Short Stuff - Boeing 747SP

in a design somewhat contrary to the jumbo jet moniker the Boeing 747sp was on the surface an outlandish variant of the company's superbly successful 747 family of large airliners however beneath the surface the 747sp played a vital role in helping to make this range of gigantic aircraft suitable for long distance markets with lower demand thereby allowing it to compete with other wide-body airliners of the 1970s that sorts of undermined Boeing's hold on the market in 1970 a new wave of large wide-body airliners were redrawing the lines of the aviation industry by bringing air travel to the masses in 1969 Boeing unveiled the world's first wide-body jet liner the Boeing 747 a four engine behemoth that was completely unprecedented having taken many of the underpinnings from an earlier military transport concept boeing chief engineer Joe Sutter was able to marry a highly practical design with an instantly recognizable shape to form a cultural icon one that is instantly recognizable by both aviation enthusiasts and the general public therefore as the largest airliner on sale at the time the 747 was an incredible success among mainstream carriers perfectly combining capacity style and favorable seat per mile costs to combat the 747 America's to other major aircraft builders Lockheed and the newly formed Donald Douglas developed their own wide-body jet airliners the l-1011 tristar and the dc-10 unlike the 747 though the dc-10 and the Tristar were fitted with three engines and only comprised of a single passenger deck [Music] while it appeared these two tried Jets had no edge over the 747 they were able to exploit a notable gap in Boeing's market strategy to supply the medium to long range market boeing only had two airliners that could suitably provide for this sector the Boeing 707 and the 747 the 707 which was the company's original jet airliner from 1958 was a narrow body designed that in its largest configuration the 707 320 C could only seat a hundred and ninety-four passengers which was deemed too small in the face of emerging wide-body trends the 747 meanwhile could carry 366 passengers but its sheer size and fuel consumption meant it didn't have the flexibility or efficiency to either fly into certain airports or appeal to certain carriers Lockheed and Douglas therefore exploited this hole in Boeing's product list with their try Jets which were both more efficient and more flexible than the 747 but presented greater capacity than the 707 initial variants of these tri Jets the dc-10 series 10 and the l-1011 - one were built primarily for the domestic market catering for transcontinental operations between the major cities of the continental United States but were eagerly developing long-haul versions in order to challenge the 747 on the lucrative transatlantic market bowing were acutely aware of this problem and their chief engineer Joe Sutter quickly pointed out that the fastest way to create an airliner that would evenly match the dc-10 and the Tristar would be to take an existing product and modify it accordingly as developing an entirely new airframe would likely take up to nearly a decade to research and build as such such a proposed a shortened version of the 747 100 a design optimized through reduced weight for both transcontinental and international flights the project was thus launched as the 747 SB or short body but this gave rise to the nickname of Sutter's balloon while the process of developing a shortened buta large for the 747s be was a simple enough task fuel consumption was still a serious matter in order for the aircraft to be competitive in terms of efficiency the first concept was to build the 747 SB as a tri jet with two large turbofan engines beneath the wings and a third engine placed on the vertical stabilizer in an S duct configuration similar to that the Tristar although this presented a 33% reduction in fuel consumption as well as shaving 7 tons of weight the center of gravity as on most tri Jets was forced towards the rear of the airframe and thus both the views large and wings would require a revision in order to compensate [Music] therefore the proposed tri jet model was dropped on the grounds of cost and development time as Boeing went back to the drawing board though one of the company's largest customers Pan Am stepped in with a request for an airliner model that provided the capacity of a dc-10 but the flight range of a conventional 747 this was to be dedicated to the carrier's longest routes but services that often had demand too low to justify the use of operating a 747 at half capacity or less [Music] as Douglas and Lockheed were already developing long haul versions of their try jets to match this requirement