Features
Stories and interactive tools for exploring the Boeing 747, from its systems and dimensions to passenger routes and aircraft spotting.
Pieces that do not fit the variant-by-variant reference, but are worth their own space.
In this section
- The Everett factory - the largest building in the world by volume, put up because no existing building could hold a 747
- 747 versus A380 - the two largest airliners ever built, and why both are out of production
- What happened to the retired 747s - boneyards, freighter conversions, museums and stranger afterlives
- Flying the 747 - the type rating, the handling, and what pilots say about it
- How 747 freight works - the nose door, motorised floors and 30 pallet positions
- The 747 on screen - the most filmed airliner ever built
- Designing 747s for high cycles - the engineering behind Japan's short-range jumbos, and the fatigue failure behind JAL 123
- How 747 Combi fire rules changed - Class B cargo compartments, SAA Flight 295 and the rulemaking that followed
- Records and firsts - including the 1,088 people carried on one aircraft
- 747 versus 777 - the twin that actually replaced it, built by the same company
- The Boeing 2707 - the supersonic airliner that gave the 747 its hump
- Maintaining a 747 - the check cycle, and why the maintenance bill decides retirement
- The 747 nearly killed Boeing - the debt, the layoffs and the billboard
- Joe Sutter - the chief engineer, and the decision that made the 747 wide rather than tall
- The widebody war - the DC-10 and TriStar destroyed each other; the 747 was in a different fight
- The farewell flights - kangaroos in the sky, retro liveries and sold-out seats
- How the 747 changed airports - terminals, jetways, baggage and pavement
Tools
- 747 Explorer brings the cutaway, size comparison, passenger route finder, photo quiz, airframe histories and personal spotting logbook together.
- Where can you still fly on a 747?: reported passenger routes, dated sources and known aircraft changes
- Explore inside a 747: select the aircraft's systems in an illustrated cutaway
- Aircraft size comparison: 747 variants, the A380 and the 777 at the same scale
- Which 747? Photo quiz: nine photographs and the visual clues behind each answer
- 747 spotting logbook: browser-stored entries with CSV backup and restore
- Design a 747 livery: paint an original aircraft illustration and download your design
- Load a 747 freighter: solve cargo-door, weight and balance teaching challenges
- Interactive 747 cockpit: compare analogue and glass displays as you adjust instrument readings
- 747 airport spotting guides: source-checked public viewing locations at five airports
- 747 engine sound library: four licensed recordings with playback and A/B comparison
- 747 memories: attributed recollections and a contribution composer for editorial review
- 747 units converter - knots, feet, nautical miles, lb and Jet A, converted openly
- Payload-range explorer - every variant's range, seats and weight side by side
- Registration / customer-code decoder - what the letters after 747- mean
Elsewhere
- The 747 family - every variant with production numbers
- Specifications - all variants compared
- 747 systems - how the aircraft works
The jumbo workshop
- Run a 747 airline - Play a six-month 747 airline strategy game. Choose an era, cabin, route, fares and frequency, and balance fictional demand against operating costs.
- The 747 that never was - Explore Boeing's 747X and Stretch proposals, the 2001 change in direction and the later 747-8, with original schematic illustrations and dated sources.
- Build the jumbo - Assemble an illustrated Boeing 747 in seven stages, from the centre structure to engines, cabin systems and testing, with explanations at each step.
- One flight, behind the scenes - Follow a 747 turnaround from arrival to pushback. Add delays to catering, fuel, baggage and boarding, and explore how parallel tasks affect departure.
- Design your own 747 cabin - Arrange economy seats, business seats, suites, lounges and bedrooms across two simplified 747 decks, then download your original cabin design as an SVG.
- Junior Jumbo: a 747 through a child's eyes - Discover the 747 with printable colouring and cutaway sheets, a paper jumbo craft model, a paper-strength experiment and a three-question junior quiz.
- The people who made it fly - Explore six perspectives on working with the Boeing 747 and prepare a first-person interview contribution for editorial review in a new oral-history archive.
- Jumbo myths lab - Test three jumbo-jet myths with interactive wing-flex, landing-gear steering and thrust diagrams, supported by Boeing, NASA and FAA explanations.
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the primary and institutional references below.
- Boeing 747 - Wikipedia
- Boeing 747-8 - Boeing
Related topics
The story of the Boeing 747
How the 747 came to exist - the Pan Am bet, the factory built to make it, the hump that came from a freighter, and why production ended in 2023.
