Wikipedia:Today's featured article/February 9, 2008

The Boeing 747 is the first widebody commercial airliner ever produced. The Boeing 747, manufactured by Boeing in the United States, is among the world's most recognizable aircraft. The original version of the 747 was two and a half times the size of the Boeing 707, one of the common large commercial aircraft of the 1960s. First flown commercially in 1970, it held the passenger capacity record for 37 years. The four-engine 747, produced by Boeing's Commercial Airplane unit, uses a double deck configuration for part of its length. The 747 is available in passenger, freighter and other versions. The 747's hump created by the upper deck allows for a front cargo door on freighter versions. The 747-400, the latest version in service, is among the fastest airliners in service with a high-subsonic cruise speed of Mach 0.85 (567 mph or 913 km/h). It has an intercontinental range of 7,260 nautical miles (8,350 mi, 13,450 km). The 747-400 passenger version can accommodate 416 passengers in a typical three-class layout or 524 passengers in a typical two-class layout. The 747 was expected to become obsolete after sales of 400 units because of the development of supersonic airliners, but it has outlived many of its critics' expectations, and production passed the 1,000 mark in 1993. (more...)

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