Boeing hastily returned to the concept of including four engines while reducing fuel consumption through weight saving methods elsewhere in the design by early 1973 the project had been renamed the 747sp or special performance and in September the Boeing Board of Directors approved the project with Pan Am or during 10 units with an option for a further 15 the proposed delivery date of the 747sp was 1976 and each aircraft was valued at 218 million dollars market research and observation of emerging trends considered that the 747sp model could potentially see up to 214 aircraft built and the project would break even financially at 45 units the design of the 747sp considered a reduction in size from the 747 100 by 48 feet through the removal of frames for and after the wings bringing the total views large lengths to 184 feet the result was an airliner weighing 11,000 pounds less than the 747 100 while providing a passenger capacity of between 276 and 343 passengers depending on configuration these weight savings combined with a 50,000 pound fuel capacity that was more than the 747 100 but less than the 747-200 meant the aircraft was capable of flying 7,000 650 miles making it the longest range airliner ever built to that point for the wing design the use of lighter materials and less complex single slot flaps to replace the triple slot flaps of the 747 100 and 200 helped to improve fuel efficiency further while under wing a Lian housings known as canoes were also omitted other visible differences were ten more feet of span in the horizontal stabiliser a slightly taller vertical stabilizer a double hinged rudder and a tapering of the upper fuselage into an empanada the redesigned center fuselage section also necessitated a redesign of the wing Phillips to improve airflow on May 19th 1975 the first production 747sp November 5:30 Papa alpha was rolled out to the Boeing Everett Factory in Washington State and after extensive ground testing undertook its maiden flight two months later on July 4th 10 days ahead of schedule under the command of Boeing test pilot Jack Waddell who had also performed the maiden flight of the original 747 prototype in 1969 the aircraft performed both simulated stalls and flew at its maximum speed of 542 knots during the three hour flight testing of the revised 747sp design with reduced weight but equal power to its fellow 747 100 and 200 variants illustrated performance that far exceeded estimates and thus Boeing put their new airliner to the test on a nonstop flight between New York and Tokyo on November 12 1975 a distance of seven thousand and fifteen miles the aircraft chosen was the fourth unit built November 4 0 135 which performed the flight in 13 hours and 33 minutes while carrying 200 passengers aside from setting a new world record for longest non-stop commercial flight it was noted that after landing the airliner still had a remaining fuel supply of 30,000 pounds after its record-breaking flight the airliner flew to Mexico on November 27th as part of a promotional visit before undertaking a 29 de demonstration tour to 18 cities across the globe racking up 72,000 152 miles and over 140 hours of flying time on its travels following further successful tests of the 747sp type certification was granted by the Federal Aviation Administration or FAA on February 4th nineteen seventy-six with the record-breaking November 4 0 135 now renamed clipper freedom and re-registered November 5 3 3 papa alpha being delivered to Pan Am a month later on March 5th commercial operations subsequently commenced in April beginning with long-haul operations between New York and Tokyo before being expanded further afield on May 1st 1976 clipper freedom began a circumnavigation of the world flying from New York to New Delhi then to Tokyo Haneda and then back to New York with 98 passengers the result was the airliner setting another world record for fastest circumnavigation of the earth having flown around the world in a mere 39 hours and 25 minutes while covering 23,000 137 miles while the 747sp proved itself to be an incredible performer the airliner wasn't truly able to succeed in the manner that Boeing's market researchers had hoped during development of the airliner the fuel crisis of 1973 had resulted in many carriers getting cold feet with regard to large airliners such as the 747 with several airlines quick to abandon the jumbo jet early on and revert to more fuel-efficient tri Jets [Music] Delta Airlines and American Airlines of prime examples with each of these airline's having operated a fleet of 747 100 and 200 before largely withdrawing them by the end of the decade due to their excessive operational costs the 747sp was no different especially with regard