title: Carlo Ancelotti

text: On 31 January 2019, Ancelotti became the grandfather of twins, born to his son Davide's partner Ana Galocha. In February 2021, Ancelotti's home in Crosby was burgled and a safe stolen by two male offenders wearing black clothing and balaclavas. The safe was later found dumped in a car park in nearby Thornton. It had been forced open and stripped of its contents.


title: Constitution of India

text: The Constitution of India (IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental rights, directive principles, and the duties of citizens. It is the longest written national constitution in the world.


title: Constitution of India

text: It imparts constitutional supremacy (not parliamentary supremacy, since it was created by a constituent assembly rather than Parliament) and was adopted by its people with a declaration in its preamble. Parliament cannot override the constitution.


title: Constitution of India

text: It was adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India on 26 November 1949 and became effective on 26 January 1950. The constitution replaced the Government of India Act 1935 as the country's fundamental governing document, and the Dominion of India became the Republic of India. To ensure constitutional autochthony, its framers repealed prior acts of the British parliament in Article 395. India celebrates its constitution on 26 January as Republic Day.


title: Constitution of India

text: The constitution declares India a sovereign, socialist, secular, and democratic republic, assures its citizens justice, equality, and liberty, and endeavours to promote fraternity. The original 1950 constitution is preserved in a nitrogen-filled case at the Parliament House in New Delhi. The words "secular" and "socialist" were added to the preamble by 42nd amendment act in 1976 during the Emergency.


title: Constitution of India

text: In 1928, the All Parties Conference convened a committee in Lucknow to prepare the Constitution of India, which was known as the Nehru Report.


title: Constitution of India

text: Most of the colonial India was under British rule from 1857 to 1947. From 1947 to 1950, the same legislation continued to be implemented as India was a dominion of Britain for these three years, as each princely state was convinced by Sardar Patel and V.P.Menon to sign the articles of integration with India, and the British government continued to be responsible for the external security of the country. Thus, the constitution of India repealed the Indian Independence Act 1947 and Government of India Act 1935 when it became effective on 26 January 1950. India ceased to be a dominion of the British Crown and became a sovereign, democratic and republic with the constitution. Articles 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 60, 324, 366, 367, 379, 380, 388, 391, 392, 393, and 394 of the constitution came into force on 26 November 1949, and the remaining articles became effective on 26 January 1950 which is celebrated every year in India as Republic Day.


title: Constitution of India

text: The constitution was drawn from a number of sources. Mindful of India's needs and conditions, its framers borrowed features of previous legislation such as the Government of India Act 1858, the Indian Councils Acts of 1861, 1892 and 1909, the Government of India Acts 1919 and 1935, and the Indian Independence Act 1947. The latter, which led to the creation of India and Pakistan, divided the former Constituent Assembly in two. The Amendment act of 1935 is also a very important step for making the constitution for two new born countries. Each new assembly had sovereign power to draft and enact a new constitution for the separate states.


title: Constitution of India

text: The constitution was drafted by the Constituent Assembly, which was elected by elected members of the provincial assemblies. The 389-member assembly (reduced to 299 after the partition of India) took almost three years to draft the constitution holding eleven sessions over a 165-day period.


title: Constitution of India

text: Having studied the constitutions of about 60 countries, Ambedkar was considered a wise constitutional expert. Ambedkar is recognised as the "Father of the Constitution of India". In the constitution assembly, a member of the drafting committee, T. T. Krishnamachari said:


title: Constitution of India

text: G. V. Mavlankar was the first Speaker of the Lok Sabha (the lower house of Parliament) after India turned into a republic.


title: Constitution of India

text: B. R. Ambedkar, Sanjay Phakey, Jawaharlal Nehru, C. Rajagopalachari, Rajendra Prasad, Vallabhbhai Patel, Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi, Ganesh Vasudev Mavalankar, Sandipkumar Patel, Abul Kalam Azad, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Nalini Ranjan Ghosh, and Balwantrai Mehta were key figures in the assembly, which had over 30 representatives of the scheduled classes. Frank Anthony represented the Anglo-Indian community, and the Parsis were represented by H. P. Modi. Harendra Coomar Mookerjee, a Christian assembly vice-president, chaired the minorities committee and represented non-Anglo-Indian Christians. Ari Bahadur Gurung represented the Gorkha community. Judges, such as Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer, Benegal Narsing Rau, K. M. Munshi and Ganesh Mavlankar were members of the assembly. Female members included Sarojini Naidu, Hansa Mehta, Durgabai Deshmukh, Amrit Kaur and Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit.


title: Constitution of India

text: The first, two-day president of the assembly was Sachchidananda Sinha; Rajendra Prasad was later elected president. It met for the first time on 9 December 1946.


title: Constitution of India

text: Sir Benegal Narsing Rau, a civil servant who became the first Indian judge in the International Court of Justice and was president of the United Nations Security Council, was appointed as the assembly's constitutional adviser in 1946. Responsible for the constitution's general structure, Rau prepared its initial draft in February 1948. The draft of B.N. Rau consisted of 243 articles and 13 schedules which came to 395 articles and 8 schedules after discussions, debates and amendments.


