Boeing 747

Boeing Commercial Airplanes announced on October 13, 2003 that due to the length of time required by marine shipping, air transport will be the primary method of transporting parts for the 787 (then known as the 7E7). Three used passenger 747-400 aircraft were to be converted into an outsize configuration in order to ferry sub-assemblies from Japan and Italy to Charleston, South Carolina and then to Everett, Washington for final assembly. The Large Cargo Freighter has a bulging fuselage similar in concept to the Super Guppy and Airbus A300-600ST Beluga outsize cargo aircraft, which are also used for transporting wings and fuselage sections. It can hold three times the volume of a 747-400F freighter.

The LCF conversion was partially designed by Boeing's Moscow bureau and Boeing Rocketdyne with the swing tail designed in partnership with Gamesa Aeronautica of Spain. Modification is being carried out in Taiwan by Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corporation, a joint venture of Evergreen Group's EVA Air and General Electric.Boeing has already acquired the four second-hand 747-400s; one former Air China aircraft, two former China Airlines aircraft, and one former Malaysia Airlines aircraft. [Registrations N747BC (Serial 25879), N780BA (Serial 24310), N249BA (Serial 24309), and N718BA (Serial 27042).

It is much more economical for Boeing to buy used 747s and convert them than to construct these planes from scratch. The LCF is not a Boeing production model and will not be sold to any customers or see any airliner operation, and will be for Boeing's exclusive use. Another reason for modifying existing planes is the minimal regulation and flight testing required by authorities such as the Federal Aviation Administration. If the 747 LCF were produced entirely within Boeing, it would face years of development and testing in the same manner as the upcoming Boeing 747-8. Rules on airworthiness allow for the faster approval of modifications to existing aircraft that are already approved than would be the case for the approval of brand new aircraft designs.

In June 2006, the completion of the first DBL-100 cargo loader used for loading 787 parts into the 747 LCF was announced by Boeing. These loaders were designed and built by Canadian firm, TLD at its facility at Sherbrooke, Quebec and are the longest in the world at 118 foot 1 inch.

The first conversion, which drew comment because in addition to its ungainly shape, it also remained in this unpainted configuration for a long time.

In December 2006, Boeing announced the LCF would also be known as the Dreamlifter, a reference to the 787's name, the Dreamliner. It unveiled a standard livery for the aircraft that included a Dreamlifter logo reminiscent of the 787's Dreamliner logo.

The certification was to be in early 2007 however it was pushed back to June 2007. The plane had its winglets removed after excess vibration and other handling characteristics need to be dealt with prior to final certification. In the meantime as part of the flight test program, LCF delivered major sections of the 787 from partner sites around the world to the Boeing factory in Everett, WA for final assembly. The 747 LCF was granted type certification on June 2, 2007 from Federal Aviation Administration. The Dreamlifter completed 437 flight-test hours and 639 hours of ground testing since its first flight on Sept. 9, 2006.

The 747 LCF's unusual appearance has drawn comparisons to the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile and the Hughes H-4 Hercules ("Spruce Goose"). Due to its ungainly form, and exacerbated by the fact that the need for immediate testing resulted in the first model remaining unpainted for some time, Boeing Commercial Airplanes president Scott Carson jokingly apologized to Joe Sutter, designer of the 747 that he was "sorry for what we did to your plane."

Boeing plans to acquire four 747 Dreamlifters. As of June 2008, three LCFs are complete and operational, and the fourth is to become operational in 2009.

The Boeing C-33 is the US military designation for Boeing 747-400 series intended to augment the C-17 Globemaster III fleet, but the plan was cancelled in favor of purchasing additional C-17s.

