New Era" Flight Testing the Boeing 747 Super Jumbo Jet (1970)

Synopsis

The 1970 short film The New Era: Flight Testing the 747 Superjet is a documentary on the flight testing of Boeing’s 747 wide-body commercial jet with commentary from the 747 flight test personnel. The film begins with shots of the superjet taking off ( 00:10 ), landing, and flying through the air ( 01:21 ). Boeing tests the first five 747s off the production line, with several commercial airlines vying to be involved. Pan American Airways ( 02:17 ) and Trans World Airways ( 02:43 ) win the rights to collaborate. Some of the first tests conducted are wind tunnel testing ( 02:50 ), airframe testing ( 03:22 ), and wind-load testing ( 04:10 ). Boeing and FAA flight crews meet ( 04:30 ) to discuss additional upcoming flight tests. Engineers observe data from flight tests in a control room ( 05:15 ). A 747 flies with snow-capped mountains in the background ( 05:59 ). The next set of tests are high-speed flutter tests ( 06:30 ). Boeing engineers are so invested in the 747 project that they with pilots immediately after landing ( 07:10 ). Flight tapes’ data from flight tests ( 07:26 ) are entered into a computer to review the data and instrumentation. The biggest change in flight testing is the data: the amount of data obtained and how quickly it is processed, made possible with computers ( 08:12 ), is far more advanced than in previous years. The 747 is tested in rainy weather ( 08:35 ), taking off in adverse conditions. A 747 flies into Roswell, New Mexico ( 09:04 ), where people…

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Details

Running time

28 minutes

Collection

Ephemeral Films

Subjects on the Internet Archive

• Stock Footage