to its primary customer Pan Am prior to the fuel crisis Pan Am had adopted a policy centered entirely around the development of high-capacity long-haul routes using an extensive fleet of Boeing 747s and thus took on dozens of the type in order to support this expansion the sudden influence of the fuel crisis and the economic recession that followed meant that less people were flying and fuel prices were increased substantially which severely damaged Pan Am's financial stability while the fiscal punishment inflicted in 1973 would haunt the airline for the rest of its existence with regard to the 747sp the company was forced to reduce its order of 25 units to just the initial ten there by casting uncertainty on the 747sp project as a whole thus boeing attempted to endear the 747sp to other carriers both in America and worldwide to try and meet the 45 unit breakeven mark despite the airliner being optimized for a niche role the aircraft did sell in small numbers to a variety of Airlines outside of those originally ordered by Pan Am the launch customers for the 747sp also included Iran Air who took on four units between 1976 and 1979 for nonstop services between Tehran and New York as well as South African Airways which received five aircraft for operations between Johannesburg and New York the only other initial orders for 747 SPS in 1976 were two units delivered to Syrian Air [Music] perhaps the most surprising user of the 747sp was the Civil Aviation Administration of China or caac which ordered three units in 1980 for operations to Europe in the United States a clear sign of the bridges being made between the communist superpower and the Western nations after years of political hostility sadly the overarching commercial instability of the 747sp due to the post fuel crisis economic climate meant that on average no more than seven units were built per year peaking at 14 airframes built in 1976 and nine in 1980 eventually it became apparent to Boeing that the 747sp had failed to garner the same recognition as the Douglas dc-10 and the Lockheed Tristar which would go on to sell 386 and 250 units respectively during their production lives furthermore the enactment of the extended range twin operations or ETOPS regulations by the FAA allowing for twin-engine airliners to operate across larger bodies of water meant that Boeing could now develop twin jet alternatives to fill the medium to long range markets the result was the Boeing 767 launched in September 1982 which provided capacity largely equivalent to the 747sp but at half the fuel consumption with the arrival of the 767 boeing brought a halt to the 747sp program in the summer of 1982 with the last unit Yankee India alpha lemur Mike being delivered to Iraqi Airways on August 5th bringing total production of the fleet to 44 units 1 less than the forecast break even this wasn't entirely the end of production though as in March 1987 one final 747sp was rolled out of the Everett factory alpha six Zulu Sierra November originally this aircraft had been ordered specifically from the Boeing Company by the government of Oman who purchased the airliner as a birthday present for the nation Sultan Qaboos bin Saeed after being built by the Boeing Company the airliner was fitted out to the Sultan's personal specification by the D Howard company at San Antonio International Airport under the project name s 582 with the total cost of the aircraft's customization including communications and onboard security systems coming to over 100 million dollars but was eventually taken up by the government of the United Arab Emirates despite the overall commercial failure of the 747sp project the airliners performance meant it was still capable of achieving great feats and securing records for longest nonstop flights during its delivery flight from the Boeing Everett field to Cape Town South African Airways Boeing 747sp Zulu Sierra Sierra Papa alpha my cruise berg performed the longest non refueled flight in history at 10,000 290 miles while carrying 50 passengers apparently upon landing the airliner still carried enough fuel for a further two and a half hours worth of flight time between October 28th and October 30th 1977 Pan Am flight 50 operated by record-breaking 747sp November 4-0 135 now named clipper Liberty Bell was flown around the world via the north and south poles from San Francisco to London Cape Town Auckland and then back to San Francisco between January 29th and 31st 1988 United Airlines 747sp November 147 uniform alpha was renamed friendship one in association with the Friendship Foundation a charity supporting children and parents with special needs and flown 23,000 125 miles between Seattle fans and Taipei as part of another