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Boeing quietly pulls plug on the 747, closing era of jumbo jets

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Re: Boeing quietly pulls plug on the 747, closing era of jumbo jets

#21

Post by dnautics »

makerofspoons wrote: post #19
nsl73 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you need to do air travel, these larger airplanes are better then smaller airplanes per passenger.

The lifecycle impact of a 747 is much worse than a 737 or an Embraer 145: https://escholarship.org/content/qt6m5865v5/qt6m5865v5.pdf Regardless of the plane size however, there's no getting around planes depositing pollution in the upper atmosphere is worse than we thought and cannot be thought of in the same way as emissions from a train or power plant: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2207886-it-turns-out-pl...

Not only that but 747s are often doing transarctic travel, dropping soot on the arctic ice.

Re: Boeing quietly pulls plug on the 747, closing era of jumbo jets

#22

Post by fsckboy »

the 747-8F freighter will continue, so the title is misleading. The era is not over, at a maximum closing the era of jumbo passenger jets.

and as points of interest, the hump on the 747 keeps the cockpit out of the way allowing freight to be loaded more easily and completely, and freighters don't mind stopping to refuel (too expensive to carry all that fuel for the whole trip) and that's what makes the 747 continue to make economic sense for freight, while the A380 never did.

Re: Boeing quietly pulls plug on the 747, closing era of jumbo jets

#24

Post by innocenat »

DataJunkie wrote: post #18
anticensor wrote: post #8

The last day of 737 will come sometime soon too.

The 737 is pretty versatile though. It's limitation is capacity and perhaps range. Range has been improved over the years allowing a lot of medium-range thin-capacity flights. The 737, 777 and 787 combined have eliminated the need for the 747, 757 and 767. The classics have mostly or entirely been retired, with the most common models being the -700 and -800. The family has enough flexibility to evolve in range withou…

> The 737, 777 and 787 combined have eliminated the need for the 747, 757 and 767.

There are huge demand for A321LR precisely because there is a need for 757-like capacity and range. Granted, when 757 was discontinued the demand wasn't there yet.

Re: Boeing quietly pulls plug on the 747, closing era of jumbo jets

#26

Post by Tiltowait-- »

sesuximo wrote: post #23

It’s a little sad that we’ve retired the 747, the Concorde, and (almost) the A380. And we haven’t introduced anything cool :(

The Concorde was done in by fuel prices, and because it was a small aircraft. I visited one in a museum and it was claustrophobic. Also nobody should be sorry that elites have to sit on long overseas flights just like we do.

The A380 was a boondoggle from the beginning, an attempt to outdo Boeing by having TEH BIGGEREST aircraft on the market. Having to rebuild airports to accommodate it wasn't a good idea.

The 747 is a 1960s design, for Pete's sake. How long were we planning on keeping it around?

Re: Boeing quietly pulls plug on the 747, closing era of jumbo jets

#28

Post by mantap »

sesuximo wrote: post #23

It’s a little sad that we’ve retired the 747, the Concorde, and (almost) the A380. And we haven’t introduced anything cool :(

I won't weep too many tears for the 747 but the A380 is seriously pleasant to fly on. It will be sad if it doesn't come back post COVID-19.

Re: Boeing quietly pulls plug on the 747, closing era of jumbo jets

#29

Post by architect64 »

sjm-lbm wrote: post #4

I know it's not the most important thing, but I feel that 747s are easily the prettiest passenger airplane in the sky right now. Going to miss the variety they provided at the airport.

I don't know about prettiest; I'm a big fan of the 787's sleek, flexible composite wings. :P

Re: Boeing quietly pulls plug on the 747, closing era of jumbo jets

#30

Post by Tiltowait-- »

ponker wrote: post #5

The 747 is humanity's greatest achievement. Air travel is the confluence of engineering, policy and governance (the heyday of the FAA/NTSB and how we got to the point where air travel is this safe), and the systems engineering that get aircraft, people, and baggage to so many different places. What the Boeing 747, and only the Boeing 747, has is true artistic value, with a profile evoking Botticelli or Rubens.

Artistic value? With the ugly hump?

That hump isn't just physically ugly, it's socially ugly as well. It is where the elites congregate. Anything that diminishes their status relative to our own is a good thing.

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