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51-483: The Boeing Dreamlifter , officially the 747-400 Large Cargo Freighter ( LCF ), is a wide-body cargo aircraft modified extensively from the Boeing 747-400 airliner. With a volume of 65,000 cubic feet (1,840 m) it can hold three times that of a 747-400F freighter. The outsized aircraft was designed to transport Boeing 787 Dreamliner parts between Italy, Japan, and the U.S., but has also flown medical supplies during

102-574: A CIA front) in 1975 to form Evergreen International Airlines, a United States supplemental air carrier (i.e. charter carrier). The holding company, Evergreen International Aviation , formed in 1979, wholly owned the airline. Evergreen also purchased the assets of Air America which had provided fixed wing and helicopter support for the CIA in southeast Asia during the Vietnam conflict. Evergreen served as an Agency front widely over its history: Wherever there

153-492: A Dreamlifter arrived at Salt Lake City International Airport , carrying 500,000 face masks to be used by Utah school children and teachers as part of the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic . The flight was a joint effort between Boeing, Atlas Air, H.M. Cole, Cotopaxi, Flexport , UPS and the state of Utah. On November 20, 2013, Dreamlifter N780BA operated by Atlas Air inadvertently landed at Colonel James Jabara Airport ,

204-618: A fan diameter of 290 centimetres (116 in), slightly smaller than the GE90 engines on the Boeing 777. The Trent 900 is designed to fit into a Boeing 747-400F freighter for easier transport by air cargo . The interiors of aircraft, known as the aircraft cabin , have been undergoing evolution since the first passenger aircraft. Today, between one and four classes of travel are available on wide-body aircraft. Bar and lounge areas which were once installed on wide-body aircraft have mostly disappeared, but

255-558: A few have returned in first class or business class on the Airbus A340-600 , Boeing 777-300ER , and on the Airbus A380. Emirates has installed showers for first-class passengers on the A380; twenty-five minutes are allotted for use of the room, and the shower operates for a maximum of five minutes. Depending on how the airline configures the aircraft, the size and seat pitch of

306-570: A fourth was subsequently added to the program. The Large Cargo Freighter has a bulging fuselage similar in concept to the Super Guppy and the Airbus Beluga and BelugaXL outsize cargo aircraft, which are also used for transporting wings and fuselage sections. The LCF conversion was partially designed by Boeing's Moscow bureau and Boeing Rocketdyne with the swing tail designed in partnership with Gamesa Aeronáutica of Spain . The cargo portion of

357-598: A second aisle, the wider aircraft could accommodate as many as 10 seats across, but could also be easily converted to a freighter and carry two eight-by-eight freight pallets abreast. The engineers also opted for creating "stretched" versions of the DC-8 (61, 62 and 63 models), as well as longer versions of Boeing's 707 (-320B and 320C models) and 727 (-200 model); and Douglas' DC-9 (-30, -40, and -50 models), all of which were capable of accommodating more seats than their shorter predecessor versions. The wide-body age began in 1970 with

408-453: A small general aviation airport in Wichita, Kansas . Its intended destination was McConnell Air Force Base , 9 miles (14 km) past Jabara Airport on the same heading. The aircraft was able to successfully take off again from Jabara's 6,101-foot (1,860 m) runway the following day and landed at McConnell without incident. On October 11, 2022, Dreamlifter N718BA operated by Atlas Air lost

459-495: A twinjet. Most modern wide-body aircraft have two engines, although the heaviest wide-body aircraft, the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 747-8, are built with four engines. The upcoming Boeing 777X-9 twinjet is approaching the capacity of the earlier Boeing 747. The Boeing 777 twinjet features the most powerful jet engine, the General Electric GE90 . The early variants have a fan diameter of 312 centimetres (123 in), and

510-562: A typical narrow-body aircraft has a diameter of 3 to 4 m (10 to 13 ft), with a single aisle, and seats between two and six people abreast. Wide-body aircraft were originally designed for a combination of efficiency and passenger comfort and to increase the amount of cargo space. However, airlines quickly gave in to economic factors, and reduced the extra passenger space in order to insert more seats and increase revenue and profits. Wide-body aircraft are also used by commercial cargo airlines , along with other specialized uses. By