What Boeing supplied, and what the airline chose
Almost everything inside a 747-400 cabin was buyer-furnished and fitted under STC, which is why approved cabin modifications run to dozens.
The 747 as a flying testbed
General Electric, Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney all fly engines on 747s - because a four-engined aircraft can carry a strange engine safely.
747 Timeline
A Boeing 747 chronology from the 1963 design study to the final delivery in January 2023, with rollout, first flight and delivery dates.
About Alykhan Virani
Meet Alykhan Virani, the Boeing 747 enthusiast who researches, writes and reviews the independent reference pages on Boeing-747.com.
Active Boeing 747 Fleet Tracker
Track confirmed passenger and cargo Boeing 747 operators with dated fleet counts, primary sources, methodology and downloadable records.
In this section
Explore the Boeing 747
Design a 747 livery, load a freighter, explore cockpit instruments, find flights and spotting locations, hear engines and share aircraft memories.
How to Identify Boeing 747 Variants
Identify Boeing 747 variants from photographs using upper-deck length, wingtip shape, fuselage length, engine nacelles and freighter doors.
The building that had to be built first
Boeing had no building big enough for the 747, so it built the largest building in the world by volume - and assembled the aeroplane while it was going up.
747 versus A380
The two largest airliners ever built, compared - size, capacity, economics, and why both are now out of production.
Where Can You Still Fly on a Boeing 747?
Find reported passenger Boeing 747 routes, check schedule dates and aircraft changes, and browse airline seat maps before choosing a flight.
Where the 747s went
Most retired 747s were scrapped. Others became freighters, museum pieces, restaurants, a hotel - and one launched satellites into orbit.
Flying the 747
What the 747 is like to fly - the type rating, the view from 30 feet up, the handling, and why pilots talk about it the way they do.
How 747 freight actually works
The nose door, motorised floor rollers, 96 by 125 inch pallets and 30 main-deck positions - how a 747 freighter is loaded and why it beat everything else.
The 747 on screen
From the Airport disaster films to Air Force One and Executive Decision, the 747 is the most filmed airliner ever built.
Records and firsts
The most people ever carried on one aircraft, the longest nonstop delivery flight, the fastest circumnavigation - the 747's records, with the caveats.
The supersonic airliner that gave the 747 its hump
Boeing's Mach 3 SST was cancelled in 1971 without a prototype - but the 747 was designed around the assumption that it would succeed.
747 versus 777
The aircraft that replaced the 747 was built by the same company - how a twin came to do the four-engined aeroplane's job, and why.
Maintaining a 747
Line checks, A checks, C checks and the D check - how a 747 is kept airworthy, and why maintenance decides when an aircraft is retired.
The 747 nearly killed Boeing
Building the 747 took Boeing to the edge of bankruptcy. Employment fell from 100,800 to 38,690, and a billboard asked the last person out to turn off the lights.
How the 747 changed airports
The 747 arrived faster than the airports that had to handle it - and forced changes to terminals, jetways, baggage systems and pavement.
Joe Sutter, father of the 747
The engineer who led 4,500 people to design the 747 in 29 months, chose four engines over two decks, and spent his whole career at Boeing.
The 747, the DC-10 and the TriStar
Three widebodies arrived within three years. Two were trijets aimed at the same market, and they destroyed each other.
How the airlines said goodbye
Kangaroos drawn in the sky, retro liveries and sold-out seats - the 747's retirements were unlike any other aircraft's.
Boeing 747-100 vs 747-200
What the 747-200 added to the original 747-100: more thrust, higher takeoff weights, a ten-window upper deck and freighter, combi and convertible variants.
Boeing 747-200 vs 747-300
The 747-300's stretched upper deck gave it about ten percent more capacity than the 747-200, with quieter engines and no change in length or weight limits.
Boeing 747-400 vs 747-8
The 747-8 is bigger, heavier and quieter than the 747-400, with a new wing, GEnx-2B engines and a stretched fuselage - but it sells a fraction as well.
Boeing 747SP vs 747-100
The 747SP traded forty-plus seats for nearly 48 ft of fuselage and a 5,830-nautical-mile range - the first 747 built to fly further, not carry more.
Factory freighters vs converted 747 freighters
A factory 747 freighter is built for cargo from the start - nose door, no windows, a short upper deck. A conversion re-engineers a retired passenger 747 instead.
Boeing 747 engines compared
The three 747 engines - Pratt & Whitney's JT9D, General Electric's CF6 and Rolls-Royce's RB211 - and the multi-engine choice that saved the programme.
