Boeing 747-400
Boeing · United States · first flew 1988 · airliner
The original jumbo jet — a four-engined widebody whose forward hump is the most recognisable shape in the sky.
Recognition (WEFT)
| W — Wings | Low-mounted, swept |
|---|---|
| E — Engines | 4 × turbofan, wing-mounted |
| F — Fuselage | Very long fuselage with a slight nose droop |
| T — Tail | Conventional |
WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.
Spot it by:
- Winglets — the instant tell against every earlier 747
- Four engines slung under swept wings
- Very long fuselage with a slight nose droop
Nothing else pairs the upper-deck hump with four wing-mounted engines. From below, count four engines and look for the stepped forward fuselage; the A380 is larger with a full-length second deck rather than a short hump.
Specifications
- The Boeing 747-400 has a length of 70.6 m (232 ft).
- It has a wingspan of 64.4 m (211 ft).
- Its maximum speed is 988 km/h (614 mph).
- Typical crew: 2 flight crew.
Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.
History
Launched by Boeing in the late 1960s as the first widebody airliner, the 747 was conceived when it was assumed supersonic transports would soon make subsonic jets obsolete — hence the raised cockpit and hump, which left the nose free for a freight door. The -400, first flown in 1988, added winglets, a two-crew glass cockpit and far greater range.
Variants
Major passenger versions run from the original -100 through the -200, -300, the best-selling -400, and the re-winged, re-engined 747-8. Freighter (-400F, -8F) and the military VC-25 (Air Force One) are common sights.
Where you'll see it
Passenger 747s are now rare in the UK as airlines retire them, but freighter 747s remain frequent at East Midlands, Stansted and Prestwick, and the type still appears at airshows.
In depth
The 747's celebrated hump began as a hedge against a future that never arrived. When Boeing designed the original in the mid-1960s, the aerospace world was convinced that supersonic airliners would soon dominate long-haul passenger travel and that the subsonic 747 would spend most of its career hauling freight. So Joe Sutter's design team raised the cockpit above the main deck, creating the distinctive forward hump, specifically so that the entire nose could hinge upward as a cargo door, letting pallets be loaded straight down the barrel of the fuselage. The passenger version got a small upstairs lounge behind the flight deck almost as a bonus, and over successive models that upper deck was stretched longer, which is why later 747s including the -400 carry a noticeably extended hump compared with the stubby bump of the earliest aircraft.
The programme was a colossal corporate gamble. Boeing had to build the largest building in the world by volume at Everett, Washington, simply to assemble the aircraft, and the effort nearly bankrupted the company before the first one flew. Sutter's team also made the fateful choice to hang the engines on pylons beneath the wing rather than burying them, which not only made maintenance and re-engining far easier over the decades but gave the 747 its unmistakable four-pod silhouette. The -400 that most spotters know was the great modernisation of the family, adding six-foot winglets that tilt up from the wingtips, a glass cockpit that let the flight engineer's seat be deleted so the aircraft flew with two crew, and extra fuel and range that made it the workhorse of intercontinental travel through the 1990s and 2000s.
In service the type reshaped how the world travelled, bringing long-haul fares within reach of ordinary people for the first time and becoming the default aircraft on prestige routes across the Atlantic and Pacific. British Airways was for years the largest operator of the 747-400, its fleet a fixture at Heathrow, until the collapse in travel during 2020 prompted the airline to retire its entire jumbo fleet abruptly, ending a half-century association. The military VC-25 version serves as Air Force One, and the type also carried the Space Shuttle piggyback for NASA. Its great rival at the top of the market was always the Airbus A380, which set out specifically to unseat it, though in the end both giants were undercut by efficient twin-engine widebodies.
For the British enthusiast the passenger 747 has become a nostalgic rarity, but freighters keep the shape alive. Cargo 747s, including the stretched and re-engined 747-8F, remain regular visitors to East Midlands, Stansted and Prestwick, the last of which has long been a favourite haunt for photographers thanks to the mix of freight and diversions that pass through. Preserved examples give you a static fix; there is a former British Airways 747-400 open to visitors and used for tours in the UK, and the type appears from time to time at airshows and special events. A hard-won recognition tip worth carrying: the surest way to separate a -400 from an earlier 747 at distance is to look for the winglets canting up at the wingtips, which the older -100 and -200 lack entirely, while the newer 747-8 abandons the winglets again in favour of a longer, gracefully raked wingtip and rides on a visibly stretched fuselage. From directly below, simply count four engines and find the stepped hump, and remember that no Airbus has ever worn that particular shape.
Related aircraft
- Boeing 747-100
- Boeing 747-200
- Boeing 747-300
- Boeing 747SP
- Boeing 747-400BDSF
- Boeing 747 Large Cargo Freighter (Dreamlifter)
- Boeing 737-400
- Boeing Condor
- Boeing 737-500
- Boeing VC-25
Compared head-to-head
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