561-711: A wheel from its main landing gear while taking off from Taranto, Italy . The wheel bounced outside the airport perimeter and ended up in a vineyard. The plane continued on to North Charleston, South Carolina (CHS) and made a safe landing. The 747 LCF main cargo compartment has a volume of 65,000 cubic feet (1,840 m) and the maximum payload capacity is 250,000 pounds (113,400 kg). Sources: Boeing 747-400 specifications , Boeing 747 Airport Report , 747 LCF fact sheet Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era [REDACTED] Media related to Boeing 747 Large Cargo Freighter at Wikimedia Commons Wide-body aircraft By comparison,

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612-516: The Boeing 787 parts to Boeing, but the contract was given to Atlas Air in September 2010. This was due to Boeing's rescheduled delivery of the Boeing 747-8 Fs ordered by Atlas Air to increase their current fleet. The "Dreamlifter" is the logistic support aircraft for Boeing's global Boeing 787 Dreamliner production. The company was also scheduled to operate the SOFIA Boeing 747SP for NASA and

663-673: The Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350 XWB . The proposed Comac C929 and C939 may also share this new wide-body market. The production of the large Boeing 747-8 and Airbus A380 four-engine, long-haul jets has come to an end as airlines are now preferring the smaller, more efficient Airbus A350, Boeing 787 and Boeing 777 twin-engine, long-range airliners. Although wide-body aircraft have larger frontal areas (and thus greater form drag ) than narrow-body aircraft of similar capacity, they have several advantages over their narrow-body counterparts, such as: British and Russian designers had proposed wide-body aircraft similar in configuration to

714-687: The COVID-19 pandemic . Boeing Commercial Airplanes announced on October 13, 2003, that, due to the length of time required by land and marine shipping , air transport would be the main method of transporting parts for the assembly of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner (then known as the 7E7 ). Boeing 787 parts were deemed too large for standard marine shipping containers as well as the Boeing 747-400F, Antonov An-124 and An-225 . Initially, 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 North Charleston, South Carolina , and then to Washington state for final assembly, but

765-802: The German Aerospace Center at NASA 's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA (in the silicon valley near San Jose ). The airline modified a Boeing 747-100 for aerial firefighting , receiving final certification from the FAA in October 2006. Compared to existing large water bombers and airtankers, the Evergreen Supertanker was planned to offer at least seven times more fire retardant capacity. In December 2010, Israel hired Evergreen's fire-fighting aircraft to assist in firefighting efforts of

816-933: The NASA operated Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft used to transport the Space Shuttle . Evergreen subsequently sold the Pinal Airpark facility to Relativity Capital in 2011. Officially, the company provided "aviation services" for the CIA, including illegal-drug abatement spraying in Mexico and South America and transporting the Shah of Iran from Egypt to Panama, then Panama to the United States in 1980. Shortly thereafter it ran mysterious missions to El Salvador and Nicaragua . Evergreen performed more than military and intelligence community work, also servicing other government agencies in

867-585: The National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service ; and operated helicopters for FEMA following Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana. Commercially, the airline helped build the Trans-Alaska Pipeline ; and developed and serviced the offshore oil and gas market with helicopter support worldwide via its Evergreen Helicopters division. "All told, Smith said his company flew in 168 countries over

918-603: The President of the United States . Some wide-body aircraft have been modified to enable transport of oversize cargo . Examples include the Airbus Beluga , Airbus BelugaXL and Boeing Dreamlifter . Two specially modified Boeing 747s were used to transport the U.S. Space Shuttle , while the Antonov An-225 was initially built to carry the Buran shuttle . Evergreen International Airlines Evergreen International Airlines

969-717: The United States , it is a requirement to suffix the aircraft's call sign with the word heavy (or super ) when communicating with air traffic control in certain areas. Wide-body aircraft are used in science, research, and the military. Some wide-body aircraft are used as flying command posts by the military like the Ilyushin Il-80 or the Boeing E-4 , while the Boeing E-767 is used for airborne early warning and control . New military weapons are tested aboard wide-bodies, as in