title: Constitution of India

text: At 14 August 1947 meeting of the assembly, committees were proposed. Rau's draft was considered, debated and amended by the eight-person drafting committee, which was appointed on 29 August 1947 with B. R. Ambedkar as chair. A revised draft constitution was prepared by the committee and submitted to the assembly on 4 November 1947. Dr B. R. Ambedkar in his concluding speech in constituent assembly on 25 November 1949 stated that:


title: Constitution of India

text: While deliberating the revised draft constitution, the assembly moved, discussed and disposed off 2,473 amendments out of a total of 7,635. Before adopting the constitution, the assembly held eleven sessions in 165 days. On 26 November 1949, it adopted the constitution, which was signed by 284 members. The day is celebrated as National Law Day, or Constitution Day. The day was chosen to spread the importance of the constitution and to spread thoughts and ideas of Ambedkar.


title: Constitution of India

text: The assembly's final session convened on 24 January 1950. Each member signed two copies of the constitution, one in Hindi and the other in English. The original constitution is hand-written, with each page decorated by artists from Shantiniketan including Beohar Rammanohar Sinha and Nandalal Bose. Its calligrapher was Prem Behari Narain Raizada. The constitution was published in Dehradun and photolithographed by the Survey of India. Production of the original constitution took nearly five years. Two days later, on 26 January 1950, it became the law of India. The estimated cost of the Constituent Assembly was 6.3 crore. The constitution has had more than 100 amendments since it was enacted.


title: Constitution of India

text: The Indian constitution is the world's longest for a sovereign nation. At its enactment, it had 395 articles in 22 parts and 8 schedules. At about 145,000 words, it is the second-longest active constitution—after the Constitution of Alabama—in the world.


title: Constitution of India

text: The constitution has a preamble and 470 articles, which are grouped into 25 parts. With 12 schedules and five appendices, it has been amended 105 times; the latest amendment became effective on 15 August 2021.


title: Constitution of India

text: Schedules are lists in the constitution which categorise and tabulate bureaucratic activity and government policy.


title: Constitution of India

text: The executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government receive their power from the constitution and are bound by it. With the aid of its constitution, India is governed by a parliamentary system of government with the executive directly accountable to the legislature.


title: Constitution of India

text: The constitution is considered federal in nature, and unitary in spirit. It has features of a federation, including a codified, supreme constitution; a three-tier governmental structure (central, state and local); division of powers; bicameralism; and an independent judiciary. It also possesses unitary features such as a single constitution, single citizenship, an integrated judiciary, a flexible constitution, a strong central government, appointment of state governors by the central government, All India Services (the IAS, IFS and IPS), and emergency provisions. This unique combination makes it quasi-federal in form.


title: Constitution of India

text: Each state and union territory has its own government. Analogous to the president and prime minister, each has a governor or (in union territories) a lieutenant governor and a chief minister. permits the president to dismiss a state government and assume direct authority if a situation arises in which state government cannot be conducted in accordance with constitution. This power, known as president's rule, was abused as state governments came to be dismissed on flimsy grounds for political reasons. After the "S. R. Bommai v. Union of India" decision, such a course of action is more difficult since the courts have asserted their right of review.


title: Constitution of India

text: The 73rd and 74th Amendment Acts introduced the system of panchayati raj in rural areas and Nagar Palikas in urban areas. Article 370 gave special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir.


title: Constitution of India

text: Article 368 dictates the procedure for constitutional amendments. Amendments are additions, variations or repeal of any part of the constitution by Parliament. An amendment bill must be passed by each house of Parliament by a two-thirds majority of its total membership when at least two-thirds are present and vote. Certain amendments pertaining to the constitution's federal nature must also be ratified by a majority of state legislatures.


title: Constitution of India

text: Unlike ordinary bills in accordance with (except for money bills), there is no provision for a joint session of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to pass a constitutional amendment. During a parliamentary recess, the president cannot promulgate ordinances under his legislative powers under .


title: Constitution of India

text: Despite the supermajority requirement for amendments to pass, the Indian constitution is the world's most frequently-amended national governing document. The constitution is so specific in spelling out government powers that many amendments address issues dealt with by statute in other democracies.


title: Constitution of India

text: In 2000, the Justice Manepalli Narayana Rao Venkatachaliah Commission was formed to examine a constitutional update. The commission submitted its report on 31 March 2002. However, the recommendations of this report have not been accepted by the consecutive governments.


title: Constitution of India

text: The government of India establishes term-based law commissions to recommend legal reforms, facilitating the rule of law.


title: Constitution of India

text: In "Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala", the Supreme Court ruled that an amendment cannot destroy what it seeks to modify; it cannot tinker with the constitution's basic structure or framework, which are immutable. Such an amendment will be declared invalid, although no part of the constitution is protected from amendment; the basic structure doctrine does not protect any one provision of the constitution. According to the doctrine, the constitution's basic features (when "read as a whole") cannot be abridged or abolished. These "basic features" have not been fully defined, and whether a particular provision of the constitution is a "basic feature" is decided by the courts.


title: Constitution of India

text: This implies that Parliament can only amend the constitution to the limit of its basic structure. The Supreme Court or a high court may declare the amendment null and void if this is violated, after a judicial review. This is typical of parliamentary governments, where the judiciary checks parliamentary power.


title: Constitution of India

text: In its 1967 "Golak Nath v. State of Punjab" decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the state of Punjab could not restrict any fundamental rights protected by the basic structure doctrine. The extent of land ownership and practice of a profession, in this case, were considered fundamental rights. The ruling was overturned with the ratification of the 24th Amendment in 1971.


title: Constitution of India

text: The judiciary is the final arbiter of the constitution. Its duty (mandated by the constitution) is to act as a watchdog, preventing any legislative or executive act from overstepping constitutional bounds. The judiciary protects the fundamental rights of the people (enshrined in the constitution) from infringement by any state body, and balances the conflicting exercise of power between the central government and a state (or states).