What Boeing 747 accidents taught aviation
Three patterns run through 747 accidents - fuel-tank safety, crew resource management and improper repairs. Each one changed rules that still govern aviation.
Where to watch a Boeing 747
Plan a 747 spotting visit at Frankfurt, Schiphol, LAX, Narita or Changi, with public viewpoints, access notes, hours and official sources.
Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental vs 747-8F
The 747-8I and 747-8F share an engine, a wing and a weight, but split on the upper deck, the nose door and what they are built to haul.
Designing a 747 to wear out: the high-cycle problem
Japan's domestic 747s were built to survive far more take-off and landing cycles than any long-haul jumbo - and one fatigue failure changed repair rules worldwide.
Boeing 747 payload and range explorer
Explore the documented range, seat count and maximum takeoff weight of every Boeing 747 variant side by side - no interpolated performance figures.
Explore inside a Boeing 747
Discover the Boeing 747's cockpit, fuel tanks, cargo holds, landing gear and systems in an interactive cutaway with links to detailed guides.
The 747 Combi and the fire rule that caught up with it
The 747 Combi carried passengers and freight on one deck under 1940s-era fire rules. After South African Airways Flight 295, those rules were rewritten.
Boeing 747 registration and customer-code decoder
Decode a Boeing 747 model designation: the dash number gives the variant, and the final two characters name the airline that first ordered the airframe.
Compare aircraft sizes
Compare Boeing 747 variants, the Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 on one scale. Overlay their dimensions, switch views and see lengths and wingspans.
Boeing 747 units converter
Convert the units in Boeing 747 specification tables - airspeed, altitude, range, weight and fuel - between knots, km/h, feet, metres, nautical miles and kg.
Design your own Boeing 747 livery
Paint an original Boeing 747 illustration with your colours, airline name and registration. Choose a variant and download your design as a PNG or SVG.
Explore the 747 cockpit instruments
Explore classic and glass-inspired Boeing 747 instruments. Change sample altitude, airspeed, heading, attitude and thrust-lever readings in your browser.
The Boeing 747 History Quiz
A 10-question Boeing 747 history quiz covering the launch airlines, the engineers who built the jumbo, and the bestsellers of the family.
Listen to Boeing 747 engines
Listen to licensed Boeing 747 recordings, compare RB211 and GEnx-2B engines, filter by flight phase and download credited audio clips.
Which 747 is this? Photo quiz
Identify Boeing 747 variants and special aircraft in nine credited photographs, with visual clues, instant explanations and a score to test your spotting skills.
Your Boeing 747 spotting logbook
Keep a personal Boeing 747 spotting logbook with registrations, dates, airports and notes. Save in your browser and import or export a CSV backup.
Load a Boeing 747 freighter
Load a simplified Boeing 747 freighter deck in three puzzles. Choose a cargo door, fit long loads and explore capacity and balance with keyboard controls.
Boeing 747 memories
Read sourced Boeing 747 recollections from engineers and cabin crew, then preview your own memory and prepare a contribution package for editorial review.
Run a 747 airline
Play a six-month 747 airline strategy game. Choose an era, cabin, route, fares and frequency, and balance fictional demand against operating costs.
The 747 that never was
Explore Boeing's 747X and Stretch proposals, the 2001 change in direction and the later 747-8, with original schematic illustrations and dated sources.
Build the jumbo
Assemble an illustrated Boeing 747 in seven stages, from the centre structure to engines, cabin systems and testing, with explanations at each step.
One flight, behind the scenes
Follow a 747 turnaround from arrival to pushback. Add delays to catering, fuel, baggage and boarding, and explore how parallel tasks affect departure.
Design your own 747 cabin
Arrange economy seats, business seats, suites, lounges and bedrooms across two simplified 747 decks, then download your original cabin design as an SVG.
Junior Jumbo: a 747 through a child's eyes
Discover the 747 with printable colouring and cutaway sheets, a paper jumbo craft model, a paper-strength experiment and a three-question junior quiz.
The people who made it fly
Explore six perspectives on working with the Boeing 747 and prepare a first-person interview contribution for editorial review in a new oral-history archive.
Jumbo myths lab
Test three jumbo-jet myths with interactive wing-flex, landing-gear steering and thrust diagrams, supported by Boeing, NASA and FAA explanations.
Boeing 747 video index
Search and filter every Boeing 747 video this site publishes, with titles, credits, keywords and the page each one lives on.