1020-551: The Vickers VC10 and Douglas DC-9 , but with a wide-body fuselage. The British BAC Three-Eleven project did not proceed due to lack of government backing, while the Russian Ilyushin Il-86 wide-body proposal eventually gave way to a more conventional wing-mounted engine design, most likely due to the inefficiencies of mounting such large engines on the aft fuselage. As jet engine power and reliability have increased over

1071-411: The airline seats will vary significantly. For example, aircraft scheduled for shorter flights are often configured at a higher seat density than long-haul aircraft. Due to current economic pressures on the airline industry, high seating densities in the economy class cabin are likely to continue. In some of the largest single-deck wide-body aircraft, such as the Boeing 777, the extra space above

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1122-561: The wake turbulence they produce. Because wake turbulence is generally related to the weight of an aircraft, these categories are based on one of four weight categories: light, medium, heavy, and super. Due to their weight, all current wide-body aircraft are categorized as " heavy ", or in the case of the A380 in U.S. airspace, "super". The wake-turbulence category also is used to guide the separation of aircraft. Super- and heavy-category aircraft require greater separation behind them than those in other categories. In some countries, such as

1173-489: The 1960s, it was also believed that supersonic airliners would succeed larger, slower planes. Thus, it was believed that most subsonic aircraft would become obsolete for passenger travel and would be eventually converted to freighters. As a result, airline manufacturers opted for a wider fuselage rather than a taller one (the 747 , and eventually the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and Lockheed L-1011 TriStar ). By adding

1224-406: The 707 and DC-8 seated passengers along either side of a single aisle, with no more than six seats per row. Larger aircraft would have to be longer, higher ( double-deck aircraft ), or wider in order to accommodate a greater number of passenger seats. Engineers realized having two decks created difficulties in meeting emergency evacuation regulations with the technology available at that time. During

1275-492: The Boeing 747 was not surpassed until October 2007, when the Airbus A380 entered commercial service with the nickname "Superjumbo". Both the Boeing 747 and Airbus A380 "jumbo jets" have four engines each (quad-jets), but the upcoming Boeing 777X ("mini jumbo jet") is a twinjet. In the mid-2000s, rising oil costs in a post- 9/11 climate caused airlines to look towards newer, more fuel-efficient aircraft. Two such examples are

1326-510: The Chapter 7 petition: Evergreen Aviation Ground Logistics Enterprise, Evergreen Defense and Security Services, Evergreen International Airlines, Evergreen International Aviation, Evergreen Systems Logistics, Evergreen Trade, and Supertanker Services. In June 2014, Evergreen had declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy and began a liquidation of assets, including its headquarters campus in McMinnville. By

1377-569: The DC-10-based Tanker 910 and the 747-200 -based Evergreen Supertanker . Some wide-body aircraft are used as VIP transport. To transport those holding the highest offices, Canada uses the Airbus A310 , while Russia uses the Ilyushin Il-96 . Germany replaced its Airbus A310 with an Airbus A340 in spring 2011. Specially-modified Boeing 747-200s ( Boeing VC-25s ) are used to transport

1428-671: The Portland Oregonian in 1988, "We don't know when we've ever worked for them [the CIA], but if we did we're proud of it. We believe in patriotism, and, you know, they're not the [Russian spy service] KGB." Evergreen bought assets during the 1970s that were previously linked to CIA operations including the CIA's aviation 'skunk works' located at the Pinal Airpark in Arizona where Evergreen subsequently performed special maintenance such as servicing

1479-437: The U.S. as well as in other nations. Its Boeing 747 Supertanker aircraft was used as an firefighting air tanker from Israel to Mexico; its unmanned systems division flew drone flights over disaster zones; NASA hired it to operate its flying infrared observatory; its aircraft supported United Nations peacekeeping operations in 30 countries; flew insect-eradication missions throughout Africa; provided helicopter support for

