B747SP flyby at Miramar Airshow 2008

[Rooster Cruiser]

I didn't get any pics of this, but I did watch them doing their flybys while I was walking back to my car with my kids.  I think that's the first time I've seen a B747SP in close to 20 years.  I didn't even know there were any still in service!

Watch the video closely.  During the last low pass they were a mere 10ft (or 2.5 meters) off the runway!   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08G4z63PShc

[Frank N. O.]

"Wave at him" and then one poster said it was a lady pilot hahaha. I must say, the commentator really did smear on the advertising on thick didn't he? "Lower pass than the prices...." 

It really does look funny doesn't it, almost like a Micro Machines version of the real thing (really squeezed together in length which also makes the wings etc. look exagerated in size, although the tail was bigger than normal for the SP).

Frank

[Oddball]

ok what does SP stand for?

[TheSoccerMom]

"Wave at him" and then one poster said it was a lady pilot hahaha.
Frank

Yeah, Frank, I saw that, too.  If it's TRUE, well, I hope when that announcer got home, his wife gave him a DOPE SLAP but good....!!   

ok what does SP stand for?

I just asked a cool 99 here who flew the 747 for years, and she said to tell you:

"Sooooooo Purty.....!!!!"


 

[Oddball]

  that was a B747 not a Lancaster S'Mom nearest thing to that is the BUFF (B52) lol

[Ragwing]

ok what does SP stand for?

The Boeing 747SP is a highly modified version of Boeing's Boeing 747-100 offering 'special performance' with a shortened fuselage, it allowed longer range and increased speed.

The idea for the 747SP came from a joint request between Pan Am and Iran Air who were looking for a high capacity airliner capable of covering Pan Am's New York-Middle Eastern routes and Iran Air's planned Tehran-New York Route which, when launched at the time, was the longest nonstop commercial flight in the world.

The aircraft was first offered to customers in 1974, and the first aircraft delivered in 1976. A shorter derivative of the 747-100, the SP was developed to target two market requirements. The first was a need to compete with the DC-10 and L-1011 while maintaining commonality with the 747, which in its standard form was too large for many routes. Boeing lacked a mid-sized widebody to compete in the segment of the market that the DC-10 and L-1011 had created. The second market requirement was an aircraft suitable for the ultra-long-range routes emerging in the mid-1970s following the joint request. These routes needed not only longer range, but also higher cruising speeds. Boeing could not afford to develop an all-new design, instead opting to shorten the 747 and optimize it for speed and range, at the expense of capacity.

We also simplified the flaps and a taller vertical tail to counteract the decrease in yaw moment-arm from the shortened fuselage. The 747SP uses single-piece flaps on the trailing edges, rather than the smaller triple-slotted flaps of standard 747s.

The SP was also the first—and until the introduction of the Boeing 777-200LR, the only—Boeing widebody with a wingspan greater than the length of the fuselage.

Originally designated 747SB for "short body", the production designation was later changed to 747SP for "special performance", reflecting the aircraft's longer range and faster cruise speed. Pan Am was the launch customer for the 747SP, taking the first delivery on March 5, 1976, followed by Iran Air.

The 747SP was the longest-range airliner available until the 747-400 entered service in 1987. Despite its technical achievements, the SP never sold as well as we hoped.  Increased fuel prices in the mid 70s to early 80s, the SP's heavy wings, reduced capacity, and the increased ranges of forthcoming airliners were some of the many factors that contributed to its low sales.

Only 45 were built and of those remaining, most are used by operators in the Middle East. However, some of the engineering work on the 747SP was reused with the development of the 747-300 and 747-400.  In the 747SP, the upper deck begins over the section of fuselage that contains the wingbox, not ahead of the wingbox as is the case with the 747-100 and 747-200. This same design was used in the 747-300 and 747-400 resulting in a stretched upper deck.

Production of the 747SP ran from 1976 to 1983. However an order for the Royal Flight of Bahrain led Boeing to produce one last SP in 1987.

[Rooster Cruiser]

Ragwing, did you copy and paste that from Airliners.net or somewhere else?  Hehe.   

[Oddball]

Thanks for that Ragwing 

[Ragwing]

Ragwing, did you copy and paste that from Airliners.net or somewhere else?  Hehe. 

I worked on that program and I did review a couple of resources to help and had them up on the other monitor borrowing a few words here and there.
I will confess that I am an old design engineer who has been working with Boeing since the 60's.

Let me tell you about the 707.....
If the designers in the 1950's (before my time) knew what they knew later in life, they would not have released those drawings.

The vertical fin has a splice in it from a design fix instead of redesigning.  It looked good in the 50's and has worked well for the commercial market.
So, we added a radome and a bunch more for the AWACS aircraft.
The test pilots were to test the extremes of what we said would work.
They took off and flew over the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State and put the aircraft through it's paces.
The buffeting broke the vertical stabilizer off and the pilots flew the plane home.
Another larger patch was designed and installed.
And they took the plane out again............ AND brought a broken bird home again.
This time we got approval to improve the design and sent the pilots out for a third try.

