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British Airways 747 just set subsonic speed record for Atlantic crossing:
Here's a good piece of trivia for you: what's the fastest commercial airliner in operation? As of Sunday, the answer might be "the Boeing 747"—not bad for an airliner that first entered service 50 years ago. On Saturday evening at 6:47pm ET, British Airways 747-400, tail number G-CIVP, took off from John F Kennedy (JFK) airport in New York. It landed at London's Heathrow Airport (LHR) at 4:43am local time—a crossing time of just 4 hours and 56 minutes, and a new record for subsonic aircraft.
Of course, the venerable jumbo had some help. Neither Boeing nor BA have rolled out a surprise engine upgrade, but Storm Ciara[*]—a weather disturbance currently rearranging British landscapes—gave the plane a helping hand with 200mph+ (320km/h+) tailwinds. G-CIVP set a peak ground speed of 825mph (1,327km/h), although its peak airspeed remained subsonic at around Mach 0.85.
That's a huge improvement over the prior record for a commercial, non-supersonic aircraft of 5 hours and 3 minutes!
The all-time record for any aircraft was managed in comfortably under 2 hours!
I was actually quite surprised to learn they were still in use as passenger aircraft. I'd taken a vacation 40 some-odd years ago to a Caribbean Island. I don't recall what the exact model plane it was that brought me there. But I do recall that all two dozen or so of us who were returning on a red-eye at the end of the week found ourselves as the sole passengers on a 747! Never mind trying to catch a nap with your seat in the reclined position... We just tipped up all the armrests in a center row of five seats and had plenty of space to sprawl out and sleep! If you ever get a chance to fly one before they are all retired, highly recommended to add to one's "bucket list."
*Ciara; pronuounced /ˈkɪərə/ KEER-ə
(Score: 4, Interesting) by richtopia on Tuesday February 11 2020, @03:28PM
The 747 isn't going anywhere soon. Their orders are decreasing due to a number of factors such as a move away from the hub-and-spoke model and smaller aircraft improving fuel efficency per passenger, but even last year 155 orders were placed. The 747-8 was announced in 2005 and is in production now, which leverages modern advances keeping the large aircraft competitive.
Now you stated flying on one, and that is definitely being phased out. Modern orders for the 747 is dominated by freight operators; for example of the 154 orders of the 747-8 107 were in the freight configuration and 47 were for passengers.