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Jumbo Jet Research Paper

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This paper dives into the architecting and design of the Boeing 747, the world’s first jumbo jet. The key architects of this colossal system will be introduced along with the system requirements that led to the system design decisions of the 747. Major subsystems of the aircraft will be examined, along with the legacy and future of the system today. Heuristics applied throughout the architecting of the system as well as the numerous trade-off analyses performed will be explained as the paper progresses. Introduction In today’s world, air travel is seen as just another transportation method available to the traveling public. It is possible for anyone to fly almost anywhere they’d like, usually with many options of which airline to fly with. Traveling by air is not too expensive for the typical traveler either, considering most domestic flights only cost a few hundred dollars and international flights usually cost around a thousand dollars. This relatively easy access to fast and cost …show more content…

The aircraft had the capability to hold up to 366 passengers in a 3-class configuration and transport those passengers 5,300 nmi at a speed of up to Mach 0.89. Jetting into the air was the six story high tail of the aircraft, and just as impressive was its nearly 200 ft wing span. The weight of the aircraft was 358,000 pounds, and it had a maximum takeoff weight of 735,000 pounds. Each of the four original Prate & Whitney engines had 46,500 pounds of force. Key Architects Many people were involved in the architecture and build of the 747. Surprisingly, one of the first people involved was Juan Trippe, the President of Pan Am Airlines. Pan Am Airlines was the dominate international airline in the 1960’s and was experiencing an increase in airline traffic of 15% per year (Van Doren). Trippe decided that to meet the demand, the company would need to either: • Increase aircraft speed • Increase the number of flights;

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