Aircraft Boeing 747, easily recognizable thanks toits "hunchbacked" fuselage, is in fact a by-product of the military development of the 70s. At that time, the US government needed a large-capacity transport aircraft for which a tender was announced. Boeing did not receive a military order, but felt that a large civil-transport aircraft would be in demand on the air transportation market.
So there were developments of the Boeing 747 Jambo Jet,which was twice the size of the largest aircraft of that time. Each aircraft of this design was then worth about 16.8 million dollars (1966), so the company needed a large customer, which became the company Pan American. She ordered 25 aircraft of this design for a total of $ 525 million.
In 1969, the Boeing 747-100 was first introducedat the Paris Air Show, and in the first six months of 1970 Pan Amenique carried the first million passengers on the London-New York route through these planes.
Since then, Boeing has produced variousaircraft, passenger versions of which are very diverse. At first, the 747-100V model was created, which has a larger take-off mass. Then for the Japanese users released 747SR, which was intended for short flights and volume passenger traffic. For long flights, the Boeing 747 SP was intended. At the same time, it should be noted that the original model 747-100 was modified for the Civil Reserve - in 19 aircraft of this series, transformations were made that make it possible to turn a passenger aircraft into a transport vehicle for two days.
Today, over different countries and continentsairplanes such as 747-200 fly, which can transport about 450 passengers at a time to a distance of up to 12.7 thousand km, climbing a maximum height of 13.7 km. Also it is possible to note its variant - Boeing 747-300 with the extended upper cabin for passengers, which allows to accommodate a maximum of 660 people.
The Boeing 747 ships participate in bothcivil, and military passenger transport. In 1990-1991, these brands were involved in the transfer of US troops to Iraq (it was transported about 640 thousand soldiers). At the production base of Boeing and Lockheed, the Yal-1A model was developed, carrying a combat laser on board to destroy enemy missiles. There is also a variety of 747-100 - 747-123, which carries a space shuttle on the "back" (thirteen flights have been made with the shuttle "Enterprise").
The disadvantages of this series of aircraft is thatthat in the first years of their flights, airports could not cope with passenger traffic, at the same time unloading from receiving a large number of aircraft. For example, Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport hardly “processed” passengers who arrived at 2-3 Boeings, because their total number was 700-1000 people in a short period of time.
In addition, air crashes such transportfunds are fraught with a large number of victims. In 1996, two passenger ships collided in India - 747 and Il-76. This accident claimed the lives of more than 350 people. And in the collision of two 747 (206B and 121) in 1977, about 580 passengers were killed.
