Design
The 747-400's airframe features extended and lighter wings than previous 747s, capped by winglets. The winglets result in a 3 percent increase in long-range cruise, improved takeoff performance, and higher cruise altitudes. The extended wingspan also gains an additional leading edge flap section. When unfurnished, the basic 747-400 fuselage is lighter than preceding models, but when fitted out it is heavier and stronger than previous models. The landing gear uses the same configuration as previous 747s, but with carbon brakes replacing the previous steel ones, and overall weight savings of 1,800 pounds (820 kg).
The 747-400's glass cockpit features CRT displays which show flight instrumentation along with engine indication and crew alerting system (EICAS) diagnostics. The flight engineer station on previous 747s is no longer installed, and the new displays and simplified layout results in a two-thirds reduction of switches, lights, and gauges versus the Classic 747. Other new systems include an advanced Honeywell flight management computer (FMC) which assists pilots in calculating optimal altitudes and routes along with a Rockwell-Collins central maintenance computer (CMC) which automates troubleshooting tasks.
The redesigned 747-400 interior features new cabin sidewalls, heat-resistant phenolic glass, carbon composite paneling, and larger storage bins. An enhanced in-flight entertainment framework, called the Advanced Cabin Entertainment/Service System (ACESS), debuted on 747-400, which integrates 18-channel audio capability, four passenger intercom announcement zones, inter-cabin telephones, and passenger lighting into a central system. An eight-bunk overhead crew rest is installed above the aft cabin, while a second crew rest area is located on the upper deck behind the cockpit for flight crew use.
The last few 747-400s delivered features the Boeing Signature Interior, derived from the Boeing 777.
United Airlines 747-400 main deck economy class cabin British Airways 747-400 upper deck business classRead more about this topic: Boeing 747-400
Famous quotes containing the word design:
“The reason American cars don’t sell anymore is that they have forgotten how to design the American Dream. What does it matter if you buy a car today or six months from now, because cars are not beautiful. That’s why the American auto industry is in trouble: no design, no desire.”
—Karl Lagerfeld (b. 1938)
“Humility is often only the putting on of a submissiveness by which men hope to bring other people to submit to them; it is a more calculated sort of pride, which debases itself with a design of being exalted; and though this vice transform itself into a thousand several shapes, yet the disguise is never more effectual nor more capable of deceiving the world than when concealed under a form of humility.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)
“Westerners inherit
A design for living
Deeper into matter—
Not without due patter
Of a great misgiving.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)