title: Constitution of India

text: The courts are expected to remain unaffected by pressure exerted by other branches of the state, citizens or interest groups. An independent judiciary has been held as a basic feature of the constitution, which cannot be changed by the legislature or the executive. Article 50 of the Constitution provides that the state must take measures to separate the judiciary from the executive in the public services.


title: Constitution of India

text: Judicial review was adopted by the constitution of India from judicial review in the United States. In the Indian constitution, judicial review is dealt with in . The constitution is the supreme power of the nation, and governs all laws. According to Article 13:


title: Constitution of India

text: Due to the adoption of the Thirty-eighth Amendment, the Supreme Court was not allowed to preside over any laws adopted during a state of emergency which infringe fundamental rights under article 32 (the right to constitutional remedies). The Forty-second Amendment widened Article 31C and added Articles 368(4) and 368(5), stating that any law passed by Parliament could not be challenged in court. The Supreme Court ruled in "Minerva Mills v. Union of India" that judicial review is a basic characteristic of the constitution, overturning Articles 368(4), 368(5) and 31C.


title: Constitution of India

text: Chapter 1 of the Constitution of India creates a parliamentary system, with a Prime Minister who, in practice, exercises most executive power. The prime minister must have the support of a majority of the members of the Lok Sabha, or lower House of Parliament. If the Prime Minister does not have the support of a majority, the Lok Sabha can pass a motion of no confidence, removing the Prime Minister from office. Thus the Prime Minister is the member of parliament who leads the majority party or a coalition comprising a majority. The Prime Minister governs with the aid of a Council of Ministers, which the Prime Minister appoints and whose members head ministries. Importantly, Article 75 establishes that "the Council of Ministers shall be collectively responsible to the House of the People" or Lok Sabha. The Lok Sabha interprets this article to mean that the entire Council of Ministers can be subjected to a no confidence motion. If a no confidence motion succeeds, the entire Council of Ministers must resign.


title: Constitution of India

text: Despite the Prime Minister exercising executive power in practice, the constitution bestows all the national government's executive power in the office of the President. This de jure power is not exercised in reality, however. Article 74 requires the President follow the "aid and advice" of the Council, headed by the Prime Minister. In practice, this means that President's role is mostly ceremonial, with the Prime Minister exercising executive power because the President is obligated to act on the Prime Minister's wishes. The President does retain the power to ask the Council to reconsider its advice, however, an action the President may take publicly. The Council is not required to make any changes before resubmitting the advice to the President, in which case the President is constitutionally required to adhere to it, overriding the President's discretion. Previous Presidents have used this occasion to make public statements about their reasoning for sending a decision back to the Council, in an attempt to sway public opinion. This system, with an executive who only possesses nominal power and an official "advisor" who possess actual power, is based on the British system and is a result of colonial influences on India before and during the writing of its constitution.


title: Constitution of India

text: The President is chosen by an electoral college composed of the members of both the national and state legislatures. Article 55 outlines the specifics of the electoral college. Half of the votes in the electoral college are assigned to state representatives in proportion to the population of each state and the other half are assigned to the national representatives. The voting is conducted using a secret, single transferable vote.


title: Constitution of India

text: While the Constitution gives the legislative powers to the two Houses of Parliament, Article 111 requires the President's signature for a bill to become law. Just as with the advice of the Council, the President can refuse to sign and send it back to the Parliament, but the Parliament can in turn send it back to the President who must then sign it.


title: Constitution of India

text: Despite the President's mandate to obey the advice of the Prime Minister and the Council, Article 75 declares that both "shall hold office during the pleasure of the President." This means the President has the constitutional power to dismiss the Prime Minister or Council at anytime. If the Prime Minister still retained a majority vote in the Lok Sabha, however, this could trigger a constitutional crisis because the same article of the Constitution states that the Council of Ministers is responsible to the Lok Sabha and must command a majority in it. In practice the issue has never arisen, though President Zail Singh threatened to remove Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi from office in 1987.


title: Constitution of India

text: When either or both Houses of Parliament are not in session, the Prime Minister, acting via the President, can unilaterally exercise the legislative power, creating ordinances that have the force of law. These ordinances expire six weeks after Parliament reconvenes or sooner if both Houses disapprove. The Constitution declares that ordinances should only be issued when circumstances arise that require "immediate action." Because this term is not defined, governments have begun abusing the ordinance system to enact laws that could not pass both Houses of Parliament, according to some commentators. This appears to be more common with divided government; when the Prime Minister's party controls the lower house but not the upper house, ordinances can be used to avoid needing the approval of the opposition in the upper house. In recent years, around ten ordinances have been passed annually, though at the peak of their use, over 30 were passed in a single year. Ordinances can vary widely on their topic; recent examples of ordinances include items as varied as modifications to land owner rights, emergency responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, and changes to banking regulations.


title: Constitution of India

text: The first article of the Constitution declares that India is a "Union of States." Under the Constitution, the States retain key powers for themselves and have a strong influence over the national government via the Rajya Sabha. However, the Constitution does provide key limits on their powers and gives final say in many cases to the national government.


title: Constitution of India

text: At the Union level, the States are represented in the Rajya Sabha or Council of States. The Fourth Schedule of the Constitution lays out the number of seats that each State controls in the Council of States, and they are based roughly on each State's population. The members of each state legislature elect and appoint these representatives in the Council of States. On most topics the Rajya Sabha is coequal with the lower house or Lok Sabha, and its consent is required for a bill to become a law. Additionally, as one of the Houses of Parliament, any amendment to the Constitution requires a two-thirds majority in the Rajya Sabha to go into effect. These provisions allow the States significant impact on national politics through their representation in the "federal chamber."


