.

Engineering and Testing:

• Seventy-five thousand engineering drawings were used to produce the first 747.
• The first 747 completed more than 15,000 hours of wind-tunnel testing.
• The original 747 flight test program, which led to the airplane's certification for commercial service in December 1969, used five airplanes, lasted 10 months and required more than 1,500 hours of flying.

Fuel:

• The 747-400 can carry more than 57,000 gallons of fuel (215,745 L), making it possible to fly extremely long routes, such as San Francisco to Sydney, Australia.
• A 747-400 that flies 3,500 statute miles (5,630 km) and carries 126,000 pounds (56,700 kg) of fuel will consume an average of 6.5 gallons (15 L) per mile.
• The 747-400 carries 3,300 gallons (12,490 L) of fuel in the horizontal (tail) stabilizer, allowing it to fly an additional 400 miles.
• The 747-400 is up to 13 percent more fuel efficient than its predecessor, the 747-300, depending on the engine.
• With a 747-100's fuel capacity of 47,200 gallons, a Cessna 150 light-plane can fly 1.1 million miles or a small car could travel 1.5 million miles (60 times around the world).
• Unlike previous version, the tail-plane structure of the 747-400 houses fuel.

Interior:

• At 31,285 cubic feet (876 m3), the 747-400 has the largest passenger interior volume of any commercial airliner, which is equivalent to more than three houses each measuring 1,500 square feet (135 m2).
• The 747-400 has a redesigned "flexible" cabin interior that not only improves passenger conveniences and appeal, but allows airlines to rearrange seats and class configuration overnight (in eight hours). They also permit 48-hour conversion times for changes in galley and lavatory locations.
• Airline cargo handlers use the 747-400's lower-lobe cargo handling system to load or unload more than 65,000 pounds (30,000 kg) of cargo -- the equivalent of 625 pieces of luggage combined with 20 tons of revenue freight -- in less than 15 minutes.
• The Wright brothers' first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, could have been performed within the 150-foot (45 m) economy section of a 747-400.
• There are 365 lights, gauges and switches in the 747-400 flight deck, reduced from 971 on earlier 747 models.

Miscellaneous:

• The 747 was chosen for the earthly job of transporting the space shuttle orbital.
• 747s carry more passengers each year than the population of Germany.
• During test flights, a Boeing 747 almost reached the speed of sound while in a dive.
• An APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) is a small gas turbine and is mounted in the tail unit. While on the ground, this operates the 747's major systems, such as the electricity, heating and air conditioning via an external source such as a generator.
• The pressure difference between the inside and outside of the airplane is so great that each door must be able to withstand a force of many tons. As the pressure increases the doors are designed to lock tighter.
• The 747 has a weather radar dish in the nose.
• 747s usually carry a maximum of 350-400 people but a Qantas aircraft set a record for passengers in 1974 when it evacuated 674 people from Darwin, Australia, after a violent tornado wrecked much of the city.
• For each flight, catering companies prepare, cook, and chill 5 tons of food and drink.
• The pressure in the 747's tires is about 190 to 225 psi for the main gear and 170 to 200 psi for the nose gear. They are 4 ft in diameter and are filled with Nitrogen to prevent explosions from brake heat.
• Painting a 747 requires over 90 gallons of paint. Enough to paint the inside of four family houses. The paint weighs 595 lb (270 kg).
• All the Boeing 747s together have flown about 19 billion miles (30 billion km) since the plane was first launched. That is more than 200 times the distance from the Earth to the sun.
• When full of high pressure air when the cabin is pressurized the takeoff weight is increased by about a ton.

Note: I make no attempt to plagarize or misrepresent any information on this page. Many of these have been found on websites like Boeing as well as various books that I have. I no longer have the sources of this information. If you find an error or find the source please contact me and I will try to correct the problem ASAP.