1530-699: The aircraft by the DBL-100 cargo loader , the world's longest cargo loader. In June 2006, the first DBL-100 cargo loader was completed. 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—exacerbated in that the first airplane remained unpainted for some time, due to the need for immediate testing—Boeing Commercial Airplanes president Scott Carson jokingly apologized to 747 designer Joe Sutter that he

1581-473: The aircraft is unpressurized. Unlike the hydraulically supported nose section on a 747 Freighter, the tail is opened and closed by a modified shipping container handling truck, and locked to the rear fuselage with 21 electronic actuators. Modifications were carried out in Taiwan by Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corporation , a joint venture of Evergreen Group 's EVA Air and General Electric . Boeing reacquired

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1632-414: The aircraft that included a logo reminiscent of the 787's Dreamliner logo. Certification was initially planned for early 2007, but was pushed back to June 2007. The aircraft's winglets were removed to resolve excess vibration and other handling characteristics 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

1683-633: The aircraft to Aeroflot. However, in 1976 the Soviet Union launched its own first four-engined wide-body, the Ilyushin Il-86 . After the success of the early wide-body aircraft, several subsequent designs came to market over the next two decades, including the Boeing 767 and 777 , the Airbus A330 and Airbus A340 , and the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 . In the "jumbo" category, the capacity of

1734-417: The cabin is used for crew rest areas and galley storage. The term "jumbo jet" usually refers to the largest variants of wide-body airliners; examples include the Boeing 747 (the first wide-body and original "jumbo jet"), Airbus A380 ("superjumbo jet"), and Boeing 777-9 . The phrase "jumbo jet" derives from Jumbo , a circus elephant in the 19th century. Aircraft are categorized by ICAO according to

1785-407: The core, then the engines may be shipped on a Boeing 747 Freighter. The General Electric GE9X , powering the Boeing 777X, is wider than the GE90 by 15 centimetres (6 in). The 560 tonnes (1,230,000 lb) maximum takeoff weight of the Airbus A380 would not have been possible without the engine technology developed for the Boeing 777 such as contra-rotating spools. Its Trent 900 engine has

1836-475: The end of 2017, nearly 8,800 wide-body airplanes had been delivered since 1969, with production peaking at 412 in 2015. Following the success of the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 in the late 1950s and early 1960s, airlines began seeking larger aircraft to meet the rising global demand for air travel. Engineers were faced with many challenges as airlines demanded more passenger seats per aircraft, longer ranges and lower operating costs. Early jet aircraft such as

1887-654: The entry into service of the first wide-body airliner, the four-engined, partial double-deck Boeing 747 . New trijet wide-body aircraft soon followed, including the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and the L-1011 TriStar. The first wide-body twinjet , the Airbus A300 , entered service in 1974. This period came to be known as the "wide-body wars". L-1011 TriStars were demonstrated in the USSR in 1974, as Lockheed sought to sell

1938-648: The first 787s. Another 747-400 came from Malaysia Airlines , originally registered as 9M-MPA, before becoming N718BA. Delivery times for the 787's wings, built in Japan, was reduced from around 30 days to just over eight hours with the Dreamlifter. Evergreen International Airlines (unrelated to EVA Air or EGAT), a U.S. air freight operator based in McMinnville, Oregon , operated the LCF fleet until August 2010. Then Atlas Air , which

1989-399: The four 747-400s; one former Air China aircraft, two former China Airlines aircraft, and one former Malaysia Airlines aircraft. The first 747 Large Cargo Freighter (LCF) was rolled out of the hangar at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport on August 17, 2006. It successfully completed its first test flight on September 9, 2006, from this airport. The 787 Dreamliner parts are placed in

2040-456: The larger GE90-115B has a fan diameter of 325 centimetres (128 in). This is almost as wide as the 3.30 metres (130 in) Fokker 100 fuselage. Complete GE90 engines can only be ferried by outsize cargo aircraft such as the Antonov An-124 , presenting logistics problems if a 777 is stranded in a place due to emergency diversions without the proper spare parts. If the fan is removed from

