Boeing to make a full size 747 ?

[phiggsbroadband]

I just wonder when Boeing will make the full size 747, with the full length upper deck.


There have been so many variants of the 747 from short stubby ones, to long ones, and some with hardly any upper cabin (747-8F)..
So is it possible to add a full size upper deck, or would the airflow adversely affect the control of the tail?


Add a set of RR Trent 1000s for the increased weight, and 'The Job's a Good-Un'

[mrmrsmith2]

They did, sorry Airbus did lol oh sorry thats Europe did eh

[JammedStab]

Well, there is the Dreamlifter. Saw one the other day. It has the equivalent of a full length second and third deck.

Not sure what the crosswind limits are though among other potential limitations.

[gcal]

I'd ask Emirates as they seem to know who to buy them from

[flyboyike]

Does anyone want such an aircraft?

[DaveReidUK]

So is it possible to add a full size upper deck, or would the airflow adversely affect the control of the tail?

We'll never know ...

[flyboyike]

This is similar to people asking why there was never a 727-300 or why Delta doesn't fly from Jacksonville to Novosibirsk nonstop.

[RTN11]

well, they made this

Boeing 747 Large Cargo Freighter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

so surely a passenger equivalent would be possible, but would there actually be the demand or money for it?

[Airbubba]

Here's an earlier proposal for a double decker B-747:

Boeing 747 "Double Decker" Early Proposed Design Model - late 1990s

[Dash8driver1312]

Not to mention the original 747-300 trijet...until someone tried it in a wind tunnel...

[gcal]

Yes Boeing might have done it but they didn't realise the game had changed.
In the Middle East people expect to fly on a big 'un even on a short hop.

[Lone_Ranger]

Not worth the hassle, it would need at least a new wing, new landing gear, systems etc etc, it would end up a whole new design.

[toffeez]

Planemaking is not about building the least wanted variant at the greatest development cost and with the fewest sales.

Boeing have done that before with the 747-SP and the -8i.

Even they aren't stupid enough to try again.

Let it RIP.

[John Farley]

phiggsbroadband

Regarding your concern about possible effects on the airflow round the tail you might be reasured by this version - which seems to work OK.

[Machdiamond]

Whether there was a business case for it or not was a moot point. Boeing looked at it of course and the issue was transonic drag rise. The 747-400 hump ends where the wing begins, so far so good (and actually even better as it smoothed out the area rule curve). If you extend it any further, the cross section curve spikes and drag goes up quite a bit.

The Dreamlifter just doesn't care about drag.

--M

[Una Due Tfc]

Both the VLAs will struggle to break even. They would lose a fortune if they tried it. With the amount of money they are making on the widebody twins, you don't need to be a genius to know the four engined behemoth is dying. Twins are the future

[daikilo]

There was nothing major preventing Boeing building a 747 derivative with a full-length upper deck. The 747-500X and -600X were crebible, but would however have been a very major change, but possibly not that much greater than what the 747-8 actually became.

However, at the time it was judged as viable only if Airbus did not build the A380, and not even needed if they didn't. Boeing decided to play poker and Airbus decided to build the aircraft. Quite why they thought the "cheap" substitute (-8i) might make the grade in the presence of the A380 remains a mystery.

[Just a spotter]

There was the Boeing NLA (New Large Airplane) concept

NLA Boeing - Pictures & Photos on FlightGlobal Airspace

and also the McDonnell Douglas MD-12 proposal

Mcdonnell Douglas Double Decker MD-12 Aircraft Airliner History and Facts

JAS

[Tank2Engine]

Well let's be honest, the current 747-8 is hardly a commercial success with <100 in operation, mostly freighters, so why would Boeing even consider stretching the existing design's upper deck even more?

I always thought that Boeing never really believed in the projected market for an A380 size aircraft and was therefore betting more on the thinner point-to-point (Jacksonville to Novosibirsk if you will ) kind of routes, instead of the big hub-and-spoke trunk routes requiring massive volumes like the A380.

[Una Due Tfc]

One of the Russian manufacturers tried to sell one in the early nineties IIRC. There just isn't a market for more than one aircraft of that size to be profitable for the manufacturers, hell there might not even be enough market for 1