title: Constitution of India

text: The Constitution provides the States with a long list of powers exclusive to their jurisdiction. Generally only State Legislatures are capable of passing laws implementing these powers; the Union government is prohibited from doing so. These powers are contained in the second list of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, known as the State List. The areas on the State List are wide-ranging and include topics like public health and order and a variety of taxes. The State List grants the states control over the police, healthcare, agriculture, elections, and more.


title: Constitution of India

text: Powers can only be permanently removed from the State List via a constitutional amendment approved by a majority of the states. The Rajya Sabha, as the representative of the States, can temporarily remove an item from the State List so the Union parliament can legislate on it. This requires a two-thirds vote and lasts for a renewable one-year period.


title: Constitution of India

text: In addition to exerting influence over the amendment process via the Rajya Sabha, the States are sometimes involved in the amendment process. This special, entrenched process is triggered when an amendment to the Constitution specifically concerns the States by modifying the legislature or the powers reserved to the states in the Seventh Schedule. When this occurs, an amendment must be ratified by a majority of state legislatures for the amendment to go into effect.


title: Constitution of India

text: While the State List mentioned above provides powers for the States, there are two other lists in the Seventh Schedule that generally weaken them. These are the Union and Concurrent lists. The Union List is the counterpart to the State List, containing the areas of exclusive jurisdiction of the Union government, where the states are prohibited from legislating. Items on the Union List include the national defense, international relations, immigration, banking, and interstate commerce.


title: Constitution of India

text: The final list is the Concurrent List which contains the topics on which "both" the Union and State-level governments may legislate on. These topics include courts and criminal law, unions, social security, and education. In general, when the Union and State laws on a Concurrent List item conflict, the Union-level laws prevail. The only way for the State-level law to override the national one is with the consent of the President, acting on the advice of the Prime Minister.


title: Constitution of India

text: Additionally, any powers not on any of the three lists are reserved for the Union government and not for the states.


title: Constitution of India

text: The Governor of each State is given the executive power of the respective State by the Constitution. These Governors are appointed directly by the President of the central government. Because the Prime Minister acts via the President, the Prime Minister is the one who chooses the Governors in practice. Once appointed, a Governor serves for a five year term or can be replaced by the President at any time, if asked to do so by the Prime Minister. Because the Union government can remove a Governor at any time, it is possible that Governors may act in a way the Union Government wants, to the detriment of their state, so that they can maintain their office. This has become a larger issue as the State Legislatures are often controlled by different parties than that of the Union Prime Minister, unlike the early years of the constitution. For example, Governors have used stalling tactics to delay giving their assent to legislation that the Union Government disapproves of.


title: Constitution of India

text: In general the influence of the Union on State politics via the Governor is limited, however, by the fact that the Governor must listen to the advice of the Chief Minister of the State who needs to command a majority in the State Legislature. There are key areas where the Governor does not need to heed the advice of the Chief Minister. For example, the Governor can send a bill to President for consideration instead of signing it into law.


title: Constitution of India

text: Perhaps the most direct power over the States is the Union's ability to unilaterally create new states out of territories or existing states and to modify and diminish the boundaries of existing states. To do so, Parliament must pass a simple law with no supermajority requirements. The States involved do not have a say on the outcome but the State Legislature must be asked to comment. The most recent state to be created was Telangana in 2014. More recently, Ladakh was created as a new Union Territory after being split off from Jammu and Kashmir in 2019, and Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli were combined into a single Union Territory in 2020. The former was particularly controversial. Jammu and Kashmir was a full state, and the legislation creating Ladakh stripped the area of its status as a state and downgraded it to a Union Territory, allowing the Union Government to directly control it. This required no input from Jammu and Kashmir.


title: Constitution of India

text: While the states have separate legislative and executive branches, they share the judiciary with the Union government. This is different from other federal court systems, such as the United States, where state courts mainly apply state law and federal courts mainly apply federal law. Under the Indian constitution, the High Courts of the States are directly constituted by the national constitution. The constitution also allows states to set up lower courts under and controlled by the state's High Court. Cases heard at or appealed to the High Courts can be furter appealed to the Supreme Court of India in some cases. All cases, whether dealing with federal or state laws, move up the same judicial hierarchy, creating a system sometimes termed integrated federalism.


title: Constitution of India

text: The Constitution includes treaty making as part of the executive power given to the President. Because the President must act in accordance with the advice of the Council of Ministers, the Prime Minister is the chief party responsible for making international treaties in the Constitution. Because the legislative power rests with Parliament, the President's signature on an international agreement does not bring it into effect domestically or enable courts to enforce its provisions. Article 253 of the Constitution bestows this power on Parliament, enabling it to make laws necessary for implementing international agreements and treaties. These provisions indicate that the Constitution of India is dualist, that is, treaty law only takes effect when a domestic law passed using the normal processes incorporates it into domestic law.


title: Constitution of India

text: Recent Supreme Court decisions have begun to change this convention, incorporating aspects of international law without enabling legislation from parliament. For example in "Gramophone Company of India Ltd. v Birendra Bahadur Pandey", the Court held that "the rules of international law are incorporated into national law and considered to be part of the national law, unless they are in conflict with an Act of Parliament." In essence, this implies that international law applies domestically "unless" parliament says it does not. This decision moves the Indian Constitution to a more hybrid regime, but not to a fully monist one.