circumnavigation of the earth beating the previous record set by clipper Freedom in 1976 for fastest trip around the world while the friendship one record only lasted less than a month before Gulfstream CEO al Paulson beats it in one of his personal Gulfstream 4 private jets the flight netted $500,000 for the friendship Foundation another testament to the 747sp superb design is the fact that it never suffered a fatal incident in its commercial life but has been involved in three accidents resulting in two hull losses On February 19 1985 China Airlines flight 0:06 operating between Taipei and Los Angeles with 274 people aboard suffered an in-flight failure in the number four engine as the crew attempted to rectify the problem they failed to notice the aircraft was rolling over and soon it had fallen into a steep dive with gravitational forces of between 4.8 and 5.1 G being exerted on the airliner in its complement equivalent to those experienced on a rollercoaster the 747 tumbled through a sustained 30 1,500 foot descent before eventually being levelled out at 9,500 feet having incurred severe damage to its leading edges and with two passengers critically injured after being thrown against bulkheads the plane limped 341 miles to the nearest airport at San Francisco where it landed safely the airliner was soon repaired and returned to operation [Music] on October 5th 1998 South African Airways 747sp Zulu Sierra Sierra Papa Foxtrot least to Lamb Mozambique Airlines suffered an uncontained failure in engine number three shortly after departure from Maputo Airport in Mozambique with debris damaging engine number 4 in the leading edge of the wing [Music] the aircraft subsequently caught fire in flight but was able to safely return to the field with his complement of 66 people aboard while there were no injuries from the incident the aircraft was damaged beyond repair and scrapped the final whole loss of a 747 SP was that of seven Oscar Yankee Mike November which was the personal airliner of the president of Yemen Abdul Rahman saw Heidi on the night of March 19th 2015 during the early days of the Yemeni civil war a gun battle took place at Aden International Airport between rebel fighters and government forces during which the airliner as well as a stored Boeing 737 was struck by small arms fire igniting the fuel tanks the aircraft was subsequently consumed by the blaze with only the wings and engines left to identify its remains as an airliner operations of the 747sp remained prominent during the 1980s but the changing economies of the aviation market as well as the introduction of highly efficient twin jet replacements like the Boeing 767 meant that the number of airliners in service began to fall towards the end of the 1980s compounded further by a general move away from low demand long-haul flights by carriers in 1986 as the airline continued to reel from its mistakes major in the 1973 fuel crisis Pan Am sold its trans-pacific operations to United Airlines which inherited their fleet of 747 SPS United would retain 11 units into the 1990s while selling the remaining 13x Pan Am units to other carriers and operated 747 SPS on services across the Pacific to Japan and Hong Kong as well as on flights to London Trans World Airlines which had bought three units in 1980 sold them to American Airlines in 1986 who also put them to work supplementing trunk routes between the United States and London before withdrawing them in 1994 in China CAA see and its successor Air China as well as the China Airlines and Mandarin Airlines of Taiwan operated an extensive fleet of 747 SPS well into the late 1990s while elsewhere retired units were provided on short-term leases to carriers such as Corsair Alliance Air Icelandic Australia Asia nummy bear and UTA however by the turn of the millennium it was clear that the 747sp was long past his first bloom of youth and with the increased presence of highly efficient twin jet wide-body airliners such as the Airbus a330 and the Boeing 777 the continued operation of these planes made little commercial sense the first 747 to be scrapped was sadly the record-breaking clip of freedom which after all its achievements ended its days largely unnoticed at the Ardmore Municipal Airport being broken up in 1997 the last American carrier to operate the type was United Airlines who retired their final unit November 147 uniform alpha in April 2001 in the years following the post 9/11 aviation market crash worldwide use of the 747sp like many classic white bodies of the 1970s diminished quickly until the only commercial operator was Iran Air Iran air maintained a fleet of four units employing them on services between Tehran and kuala lumpur before finally ceasing operations