The Longest Passenger: Boeing 747-8
It is interesting that the Airbus A380, with its gigantic size and record capacity, is not the longest passenger aircraft in the world. This title is held by the former number one among Boeing 747 airliners in version 8. The Boeing 747-8 is the third generation of the double-deck 747, which made its first flight back in 1969 and entered commercial service about a year later.
The record of this airplane in terms of weight and capacity among passenger airliners was kept for 36 years – just till the appearance of the Airbus A380. At the same time, some of its records are still unbroken. The Boeing 747-400 in 1989 made the longest non-stop flight for commercial airliners, covering a distance of more than 18 000 km from London to Sydney in 20 hours and 9 minutes. There was no cargo or passengers on board.
The Boeing 747-8 is produced in two versions – passenger (747-8I) and cargo (747-8F). In the near future, it is likely that another version will appear – a highly specialized one: the U.S. Air Force is looking at the 747-8 as the future “number one” – for the U.S. president. The 747-200, which was put into service in the late 1980s and has been extensively reworked compared to its production version, performs this role now. Notably, a Russian trace appears here: the Boeing 747-8I, which was ordered by the bankrupt Russian company Transaero and is now stored in the Mojave Desert in the USA (due to climatic conditions, planes stored there at a special landfill are virtually immune to corrosion), is to be converted into a presidential flight.
In 1991, a Boeing 747 set a world record in passenger transport: during the military operation “Solomon” to evacuate Ethiopian Jews to Israel, 1,112 passengers were seated aboard the 747 and reached their destination. Among other things, the aircraft was also used to transport Space Shuttle spacecraft from the production site to the launch site. The 747-8I is the longest passenger aircraft in the world.
It was considered, that Boeing 747-8 was shot in the movie “Casino Royale”, supposedly this plane was saved from terrorists by James Bond. But at the time of filming the model did not exist, and the role of the airliner was played by the disguised Boeing 747-236B.
The Boeing 747 is also a record-breaker in terms of popularity in the world. It is known that more than a thousand and a half of such airliners were produced.
