747-F Upper deck

[Jump Complete]

Just curious, in the freighter varients of the 747, how is the upper deck usually configured? I'm guessing toilet, galley, seats for positioning company members / cargo crew, bunks? Do the stairs still go down the centre of the aircraft? If so, how do you access the main deck it there is something blocking that part of the deck?

[superspotter]

The 744F new from Boeing has a layout like this:- Looking rearwards from the flightdeck, galley on the right then a door leading downstairs then 2 business class type seats. On the right is the toilet then 4 business class type seats. At the rear of the last row of seats is a door leading to two bunks. The ladders onto the main deck on the 744F from the upper deck arrive on the main deck near the port side of the aircraft.
On any converted 744 the upper deck can be any one of numerous layouts dependant on where the aircraft came from i.e if it was formerly a passenger aircraft with a stretched upper deck then the layouts are endless!
As for 742F's, the ladders from the main deck do indeed arrive on the main deck in the centre but the main deck layout caters for this with one pallet position to the starboard side of the ladder although the ladder can be folded upwards to enable easier loading/offloading.
regards clive.

[Jump Complete]

Thanks, superspotter, actually, thinking about it, the stairs coming down the centre on the 742-F with pallets either side makes sense, guess I had forgotten how wide the 74 is!
Yes, I was thinking about the dedicated frieghter of the 744 with the small upper deck, the stretched upper on the pax varient obviously gives a lot more deck space and options!

[CR2]

Point of order ... not all 400Fs have 6 "cabin" seats.

Max occupancy on the 400F is 8, so some deem 4 cockpit seats & 4 "cabin" seats as being sufficient. (ie why have 10 seats when you can't put 10 backsides in them...)

Edit: The 742F ladder does not have pallets either side. It comes down adjacent to position B or (2 if you prefer) and just in front of position CL (3L etc). There are other systems of position designators.

[Jump Complete]

Point of order ... not all 400Fs have 6 "cabin" seats.

Max occupancy on the 400F is 8, so some deem 4 cockpit seats & 4 "cabin" seats as being sufficient. (ie why have 10 seats when you can't put 10 backsides in them...)

Presumably the reason for the max occupancy is a licensing thing, rather than insurance, to insure the aircraft is definately used purely as a freighter?

[CR2]

Emergency exit from upper deck issue. 1 slide. If that would be inop/unusable, then its all out the cockpit roof hatch on the inertia reel. There is a "monkey rope" stored in the upper frame of door 1L, but that could be unusable too.

[GlueBall]

Upper deck configuration varies by what the paying customer orders, whether from Boeing or from ancillary equipment manufacturers. Flat bed sleeper seats, business class seats, economy seats; bunk compartments separated by walls and doors, or bunks separated by partitions and curtains.

The max occupancy is limited by the number of inertia escape reels. If you add 2 reels, the occupancy could be ten, provided each seat, each bunk [and each lav] is equipped with oxygen mask. And yes, I have seen at least one converted pax bird with two (2) functioning lavatories upstairs.

The short answer is that there is no upper deck, global fleet configuration standardization.

[Smoketrails]

Used to work for Maastricht Handling long time ago and can remember one Kalitta 747 having no bunks and only economy seats with extra leg room up top. The loadmaster on one flight wasn't very happy he was assigned to that particular aircraft and let everyone including the cockpit crew know about it(they had to fly many sectors before returning to Ypsilanti)!

[Glass Half Empty]

Not Ypsilanti!!!! My favourite place hoiw dare he complain knowing he is going to heaven!

[muduckace]

A conversion can have any config, worked on a polar 742 that had a full compliment of business class seats on the upper deck 20 mabe?

[Smoketrails]

Glass half empty,

It was the many sectors he had to do before returning to Ypsilanti:ok::)

[old fart]

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh48/Griff747/pics%20from%20aircraft/Freighter1.jpg

cheers

EDIT: Don't add url in between the img tags otherwise the picture won't show. CR2.

[earlyNFF]

AirBridge Cargo (http://www.airbridgecargo.com/boeing747tour/index3.html)

[18-Wheeler]

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh48/Griff747/pics%20from%20aircraft/Freighter1.jpg


Heh, faster than my crew ... :)

http://www.billzilla.org/747freighterfloor.jpg

(For those ex-AAI, that's Scotty B, who used to reside in western PNG for a while, until he was allowed to leave)

[CR2]

Just curious, is that a -300SF?

[Two-Tone-Blue]

Fascinating, and thank you all.



[SLF, no roller tracks needed]

[747Comet]

Thanks for the link on the ABC site.

[Jump Complete]

Thanks, folks, interesting insight into the world of long-haul cargo!:)
That main deck must be quite an impressive sight the first time you see it empty!

[GlueBall]

Also worthwhile to note is the volume constraint on the -400 [and -300] converted freighters: The extended lower ceiling on the main deck curtails the positioning of tall pallets.

[GHOSTRIDER.ASIA]

HI,
I AM FLYING THE 744-F FOR A LONG TIME...NOT THE BCF !
WE HAVE 6 BUSINESS SEATS IN THE UPPER DECK...........AND THE REASON IS................
SOME FLTS 2 CREW AND 6 GROOMS OR GROOMS AND VETS (FOR THE HORSES)
AND SOMETIMES 80, 90 OR MORE HORSES.
OK ?