title: Constitution of India

text: According to Granville Austin, "The Indian constitution is first and foremost a social document, and is aided by its Parts III & IV (Fundamental Rights & Directive Principles of State Policy, respectively) acting together, as its chief instruments and its conscience, in realising the goals set by it for all the people." The constitution has deliberately been worded in generalities (not in vague terms) to ensure its flexibility. John Marshall, the fourth chief justice of the United States, said that a constitution's "great outlines should be marked, its important objects designated, and the minor ingredients which compose those objects be deduced from the nature of the objects themselves." A document "intended to endure for ages to come", it must be interpreted not only based on the intention and understanding of its framers, but in the existing social and political context.


title: Constitution of India

text: The "right to life" guaranteed under Article 21 has been expanded to include a number of human rights, including:


title: Constitution of India

text: At the conclusion of his book, "Making of India's Constitution", retired Supreme Court Justice Hans Raj Khanna wrote:


title: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

text: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is a 2022 American action-comedy film directed by Tom Gormican, who co-wrote the screenplay with Kevin Etten. It stars Nicolas Cage as a fictionalized version of himself, along with a supporting cast including Pedro Pascal, Sharon Horgan, Ike Barinholtz, Alessandra Mastronardi, Jacob Scipio, Neil Patrick Harris and Tiffany Haddish. Filming began in Croatia on October 5, 2020.


title: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

text: The film premiered at South by Southwest on March 12, 2022, and was released in the United States on April 22, 2022, by Lionsgate. It received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for the performances and chemistry of Cage and Pascal, but performed poorly at the box office, grossing only $29.1 million against its $30 million budget.


title: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

text: Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage is struggling with his career after being passed over for several major film roles and is constantly pestered and tormented by "Nicky", who appears to him as his younger (and more successful) self. His relationship with his ex-wife Olivia and daughter Addy is also marred by years of emotional neglect. Following an embarrassing and humiliating event at Addy's birthday party and losing a key film role, Cage plans to retire from acting. He decides to accept a vague offer of $1 million from his agent Richard Fink that involves going to Majorca to meet billionaire playboy Javi Gutierrez and to be the guest of honor at his birthday.


title: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

text: Upon meeting Javi, Cage is initially annoyed by his neediness and insistence that they create an improvisational movie based on a script he wrote, but is soon inspired by Javi's determination, and the two of them quickly bond over their surprisingly shared love of films such as "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" and "Paddington 2" (the latter of which Cage watches for the first time with Javi). Soon after, Cage is confronted by CIA agents Vivian and Martin. They suspect that Javi, who they claim made his fortune through arms dealing, is behind the kidnapping of Maria, the daughter of a Catalan anti-crime politician, with the hope that he will drop out of an upcoming election. Cage insists that his acting instincts would've detected if Javi was a criminal, but he eventually decides to help the CIA with the mission.


title: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

text: After successfully rigging the cameras in Javi's compound, Cage attends a party where he announces his collaboration with Javi on a new movie, as an excuse to stay on the compound long enough to find Maria. After a misadventure involving LSD, Cage and Javi decide that their movie should be about their relationship. Cage later discovers that Javi keeps a shrine room dedicated to all of his movies, including a wax figure of his character Castor Troy from the film "Face/Off", complete with identical golden guns. Vivian suggests that Cage includes a kidnapping in their script, to get Javi's reaction to it.


title: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

text: Cage explains his new idea to Javi, who believes that Cage is distracted by his family issues. Vivian tells Cage to flee, or possibly kill Javi, as Javi has discovered their plot. But Javi reveals he's brought Cage's family to his villa. Cage tries to make amends with them, but they reject his appeal and accuse him of prioritizing his film career over his family. Javi privately goes to meet with his cousin Lucas, who is revealed to be the true arms dealer and the one who kidnapped Maria. Lucas warns him that Cage is working with the CIA and pressures him to kill Cage, or else Lucas will kill Javi.


title: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

text: Cage and Javi face off, but neither can bring themselves to kill the other. Lucas sends his men after both of them, and they race back to the house to discover that Addy has been kidnapped. Cage takes Javi, Olivia and Javi's assistant Gabriela to the CIA safe house, only for the house to have been compromised; Martin has been killed, while Vivian sacrifices herself to kill Lucas's men before they can ambush the group. With Javi's help, Cage and Olivia pose as a reclusive criminal couple to get close to Lucas. He figures out their plan, but they still manage to escape with Addy and Maria.


title: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

text: Cage, Addy, Olivia and Maria race to the American embassy while Javi and Gabriela stay behind to delay Lucas's pursuit. Upon arrival, Lucas holds Cage at gunpoint, but Addy tosses him a knife which Cage uses to kill himtransitioning into the movie that Cage and Javi completed, presumably based on their adventure. Cage is applauded for his new film and congratulates Javi before going home with his family to watch "Paddington 2", now with a better relationship.


title: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

text: Cage plays a fictionalised version of himself who he said bore little resemblance to his real offscreen personality. He originally turned down the role "three or four times" but changed his mind after writer-director Tom Gormican wrote him a personal letter. On November 15, 2019, Lionsgate acquired the production rights. In August 2020, Pedro Pascal entered negotiations to star. In September 2020, Sharon Horgan and Tiffany Haddish joined the cast, and Lily Sheen was added in October. In November 2020, Neil Patrick Harris joined the cast.


title: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

text: Principal photography began on October 5 2020. Most of the movie was shot in Hungary, with some areas around the city of Dubrovnik. Mark Isham composed the music.


