boeing 747
 

Hi everyone, I was wondering what it was like the first time you got to fly the 747? what feelings/emotions were running through your head? were you extremely nervous or calm? haha just wanted to see different peoples experiences are with this huge plane. I dont even understand how something that big can fly? im always in amazement everytime I see one take off.

uh oh...


:eek:

An airplane is an airplane. Everyone is a little nervous on their first day in a new aircraft. The thing with the 74 is you have to remember hat you have a whole lot of mass behind you pushing you, meaning you cant slow down from the marker while doing 250. The hardest part about flying the 74 is taxiing it.

Humbled
 

noob:

It humbled me. In a word: inertia.

I had 4000 hours of military time, mostly twin jet time when I went into the 747 sim the first time. I was used to fighters and trainers, where control response is very rapid, and when controls are neutralised, movement around any axis stops almost immediately.

In the 747, with lots of weight (engines and fuel) so far out from the fuselage, once you get the thing rolling, it doesn't want to stop. Pitch is similar, with such a long fuselage. I overcontrolled in bank and pitch for the first two sim sessions.

In other words, I was used to airplanes where the dynamic damping from the empennage/dihedral was greater than the inertial effect of the airframe.

The 747 (and most other heavy airliners) are exactly the opposite.

Once I learned to master the beast (and I flew the -100, 200, and -400), the word was "Majestic." It amazed me that something designed on paper in the 1960s, with slide rules (not even hand-held calculators back then), could be so big and so fast (redline is 0.92 Mach), have the ability to fly a third of the way around the world, and still turn a profit.

Pretty amazing machine.

I'll be able to give you an answer in a few weeks. Going by past experiences, I don't anticipate being nervous...

U da' MAN ...

:D:D:D

I'll be more nervous for the oral next week...flying's the easy part(usually).;)

I'll second Thedude's statement about the hardest part being taxiing.

At max weight and flaps ten, Vr approaches 180 Knots. You will get up close and personal with the far end of a lot of 13,000 foot runways.

It's not as flexible in terms of slow down and go down as a 727, but better than the 737, and much better than the 757.

Joe

Concur with the above....I went to it from a 56k lb. turboprop (E-2)..
For me,
- Taxiing was/is hardest! Fine line between keeping it rolling and rolling too fast.
- Getting the be-otch to slow down/come down. The late descent in ANC sucks, especially on the classic where you get speed brakes or flaps, not both. The key I've found is to be judicious use of the landing gear to add drag.
- Inertia: one of the instructors referred to the 747 as a fat woman: plan early where you want her to go, and don't let her get going to fast in any direction.

Beyond that, and overall, I found it way easier than the Hawkeye. Doesn't have any bad habits if you plan appropriately and it's actually nice to hand fly.

Spongebob

Nice post.

I came into the classic from learjet 20's. My first takeoff on ioe was off 31L at Kennedy. 800,000lbs gtow in August! After rolling 11,000 feet all The bird would do in the Canarsie climb was around 1200 fpm! Once the wing got clean it bumbed up to 2000fpm. I thought we had lost an engine. :eek: I didn't find taxing difficult. I like being able to see the whole airport.

Wait till you go into those airports with narrow taxiways, such as Mansted England. Or runways where you have to make a 180 to get back to the nearest exit. The pucker factor is high on those turns.

If you dont get nervous, you either don't know enough to be nervous or your lying.

"Dear God, please don't let me screw this up."

I found it very easy to taxi and maneuver. You could see everything around you. Unfortunately, after being cleared for takeoff, the A/C left me at the end of the runway. I didn't catch back up with the airplane until somewhere over Alaska :D

It is a great A/C to fly.

I guess the 9400ft and 10,000ft stretches in IAH must make them pucker then. I always see them eating it up. Looks fun.

The 747 handles short fields quite well, just not at max weight. Empty weight is around 400,000 pounds depending on model, and max structural takeoff weight goes up to 910,000 pounds for some models. If you have an empty airplane with four 63,000 pound thrust engines the acceleration is spectacular.

Joe:D

Well, I'm not lying, so according to you I must be stupid...:rolleyes: What's there to be nervous about? Anxious or excited sure, nervous? I have enough confidence in my abilities to get the thing back on the deck. If I didn't after 15+ years of flying, I think there would be something wrong.

Hmmmm...... Well first I would say centerline. The main gear is 75 feet wide. Stay on center line and all is well. Just like any other airplane. And the book spells out how to do a 180 using the visual ques available on the flight deck. You can turn the airplane around easily with the body gear steering. Have to be careful to enter the turn with enough energy though. You dont want to blow anything over behind you with thrust! :eek: If the body gear steering is mel'd it gets a little tricky.

It's been years since I was furloughed from the -400 and I've been on everything from DC-10 airbus MD,s you name it. And they all feel tynie and insignificant compared to that Mamouth docile jumbo.

From my relative who's a 74-200 F/O, I heard that the -200 is a nice airplane to fly, and some what easier because of the lack of "automation" than compared to modern airplanes. He has 4 checklists or so and is done compared to the MD-11, but heard it's very cramped, like an ERJ. I can't wait to be flying one my self, but that's a few years.

Its a blast to take off empty if you don't have a low initial altitude. 4L at ORD was no problem.

Main gear is 36'2". There's a cool set of photos on the net of a South African 747 landing on a 50' wide runway, I think it was only 3900' long!

Lear.

See Boeing.com website. Outboard main gear is 41' from outside of outboard left main tire to outside of outboard right main tire. 36' from center of outboard axle to center of other outboard axle.

Joe