Yes, Boeing 747s have ended up in the water after runway overruns, notably Air France Flight 072 in Tahiti (1993) and China Airlines Flight 605 in Hong Kong (1993), both resulting in no fatalities despite significant damage and overruns into lagoons. These incidents involved landing long, overshooting runways, and coming to rest in shallow water, allowing for successful evacuations, unlike true "ditchings" (planned landings on water) which are rare but have occurred with other large aircraft.
On October 4, 1992, El Al Flight 1862, a 747-200F, crashed shortly after takeoff from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport after the right-side engines both fell off, due to metal fatigue, and damaged the right wing, killing all three crew members and the single passenger on board, as well as 43 people on the ground.
A British Airways 747 lost all four engines after entering volcanic ash, forcing a silent glide as the crew attempted repeated emergency restarts to save everyone onboard.
Air Force One 747 Takes Off from an Aircraft Carrier! - YouTube.
4 November 1993: China Airlines Flight 605, a Boeing 747-409, ended up in water after it overran runway 13 at Kai Tak International Airport on landing during a typhoon with wind gusting to gale force. All of the 396 occupants donned life-vests, boarded the eight slide/rafts and no fatalities resulted.
Large commercial planes, such as passenger airliners, are not designed to fly upside down, and attempting to do so would be extremely dangerous and potentially catastrophic.
Early aircraft engines had neither the reliability nor the power to lift the required fuel to make a transatlantic flight. There were difficulties navigating over the featureless expanse of water for thousands of kilometres, and the weather, especially in the North Atlantic, is unpredictable.
The Boeing 777-9 is longer than the 747-8, making it the longest passenger jet, but the 747 is taller and has a distinctive upper deck for more capacity, while the newer 777X offers a massive wingspan (with folding tips) for efficiency, making the 777 generally larger in length and wingspan, but the 747 has more volume and seats.
While ZipRecruiter is seeing salaries as high as $218,425 and as low as $53,658, the majority of Boeing 747 Pilot salaries currently range between $108,400 (25th percentile) to $168,000 (75th percentile) with top earners (90th percentile) making $189,698 annually in Staten Island.
The 70/50 rule in aviation is a rule of thumb for general aviation pilots: if an aircraft hasn't reached 70% of its rotation speed (Vr) by the time it has used 50% of the calculated takeoff distance, the takeoff should be aborted. It's a safety check to ensure the aircraft is accelerating as expected, indicating sufficient runway remaining to reach full takeoff speed, especially on shorter runways or with obstructions, but it's a guideline, not a guarantee, and requires pre-flight calculation.
Yes, the Airbus A380 is significantly bigger than the Boeing 747, boasting a full-length double deck, larger wingspan, greater height, and much higher passenger capacity, making it the world's largest passenger airliner, while the 747-8, though a stretched version, remains smaller but more versatile.
The deliberate crashes of the aforementioned American Airlines Flight 11, as well as United Airlines Flight 175 at the World Trade Center, and the subsequent collapse of both towers on 11 September 2001 caused 2,606 ground fatalities in addition to the deaths of the 157 people on board both flights, making it the ...
Passenger Capacity & Cabin Layout Boeing 777 • Typically seats 314-426 passengers in a two- or three-class layout. Single-deck aircraft with wider seats (typically 3-3-3 or 3-4-3 in economy). Preferred for long-haul, high-demand routes, replacing older 747s. Boeing 747-8 • Largest passenger plane Boeing has ever built.
Are Boeing 737 Max planes safe? Boeing 737 Max jets were grounded worldwide between March 2019 and late 2020 after the two catastrophic crashes involving the Max 8 model.
In contrast, the original Boeing 737 models, which were in service for 12-13 years, account for approximately 63% of all fatal accidents in the 737 series.
The 737, Thomas adds, still has a better safety record than the 747. “And nobody would ever hesitate to get on board a 747,” he says. “One of the things about aviation, as time goes by, is that manufacturers and airlines learn from their mistakes, and put systems in place to ensure they don't make them again.
Salaries Vary by Airline
The average Delta Air Lines pilot earns $201,178 with top-earners making $526,000. American Airlines pilots earn an average salary of $145,995, with some pilots earning in excess of $700,000. Most importantly, pilot salaries continue to increase.
Right now, both the United States and ICAO, which is part of the United Nations and regulates international flights, require pilots to retire when they reach 65. Aviation unions have long opposed raising the age, citing safety concerns.
Domestic narrowbody captains often earn AUD 200,000 to AUD 300,000 annually. Long-haul captains on aircraft like the Boeing 787 and Airbus A380 regularly exceed AUD 400,000, with top earners approaching AUD 500,000 including allowances.
The 747-8 entered service in 2012, offering greater range, capacity, and efficiency than earlier variants, but its timing was unlucky. Airlines were already shifting from the hub and spoke model toward smaller, long-range twinjets like the 787 and A350.
No, the Airbus A380 is generally much bigger than the Boeing 777 in most dimensions (height, wingspan, weight, capacity) due to its double-deck design, but the Boeing 777 (especially the newer 777X) is slightly longer, making it the longer aircraft, while the A380 is the larger aircraft overall, as noted in sources like Simple Flying and ePlaneAI. The A380 is the world's largest passenger airliner, designed for maximum volume, while the 777 is a versatile twin-engine jet, according to KN Aviation and Simple Flying.
The Boeing 747 jumbo jet, the largest airliner built up to that time, could carry more than twice as many passengers as Boeing's 707.
The 3:1 rule in aviation is a rule of thumb for descent planning: for every 1,000 feet of altitude to lose, you need 3 nautical miles (NM) of horizontal distance, assuming a standard 3-degree glide path, making it easy to calculate when to start descending. For example, to descend 6,000 feet, a pilot starts descending 18 NM out (6 x 3 = 18). It helps maintain a consistent descent rate, critical for passenger comfort in older planes and for fuel efficiency in modern jets, and aligns with standard approach systems like ILS/VASI.
But whether the conspiracies are true or not, Area 51 is a legitimate training area for the US Air Force. So not only is it official government land but its airspace is used for military planes. Drone flying here is highly illegal.
But I'll like to add that there is actually an ocean that airlines usually don't fly "directly" across. It's the Pacific Ocean, but it's not because of any marine spirits, which are actually superstitious beliefs. The reason is actually because it's not economical and also for safety reasons.