title: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

text: In one scene, Cage and Javi run from two men they believe are spying on them, then bump into the two men again later. The first two actors who played those men were unavailable when they filmed the end of that scene, so they were replaced by two other actors who looked similar and wore the same outfits.


title: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

text: In the United States, the film was theatrically released on April 22, 2022. In New Zealand, it was released on April 17. It was originally set to be released on March 19, 2021. It premiered at the South by Southwest film festival on March 12, 2022.


title: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

text: "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent" grossed $20.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $8.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $29.1 million.


title: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

text: In United States and Canada, it was released alongside "The Bad Guys" and "The Northman", and was projected to gross $5–10 million from 3,036 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $2.9 million on its first day, including $835,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $7.1 million, finishing fifth at the box office. "Deadline Hollywood" noted that "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent" and "The Northman" were targeting the same demographic, which impacted their debuts. "Deadline" also mentioned the film's low awareness level at the time of its release and Cage's absence on social media as reasons it did not perform better. Men made up 59% of the audience during its opening, with those in the age range of 18–34 comprising 57% of ticket sales. The film made $3.9 million in its second weekend, finishing sixth, $1.6 million in its third, finishing eighth, and $1.1 million in its fourth, finishing tenth. It dropped out of the box office top ten in its fifth weekend with $754,976.


title: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

text: Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an 82% positive score, with 66% saying they would definitely recommend it.


title: Midnight Mass (miniseries)

text: Midnight Mass is an American supernatural horror streaming television miniseries created and directed by Mike Flanagan and starring Zach Gilford, Kate Siegel, Hamish Linklater, Samantha Sloyan, Rahul Kohli, Kristin Lehman, and Henry Thomas. Based on the Maddie Young story within a story from Flanagan's and Siegel's 2016 American slasher film "Hush", the plot centers on an impoverished island community that experiences supernatural events after the arrival of a mysterious priest.


title: Midnight Mass (miniseries)

text: A young man returns to his isolated hometown on Crockett Island, hoping to rebuild his life after serving four years in prison for killing someone in a drunk-driving incident. He arrives at the same time as a mysterious, charismatic young priest who begins to revitalise the town's flagging faith. However, the community's divisions are soon exacerbated by the priest's deeds while mysterious events befall the small town.


title: Midnight Mass (miniseries)

text: The title of each episode is a book in the Bible. Each episode contains a scene referring to the titular Biblical book.


title: Midnight Mass (miniseries)

text: Series creator Mike Flanagan described "Midnight Mass" as a passion project, one that was "deeply personal" and dealt intimately with Flanagan's upbringing in the Catholic Church, and his eventual sobriety and atheism. He conceived the idea first as a novel, then as a film script, then as a television series that he unsuccessfully pitched to various production companies (including its eventual distributor Netflix) in 2014. Flanagan and Kate Siegel then adapted "Midnight Mass" as a story within a story in their 2016 film "Hush" (2016), in which "Midnight Mass" is presented as the most popular book by Siegel's character, Maddie Young, with Flanagan then planting the "Hush" prop book bearing the "Midnight Mass" title as an Easter egg in his 2017 film "Gerald's Game", as a means of "keeping the idea alive over the years". Prior to the series' production, Flanagan created the critically acclaimed horror series "The Haunting of Hill House" for Netflix, which released in 2018, as well as its 2020 follow-up "The Haunting of Bly Manor".


title: Midnight Mass (miniseries)

text: On July 1, 2019, Netflix announced that "Midnight Mass" would be a seven-episode miniseries, with Flanagan serving as its writer, director and executive producer. In February 2020, Zach Gilford, Kate Siegel and Hamish Linklater were announced as lead roles for the series.


title: Midnight Mass (miniseries)

text: Production was originally scheduled to commence in March 2020, but was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. "Midnight Mass" entered production on August 17, 2020, in Vancouver, British Columbia and concluded on December 15, 2020. Production built the town set at Garry Point Park, a seaside public area outside Vancouver, which stood in for Crockett Island.


title: Midnight Mass (miniseries)

text: The soundtrack for "Midnight Mass" was released in September 2021. The music for the series was scored by The Newton Brothers, Andy Grush and Taylor Newton Stewart, who have worked with series creator Mike Flanagan on each of his projects since his 2013 film "Oculus." The soundtrack features reimagined Christian hymns, along with original pieces from The Newton Brothers.


title: Midnight Mass (miniseries)

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports an 86% approval rating with an average rating of 8.10/10, based on 96 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "An ambitious meditation on grief and faith that is as gorgeous as it is unsettling, "Midnight Mass"s slow boil is a triumph of terror that will leave viewers shaking – and thinking – long after the credits roll." Metacritic gave the series a weighted average score of 75 out of 100 based on 23 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Midnight Mass (miniseries)

text: Critics praised Flanagan's direction, the performances, and the series' unique approach to the vampire genre. Kristen Baldwin of "Entertainment Weekly" gave the series an "A−" grade and wrote that it "isn't perfect, but it is a keenly affecting, beautifully acted reflection on death, faith, guilt, addiction, and the power of free will." Judy Berman of "Time" gave it a very positive review, calling it Flanagan's best series yet and praised the performances of Zach Gilford, Kate Siegel and especially Hamish Linklater. Jen Chaney of "Vulture" called Linklater's performance "phenomenal" and believed he elevated the series to "moments of greatness," writing: "he speaks as if he's discovering his way through every sentence and wants you to come with him." David Fear of "Rolling Stone" wrote, "the three-layers-deep work that Linklater is doing over these seven episodes is extraordinary." Fear also praised Flanagan's directing, stating that "It’s the way that [he] carefully sets everything into place in anticipation of a bigger-picture nightmare that makes the payoffs so satisfying." Richard Roeper of the "Chicago Sun-Times" called the series "the best Stephen King story Stephen King never wrote" and stated, "even though this is an original work from Flanagan, it feels like a high-level adaptation of a particularly haunting King novel."