at the 747sp on june 11th 2016 with 1977 built echo popper india alpha charlie doing the honors this airliner having worked its entire life operating with the carrier as of 2020 there are now eight 747 SPS known to still be in operation - with the government of Saudi Arabia one with the government of a man - owned by the Trudeau capital company which are on leased to the Las Vegas Sands Casino and Resort for VIP and executive transport - and use by pratt & whitney canada as engine test beds and one which is employed by nasa as part of the sophia program or the stratospheric Observatory for infrared astronomy the Sofia 747sp which made use of former United Airlines November 145 uniformed alpha was converted for use by NASA and the German Aerospace Center in 1997 wherein the airliner was fitted with an eight point two foot diameter infrared reflecting telescope located in a contained section of the rear hull enclosed behind a large sliding door the telescope is used for infrared astronomy and has observed celestial magnetic fields star forming regions comets nebulae and the galactic center outside of those units still in operation a number of 747 SPS are known to exist across the globe 18 stored and one preserved the single preserved 747sp is former South African Airways Zulu Sierra Sierra Papa Charlie Malu T which was built for the carrier in 1976 and operated with the airline until retirement in 2003 operating flights between Johannesburg and Perth Australia in 2005 the aircraft was officially handed over to the South African Airways Museum Society and flown to their site at Rand Airport near Germa stern on September 30th 2006 having been given a light overhaul in order to make it air worthy for its final flight after three years of inactivity today the airliner remains on display at Rand alongside other members of South African Airways historic fleet including a Lockheed lodestar a de Havilland of a Lockheed Star liner a Douglas c-54 and Boeing 747 244 Zulu Sierra Sierra alpha November lebombo notable stored units include November 4 5 2 - Victor the same aircraft involved in the China Airlines flight 0:06 instance of 1985 retired from China Airlines in 1997 the aircraft worked with Mandarin Airlines for around a year before eventually being bought by the global peace ambassadors in 2001 a UN Business Action Group the aircraft worked for global peace ambassadors until 2005 whereupon it was stored at Tijuana Airport in Mexico for a proposed overhaul that never took place since then the airliner has continued to languish under the Mexican Sun being occasionally moved about the field or placed inside the hangar another notable survivor is Yankee India alpha lemur Mike the last unit of the original production run which has been sat at toes or nefta Airport in Tunisia since January 1991 together with Boeing 747 270 cm Yankee India alpha golf Papa these two Iraqi Airways aircraft were flown to Tunisia for safekeeping during the first Gulf War with Saddam Hussein the then dictator of Iraq not wanting these airliners to either be destroyed or captured by the advancing UN coalition forces after the end of the war these aircraft were never reinstated by Iraqi Airways and have simply sat in the Tunisian desert for 29 years having now largely been stripped for parts overall the Boeing 747sp was an interesting experiment in making this m47 a more flexible airliner for the 1970s while upon reflection there was a noted lack of foresight on Boeing's part with regard to the potential rise of twin jet airliners and that their efforts developing the 747sp should have been expended designing a twin-engine wide-body airliner in the same vein as the airbus a300 the aircraft that resulted was a superb Lee built in well performing jet airliner suited for the role that was built for perfectly proving that despite its somewhat odd proportions the plane was far more than met the eye thanks again for watching this video if you enjoyed it why not leave a like and be sure to subscribe for more great content thank you very much take care and I'll see you next time

Channel: Ruairidh MacVeigh

Views: 405,091

Keywords: Airbus, Boeing, Air, Aircraft, Airplane, Aeroplane, Airliner, Commercial Airliner, Airline, Airlines, Airways, International Airline, International, International Airport, Departure, Arrival, Take-off, Landing, Flight, Flying, Plane, Runway, Approach, Terminal, Boeing 747SP, 747SP, Special Performance, Boeing 747-100, 747-100, 747-200, Boeing 747-200, Pan Am, United Airlines, USA, America, United States of America, United States, Douglas DC-10, DC-10, Lockheed Tristar, L-1011, Lockheed L-1011, Tristar, Douglas

Id: ltvYo6P61U0

Length: 27min 27sec (1647 seconds)

Published: Wed May 27 2020