I have always wondered what the pilots were thinking........ .... AND their cleaning bill.

[Skygal]

"and their cleaning bill"
I too gave that some consideration...............(it really broke the whole vert stab OFF?) YIKES!!

[Oddball]

didn't that happen to the prototype B52 Stratofortress as well?

[Rooster Cruiser]

Holy Smokes Rag!  Those are some serious credentials you carry around in your wallet!     I meant no disrespect, was just ribbing ya!  Hehe.

So what possesed an aeronautical engineer from Boeing to switch over to towing banners three decades later?   

RC

[Ragwing]

Holy Smokes Rag!  Those are some serious credentials you carry around in your wallet!  I meant no disrespect, was just ribbing ya!  Hehe.

So what possessed an aeronautical engineer from Boeing to switch over to towing banners three decades later?

Rooster, no disrespect taken.  I am kind of quiet and you guys drew me out.

BTW, Thank you for answering the Gyro question.  I was about to when you jumped in with some excellent descriptions.
I also learned from your thread about your handle... I enjoy learning something new.

Why did I change?
I get to play with the big toys during the day, but the evenings and weekends are mine.
ah, mostly mine.  I have piles of information at home on the various Boeing aircraft: performance, dimensions, weight, etc.
Just have to watch out and not let my wife throw my good stuff away.

I am a metallurgical engineer by degree and a bearings engineer for the last 15 years.
I have loved flying and I have fixed wing and rotary wing under my belt.

My wife has her experimental fixed wing that she built and I have a 1948 ragwing that I am disassembling and rebuilding.
Every week I put 1-2 hours in a rotary wing and try to fly with my wife on weekends.

When I travel for Boeing, (2-3 times per year), I try to find a day to rent a fixed wing and tour that part of the country.

Oddball, I do not remember about the B52, but it would not surprise me.

Skygal, Yes, lost about 2/3rds of the vertical stabilizer and all of the rudder.  Makes landing more fun.
It is not that unusual, if you look hard enough, you will find a picture of a B24 with 90% of the vertical missing when a German ran into it.  It made it back to England fine.  Just does not fly in a straight line.  Mostly it crabs and is hard to turn.
You do a lot more banking on approach with application of the up elevator. 
One day to test it, I touched down in a C172 without touching the yoke.   

Hmmmm, I just admitted that I was .  Yep, I am in the right crowd.

[Skygal]

Holy Smokes Rag!  Those are some serious credentials you carry around in your wallet!  I meant no disrespect, was just ribbing ya!  Hehe.

So what possessed an aeronautical engineer from Boeing to switch over to towing banners three decades later?

Rooster, no disrespect taken.  I am kind of quiet and you guys drew me out.

BTW, Thank you for answering the Gyro question.  I was about to when you jumped in with some excellent descriptions.
I also learned from your thread about your handle... I enjoy learning something new.

Why did I change?
I get to play with the big toys during the day, but the evenings and weekends are mine.
ah, mostly mine.  I have piles of information at home on the various Boeing aircraft: performance, dimensions, weight, etc.
Just have to watch out and not let my wife throw my good stuff away.

I am a metallurgical engineer by degree and a bearings engineer for the last 15 years.
I have loved flying and I have fixed wing and rotary wing under my belt.

My wife has her experimental fixed wing that she built and I have a 1948 ragwing that I am disassembling and rebuilding.
Every week I put 1-2 hours in a rotary wing and try to fly with my wife on weekends.

When I travel for Boeing, (2-3 times per year), I try to find a day to rent a fixed wing and tour that part of the country.

Oddball, I do not remember about the B52, but it would not surprise me.

Skygal, Yes, lost about 2/3rds of the vertical stabilizer and all of the rudder.  Makes landing more fun.
It is not that unusual, if you look hard enough, you will find a picture of a B24 with 90% of the vertical missing when a German ran into it.  It made it back to England fine.  Just does not fly in a straight line.  Mostly it crabs and is hard to turn.
You do a lot more banking on approach with application of the up elevator. 
One day to test it, I touched down in a C172 without touching the yoke.   

Hmmmm, I just admitted that I was .  Yep, I am in the right crowd.

HAAAHAHAHA...............Yes you are!!!   If there were a thread about "Dumb dangerous things I've done in an airplane" I'm sure some of us could fill it.

[Rooster Cruiser]

HAAAHAHAHA...............Yes you are!!!   If there were a thread about "Dumb dangerous things I've done in an airplane" I'm sure some of us could fill it.

You should see the thread I started this morning, "Dead Stick Takeoff."  THAT fits your description to a T!