Details

The C-33 designation was reserved for the Non-Developmental Airlift Aircraft project for a commercial freighter to supplement the C-17. During 1994 and 1995 the Defense Department engaged in a comprehensive process to refine airlift requirements, analyze various aspects of airlift, and prepare for an airlift fleet mix decision. A Defense Acqusition Board review satisfied congressional direction to conduct a Cost And Operational Effectiveness Analysis, to consider the C-17 and mixes of alternative aircraft, and to preserve intertheater airlift capacity. Initial material solutions considered included: buy a modified Boeing 747-400 NDAA, restart the C-5 production line, extend the C- 141 service life, and continue C- 17 production. The field eventually narrowed to: the Boeing 747-400, the Lockheed-Martin C-5D, and the McDonnell Douglas C- 17.

The NDAA study [The NDAA Report: An Application of Commercial Acquisition (Washington, D.C.: Non-Developmental Airlift Aircraft System Program Office, 1994)] focused on a minimally modified Boeing 747 cargo air-craft. These “minimal” modifications included hardened decks and a flip-up nose and ramp system for ease of straight-in loading versus the side-mounted-cargo-door style loading of the commercial industry. Consequently, the price for the NDAA alternative increased from under $150 to about $200 million per aircraft.41 Nevertheless, after examining several options, the most cost-effective solution was an 86/30 mix of C-17 and NDAA aircraft.42 This mix, however, did not allow for a full strategic brigade airdrop nor was it optimized for tactical airlift requirements and lesser regional contingencies in support of peace enforcement scenarios.

The Evergreen Supertanker is a Boeing 747-200, modified by Evergreen International Aviation into a 24,000 US gallon (94,850 litre) capacity aerial firefighting aircraft. This is double the capacity of the next largest air tanker in operation, the Tanker 910. The Evergreen Supertanker was scheduled to be available to fight fires from summer 2008 but has not yet entered service.

Unique technology is used on the Evergreen Supertanker in order to allow an aircraft as large as a 747 to carry out aerial fire fighting.

Current fire fighting aircraft use a gravity drop system. Doors in the underside of the aircraft open, allowing the contents of the tanks to discharge. This type of system requires an aircraft to fly very low, typically 200ft above ground level. The Evergreen Supertanker has a pressurised system. This can disperse retardant under high pressure, for an overwhelming response, or drop retardant equivalent to the speed of falling rain. This system allows the aircraft to operate within its design criteria.

Using the pressurised system, the aircraft can deliver retardant to the scene of a fire whilst flying at a height of 400 to 800ft, at approximately 140kts (160mph) (260kph), configured as if it were on approach for landing.

The Evergreen Supertanker’s tank system can be configured for segmented drops, allowing the contents of the tank to be released at multiple intervals while in flight.

The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Universities Space Research Association (USRA) was awarded the prime contract by NASA in 1996 for development, operation of the observatory and management of the American part while the DSI (Deutsches SOFIA Institut) manages the German part (mainly science and telescope related).

SOFIA is based on a Boeing 747SP wide-body aircraft. The aircraft has been modified to carry a 2.5 meter diameter reflecting telescope in the aft section of the fuselage. This telescope is designed for infrared astronomy observations at altitudes of about 41,000 feet (about 12 km) in the stratosphere. The water vapor in the Earth's atmosphere blocks some infrared wavelengths from reaching the ground, but SOFIA's flight capability allows it to rise above almost all of the water vapor in the Earth's atmosphere. At the aircraft's cruising altitude, 85% of the full infrared range will be available. The aircraft can also travel to almost any point on the Earth's surface, allowing observation from the northern and southern hemispheres.

Once ready for use, the expectation is for observing flights to be flown 3 or 4 nights a week for the next 20 years. SOFIA is now based at NASA's Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility at LA/Palmdale Regional Airport, California, while staff at NASA Ames Research Center, in Mountain View, California, operate the SOFIA Science Center where astronomical observation missions are planned for the flying observatory.

In mid-2009, the aircraft will undergo flight tests at high altitude cruising speed with the telescope door open. This test phase is scheduled to run through the end of 2009, after which SOFIA will begin limited science observation flights. Normal science observation flights should begin in 2011 and the observatory is slated for full capability by 2014.