Is it Going to be the end of the B747?

The undisputed queen of the sky who is ruling the sky from 1960, the most recogniosable airplane's legacy is now in danger as they are getting old, is it  really going to be the end of the 1st double deacker passenger plane ? Is it going to be the end ? may be yes or no, we will see that in future.

It's distinctive "hump" upper deck along the forward part of the aircraft makes it among the world's most recognizable aircraft;and it was the first wide-body produced. Started with Pan Am airline it played a major role in the aviation . it was available in almost each airline's fleet and it made the air travel much cheaper.

• The technology is changing in a super fast way and this 4 engine aircraft are getting old. Most of the major airlines are retiring their 747 fleet .Recently UNITED airlines retire their fleet and their last flight was on nov 8,2017. In America , the last airline to operate 747 was DELTA airline.it stopped it's 747 on 19 dec,2017.

As everyone is talking about this plane and they are getting old day by day and all the major airlines are  going to retire their fleet , a day will come there will be no 747 in the service. As we are missing the CONCORDE , we will surely miss our queen , the 747.So lets talk about why this plane is so important and what was it's role in the aviation?

• As per the record , upto nov 30,2017 ,total 1540 747's had been built and it is a massive no and as of January 2017, the 747 has been involved only in 60 hull losses resulting in 3,722 fatalities , that made the queen one of the safest plane on the planet.

• But it was also involved in the worst crash in the aviation history .On March 27, 1977, two Boeing 747 passenger jets, KLM Flight 4805 and PAN AM Flight1736,collided on the runway at Los Rodeos Airport (now Tenerife North Airport) , on the spanish island of Tenerife, Canary Islands,killing 583 people and making it the deadliest accident in aviation history.
• This plane is not only used for the passenger aircraft or for the cargo but also used for various purposes. One of the major version is the Airforce One; which is used by the president of USA. They are only two in their variant and they are highly modified for the safe transfer of the president.

AIRFORCE ONE

• 
  Have you ever heard of a plane which can carry a space shuttle ? Not inside the plane , right like this.

• So the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) are two extensively modified Boeing 747 airliners that NASA used to transport space shuttle orbiters. One is a 747-100 model, while the other is a short range 747-100SR. The SCAs were used to ferry space shuttles from landing sites back to the shuttle landing facility at the Kennedy Space Center. The orbiters were placed on top of the SCAs by Mate-Demate Devices, large gantry-like structures that hoisted the orbiters off the ground for post-flight servicing then mated them with the SCAs for ferry flights.

• Another special livery came combinely from NASA & German aerospace center.The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is an 80/20 joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR)^[1] to construct and maintain an airborne observatory.SOFIA is based on a Boeing 747SP wide-body aircraft that has been modified to include a large door in the aft fuselage that can be opened in flight to allow a 2.5 m (8.2 ft) diameter reflecting telescope access to the sky. This telescope is designed for infrared astronomy observations in the stratosphere at altitudes of about 12 kilometres (41,000 ft).

• Sultan of Brunei has a customized 747 which he uses for personal use.He is the pilot of his own B747. Generally he flies his own plane whereever he goes.

• So these are some of the special livery of the B747. I hope Boeing will make some changes in this aircraft and keep produce it till last as we do not want to see it being retired. The legacy will remain forever . 
•  It is getting tough competition from it's own B-777 and the Airbus_330 . As the acceptance of twin engine planes for long over ocean routes, the appeal of 4 engined planes has restricted into niche application on super denser routes. Also rising of the super jumbo A-380 is another reason for the drop of the sale.
• As of july 2017 , 488 b-747 are still in service with British Airways(BA) is the largest operator with 36 747-400s But BA also replacing it's 747 into A380s as it has increased it's fleet of A380 int 12.(For those who do not know about the A380, Airbus 380 is the true double deacker and The A380's upper deck extends along the entire length of the fuselage, with a width equivalent to a wide-body aircraft.)

  

  Jumbo B747

  
  

  

  Super Jumbo A380

• As the demand is going less for the passenger variant , we hope that we can only see the 747 only in the cargo version . Recently UPS ordered 14 additional 747-8 aircrafts. So in the end they are not going anywhere , we will see it in different forms only. 

Amit Parida