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| Thread ID: 142782 | 2016-09-08 23:30:00 | Remembering Joe Sutter | WalOne (4202) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 1425820 | 2016-09-08 23:30:00 | Joe who? Joe Sutter - the man who brought us the Boeing 747. A tribute from Patrick (AskThePilot) Smith ... Joe Sutter, the visionary creator of the Boeing 747, died on August 30th. He was 95 years-old. I don’t have many heroes, but Joe Sutter is one of them. The sheer improbability of the 747 program is hard to fathom. Sutter led a team of more than four thousand engineers, and turned what began as a napkin doodle into the most important and most iconic jetliner ever built — in less than thirty months! When the 747 entered service with Pan Am in January, 1970, it was double the size of any existing plane, and its stupendous economies of scale ushered in the era of affordable long-range jet travel. And it did so in style. The 747 wasn’t just big, it was beautiful. More than 1,500 747s have been sold over five decades — more than any other Boeing save for the much smaller 737. It was the largest jet in the sky for some forty years, until finally being eclipsed by the double-decked Airbus A380. The tragedy there is that the A380, for all of its size and technological prowess, was engineered without a shred of the 747’s grace. A sort of anti-747, it’s possibly the ugliest commercial plane ever conceived. The 747 remains in production, but for how long is anyone’s guess. The latest derivative, the 747-8, hasn’t sold very well and there’s talk of shutting down the line. More than four hundred are still in service, however, and the jet won’t be going extinct any time soon. The way I describe it, the 747 is the Empire State Building of airplanes: It’s no longer the biggest, or the flashiest. But it’s still the classiest, the most elegant and dignified. I was based in Sydney when the very first PanAm 747 arrived at Kingsford Smith on its maiden flight. The marshaller didn't do a very good job. Actually, a fail! Arriving at the gate. the 747 crew were instructed to stop - but only after the aircraft's forward door had moved past the point at which the passengers could disembark onto the air ramp. This was also at the point at which the pushback tug was unable to manouvre past the nosewheel assembly to connect up and push the 747 back. Being the first 747 to arrive at SYD, there were not yet any standby stairs with the height to enable the rear doors to be used. So the VIPs and crew all remained trapped. For several hours. Eventually I think the Boeing engineers in Seattle settled on placing a harness around both main undercarriage assemblies and towing the 747 backwards - all of the one metre necessary so the door matched the ramp ... But still, to use Patrick's turn of phrase, "[the 747 is] no longer the biggest, or the flashiest. But it’s still the classiest, the most elegant and dignified." Thanks, Joe Sutter. |
WalOne (4202) | ||
| 1425821 | 2016-09-10 10:43:00 | I think actor and pilot John Travolta, who meet him, admired him. | kahawai chaser (3545) | ||
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