Cargo can be loaded quickly into a 747 cargo vessel thanks to the nose.
Atlas Air
Aviation Geeks I know this day would dawn since July, but the confirmation from Boeing on Monday that it will end production of its 747 jumbo jet next year is still bitter news to swallow. The last plane that left the mammoth factory which Boeing deliberately built to manufacture the double-decker plane over 50 years ago will be four 747-8 cargo ships ordered by Atlas Air.
The aircraft cost about $ 149 million each and will carry the heavy and critical work of flying air cargo around the world. Although the passenger version of the 747 with its staircase and oh so exclusive upper deck the plane rightly won the title Queen of the Skies, it is quite fitting that the groundbreaking aircraft will end up on a cargo note.
Boeing developed the passenger version of the giant aircraft after losing a competition in 1965 to build a large military transport for the U.S. Air Force. (Lockheed won the battle with his plan for the C5A Galaxy). Boeing, trained by Pan Am, redesigned its transportation concept to transport people instead.
After becoming a bestseller at commercial airlines, the success of the 747 as a cargo vessel was not only due to its large size (the 747-8 can fit 137.7 tons of cargo), but also because the nose allowed upwards becomes to load easy load. . Airbus tried to overtake Boeing with a cargo version of it even bigger A380, but it never found buyers.
Look at this:
How United Airlines prepares a Boeing 777 between flights
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Boeing has already ended its production 747-8 Intercontinental passenger version, and both this and previous 747 versions is an incredibly rare sight in the air these days. Airlines have been retiring the aircraft for the past few years, but then the Covid-19 pandemic sharp limited air travel worldwide, the last few commercial 747s landed forever.
Boeing says it will deliver the last aircraft to Atlas Air in 2022. Since the first 747 flight on February 9, 1969, Boeing has built 1,560,747 aircraft.