2091-469: The laser weapons testing on the Boeing YAL-1 . Other wide-body aircraft are used as flying research stations, such as the joint German–U.S. Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). Airbus A340, Airbus A380, and Boeing 747 four-engine wide-body aircraft are used to test new generations of aircraft engines in flight. A few aircraft have also been converted for aerial firefighting , such as

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2142-489: The last decades, most of the wide-body aircraft built today have only two engines. A twinjet design is more fuel-efficient than a trijet or quadjet of similar size. The increased reliability of modern jet engines also allows aircraft to meet the ETOPS certification standard, which calculates reasonable safety margins for flights across oceans. The trijet design was dismissed due to higher maintenance and fuel costs compared to

2193-461: The time of Smith's death November 7, 2014, the remains of his once billion-dollar Evergreen Aviation empire had been sold off, shut down, or was in bankruptcy and under investigation by tax authorities. Evergreen International Airlines operated the following freight services (as of December 2012): The Evergreen International Airlines fleet consisted of the following aircraft: Evergreen previously operated three Boeing Dreamlifters to transport

2244-564: The world to the Boeing factory in Everett, Washington for final assembly. The 747 LCF was granted FAA type certification on June 2, 2007. From its first flight in 2006 until certification in 2007, the Dreamlifter completed 437 hours of flight testing along with 639 hours of ground testing. Of the four 747 Dreamlifters Boeing acquired, three were complete and operational by June 2008, and the fourth became operational in February 2010. On July 1, 2020,

2295-447: The years. 'We were all over the world. Everywhere they needed a helicopter, they needed an airplane as well ' ", said Smith. One of Evergreen's Boeing 747 airplanes (registered N473EV, which suffered an in-flight engine separation in 1993) appeared in the 1990 action film Die Hard 2 . A Boeing 727 (registered N727EV) appeared in episode 8 of season 4 of Remington Steele titled "Coffee Tea or Steele". On November 9, 2013, it

2346-456: Was "sorry for what we did to your plane." On September 16, 2006, N747BC arrived at Boeing Field , Seattle to complete the flight test program. Swing-tail testing was done at the Boeing factory in Everett. The second airplane, N780BA, made its inaugural test flight on February 16, 2007. The third began modification in 2007. The first two LCFs entered service in 2007 to support the final assembly of

2397-591: Was a charter and cargo airline based in McMinnville , Oregon , United States. Wholly owned by Evergreen International Aviation , it had longstanding ties to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It operated contract freight services, offering charters and scheduled flights, as well as wet lease services. It operated services for the U.S. military and the United States Postal Service , as well as ad hoc charter flights. Its crew base

2448-429: Was a hot spot in the world, Evergreen's helicopters and later airplanes were never far behind. Evergreen's hardware was so inextricably linked with political intrigue that rumors swirled that the company was owned by, or a front for, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Indeed, several of the company's senior executives either worked for the agency or had close ties to it. Smith never let on, disingenuously telling

2499-566: Was announced that Evergreen Airlines would close on November 30, 2013, due to financial troubles. This information was initially denied by Evergreen, but shortly afterwards admitted: "Evergreen International Airlines flew its last flight Monday [December 2, 2013] Mike Hines, chairman of its parent company board, acknowledged". On December 31, 2013, Evergreen International Airlines filed a Chapter 7 petition in federal bankruptcy court in Delaware. The bankruptcy filing lists seven entities as submitting

2550-685: Was at John F. Kennedy International Airport , New York . Evergreen also maintained a large aircraft maintenance and storage facility at the Pinal Airpark in Marana, Arizona , that the company acquired from the CIA 's Air America operation. The airline was established by Delford Smith (founder and owner) and began operations in 1960 as Evergreen Helicopters . It acquired the operating certificate of Johnson Flying Service and merged it with Intermountain Airlines (a known CIA front) from Pacific Corporation (also

2601-452: Was awarded a nine-year contract for the operation of the aircraft in March 2010, took over LCF operation. Evergreen had achieved a 93% on flight schedule performance with the LCF, and sued Boeing for $ 175 million, which the court mostly dismissed. In December 2006, Boeing announced the 747 LCF would be named Dreamlifter , a reference to the 787's name, Dreamliner. It unveiled a standard livery for

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