On February 9, 1969 there was a revolution in the field of aviation as the first wide body aircraft was launched by the aircraft making company Boeing for long haul flights.

Upon it’s arrival in the aircraft market, it was often described as the “jumbo jet” because of its structure. It consist of a full lower deck and a half upper deck. Its distinctive hump upper deck along the forward part of the aircraft has made it one of the most recognizable aircraft. First flown commercially on January 22, 1970, by Pan Am World Airways the 747 held the passenger capacity record for 37 years. It’s capacity ranges from 424 passengers to 660 passengers and it’s velocity can go to 920 km/ph.

As of December 2018, 1548 Boeing 747 have been made and the programme cost was $1Billion in 1968. Also as of July 2018, 462 Boeing 747s are in airline service, with British Airways being the largest operator with 36 747s.

The journey of Boeing 747 was not easy as it was described as the aircraft type with worst safety record and is involved in 146 accidents and incidents which resulted in 61 hull losses and 3722 fatalities. In fact the first two worst aircraft accidents involved the 747s. The first was the Tenerife airport disaster in Spain on March 27, 1977 in the 747 of KLM and Pan Am which resulted in 583 casualties and the second was the Japan Airlines flight 123 on August 12, 1985 which resulted in 520 casualties. According to the investigators, the main reason for these accidents was the flaw in the design of the 747

Recently, on February 9 of this year the Boeing 747 completed it’s golden jubilee. It is the only aircraft type which remained in the aircraft market for 50 years. Now it’s main operators include British Airways, Korean air, Lufthansa and Atlas air. Other then these there are also a few airlines such as Air India and Asiana airlines which also still operates the 747s but they are less in number.

Variants of Boeing 747.

–Boeing 747-400

–Boeing 747 SP

–Boeing 747-8

–Boeing VC-25

–Boeing E-4

A British airways Boeing 747-400. The largest operator of the aircraft.