title: Midnight Mass (miniseries)

text: The series' writing and pace drew more mixed responses, with frequent criticism directed at the script's perceived overabundance of monologues. Jack Seale of "The Guardian" gave the series three out of five stars, praising Flanagan's filmmaking, but criticizing the series for its "bloated dialogue" stating that "When the end comes at last, there is a lot of fire and viscera, but no rapture." Brian Tallerico of "RogerEbert.com" gave the series two and a half stars out of four, further criticizing the dialogue and religious themes, stating that the series "can be a little exhausting in its preachiness." Tallerico felt that the series' emphasis on philosophical examination came at the expense of its horror elements, writing, "most of the lengthy conversations are well-scripted, engaging enough in their dialogue, but they also drain a lot of the momentum from the piece." He also criticized the series' visual effects as "generally inferior to both "Haunting" projects," stating "Flanagan has always worked better with shadows in the dark than when he has to reveal them."


title: Midnight Mass (miniseries)

text: The show's creators insisted that the series was not anti-religious or anti-Catholic. A Catholic priest who reviewed the show said its depiction of how religion treats sin was accurate, but the series showed a poor understanding of how religion treats afterlife, while "Premier Christianity" states that the show "contains some of the fairest treatments of Christian characters I’ve seen on screen" and "also has a prophetic message to the Church."


title: Midnight Mass (miniseries)

text: Kohli's character has received praise from Muslim viewers, many citing him as a rare example of positive, accurate Muslim representation. The scene where he argues about religious texts in public schools has been also praised as an accurate reading of a Muslim perspective on Jesus. Kohli said in Michael Rosenbaum's podcast "Inside of You" that the role was his most difficult. Kohli is "not Muslim, not American, not a dad, and not forty," and thus had a hard time in the role.


title: Boeing 747

text: The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022.


title: Boeing 747

text: After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, to reduce its seat cost by 30%. In 1965, Joe Sutter left the 737 development program to design the 747, the first twin-aisle airliner. In April 1966, Pan Am ordered 25 Boeing 747-100 aircraft and in late 1966, Pratt & Whitney agreed to develop the JT9D engine, a high-bypass turbofan. On September 30, 1968, the first 747 was rolled out of the custom-built Everett Plant, the world's largest building by volume. The first flight took place on February 9, 1969, and the 747 was certified in December of that year. It entered service with Pan Am on January 22, 1970. The 747 was the first airplane dubbed "Jumbo Jet", the first wide-body airliner.


title: Boeing 747

text: The 747 is a four-engined jet aircraft, initially powered by Pratt & Whitney JT9D turbofan engines, then General Electric CF6 and Rolls-Royce RB211 engines for the original variants. With a ten-abreast economy seating, it typically accommodates 366 passengers in three travel classes. It has a pronounced 37.5° wing sweep, allowing a cruise speed, and its heavy weight is supported by four main landing gear legs, each with a four-wheel bogie. The partial double-deck aircraft was designed with a raised cockpit so it could be converted to a freighter airplane by installing a front cargo door, as it was initially thought that it would eventually be superseded by supersonic transports. Freighter variants of the 747 remain popular with cargo airlines.


title: Boeing 747

text: Boeing introduced the -200 in 1971, with more powerful engines for a heavier maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of from the initial , increasing the maximum range from . It was shortened for the longer-range 747SP in 1976, and the 747-300 followed in 1983 with a stretched upper deck for up to 400 seats in three classes. The heavier 747-400 with improved RB211 and CF6 engines or the new PW4000 engine (the JT9D successor), and a two-crew glass cockpit, was introduced in 1989 and is the most common variant. After several studies, the stretched 747-8 was launched on November 14, 2005, with new General Electric GEnx engines, and was first delivered in October 2011. The 747 is the basis for several government and military variants, such as the VC-25 (Air Force One), E-4 Emergency Airborne Command Post, Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, and some experimental testbeds such as the YAL-1 and SOFIA airborne observatory.


title: Boeing 747

text: Manufacture of the 747 ended in December 2022 after a 54-year production run, with 1,574 aircraft built. Initial competition came from the smaller trijet widebodies: the Lockheed L-1011 (introduced in 1972), McDonnell Douglas DC-10 (1971) and later MD-11 (1990). Airbus competed with later variants with the heaviest versions of the A340 until surpassing the 747 in size with the A380, delivered between 2007 and 2021.


title: Boeing 747

text: In 1963, the United States Air Force started a series of study projects on a very large strategic transport aircraft. Although the C-141 Starlifter was being introduced, officials believed that a much larger and more capable aircraft was needed, especially to carry cargo that would not fit in any existing aircraft. These studies led to initial requirements for the CX-Heavy Logistics System (CX-HLS) in March 1964 for an aircraft with a load capacity of and a speed of Mach 0.75 (), and an unrefueled range of with a payload of . The payload bay had to be wide by high and long with access through doors at the front and rear.


title: Boeing 747

text: The desire to keep the number of engines to four required new engine designs with greatly increased power and better fuel economy. In May 1964, airframe proposals arrived from Boeing, Douglas, General Dynamics, Lockheed, and Martin Marietta; engine proposals were submitted by General Electric, Curtiss-Wright, and Pratt & Whitney. Boeing, Douglas, and Lockheed were given additional study contracts for the airframe, along with General Electric and Pratt & Whitney for the engines.


title: Boeing 747

text: The airframe proposals shared several features. As the CX-HLS needed to be able to be loaded from the front, a door had to be included where the cockpit usually was. All of the companies solved this problem by moving the cockpit above the cargo area; Douglas had a small "pod" just forward and above the wing, Lockheed used a long "spine" running the length of the aircraft with the wing spar passing through it, while Boeing blended the two, with a longer pod that ran from just behind the nose to just behind the wing. In 1965, Lockheed's aircraft design and General Electric's engine design were selected for the new C-5 Galaxy transport, which was the largest military aircraft in the world at the time. Boeing carried the nose door and raised cockpit concepts over to the design of the 747.


title: Boeing 747

text: The 747 was conceived while air travel was increasing in the 1960s. The era of commercial jet transportation, led by the enormous popularity of the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8, had revolutionized long-distance travel. In this growing jet age, Juan Trippe, president of Pan Am, one of Boeing's most important airline customers, asked for a new jet airliner times size of the 707, with a 30% lower cost per unit of passenger-distance and the capability to offer mass air travel on international routes. Trippe also thought that airport congestion could be addressed by a larger new aircraft.


title: Boeing 747

text: In 1965, Joe Sutter was transferred from Boeing's 737 development team to manage the design studies for the new airliner, already assigned the model number 747. Sutter began a design study with Pan Am and other airlines to better understand their requirements. At the time, many thought that long-range subsonic airliners would eventually be superseded by supersonic transport aircraft. Boeing responded by designing the 747 so it could be adapted easily to carry freight and remain in production even if sales of the passenger version declined.


title: Boeing 747

text: In April 1966, Pan Am ordered 25 Boeing 747-100 aircraft for US$525 million (equivalent to $ billion in dollars). During the ceremonial 747 contract-signing banquet in Seattle on Boeing's 50th Anniversary, Juan Trippe predicted that the 747 would be "…a great weapon for peace, competing with intercontinental missiles for mankind's destiny". As launch customer, and because of its early involvement before placing a formal order, Pan Am was able to influence the design and development of the 747 to an extent unmatched by a single airline before or since.


title: Boeing 747

text: Ultimately, the high-winged CX-HLS Boeing design was not used for the 747, although technologies developed for their bid had an influence. The original design included a full-length double-deck fuselage with eight-across seating and two aisles on the lower deck and seven-across seating and two aisles on the upper deck. However, concern over evacuation routes and limited cargo-carrying capability caused this idea to be scrapped in early 1966 in favor of a wider single deck design. The cockpit was, therefore, placed on a shortened upper deck so that a freight-loading door could be included in the nose cone; this design feature produced the 747's distinctive "hump". In early models, what to do with the small space in the pod behind the cockpit was not clear, and this was initially specified as a "lounge" area with no permanent seating. (A different configuration that had been considered to keep the flight deck out of the way for freight loading had the pilots below the passengers, and was dubbed the "anteater".)


title: Boeing 747

text: One of the principal technologies that enabled an aircraft as large as the 747 to be drawn up was the high-bypass turbofan engine. This engine technology was thought to be capable of delivering double the power of the earlier turbojets while consuming one-third less fuel. General Electric had pioneered the concept but was committed to developing the engine for the C-5 Galaxy and did not enter the commercial market until later. Pratt & Whitney was also working on the same principle and, by late 1966, Boeing, Pan Am and Pratt & Whitney agreed to develop a new engine, designated the JT9D to power the 747.


title: Boeing 747

text: The project was designed with a new methodology called fault tree analysis, which allowed the effects of a failure of a single part to be studied to determine its impact on other systems. To address concerns about safety and flyability, the 747's design included structural redundancy, redundant hydraulic systems, quadruple main landing gear and dual control surfaces. Additionally, some of the most advanced high-lift devices used in the industry were included in the new design, to allow it to operate from existing airports. These included Krueger flaps running almost the entire length of the wing's leading edge, as well as complex three-part slotted flaps along the trailing edge of the wing. The wing's complex three-part flaps increase wing area by 21% and lift by 90% when fully deployed compared to their non-deployed configuration.


title: Boeing 747

text: Boeing agreed to deliver the first 747 to Pan Am by the end of 1969. The delivery date left 28 months to design the aircraft, which was two-thirds of the normal time. The schedule was so fast-paced that the people who worked on it were given the nickname "The Incredibles". Developing the aircraft was such a technical and financial challenge that management was said to have "bet the company" when it started the project.


title: Boeing 747

text: As Boeing did not have a plant large enough to assemble the giant airliner, they chose to build a new plant. The company considered locations in about 50 cities, and eventually decided to build the new plant some north of Seattle on a site adjoining a military base at Paine Field near Everett, Washington. It bought the site in June 1966.


title: Boeing 747

text: Developing the 747 had been a major challenge, and building its assembly plant was also a huge undertaking. Boeing president William M. Allen asked Malcolm T. Stamper, then head of the company's turbine division, to oversee construction of the Everett factory and to start production of the 747. To level the site, more than of earth had to be moved. Time was so short that the 747's full-scale mock-up was built before the factory roof above it was finished. The plant is the largest building by volume ever built, and has been substantially expanded several times to permit construction of other models of Boeing wide-body commercial jets.


title: Boeing 747

text: Before the first 747 was fully assembled, testing began on many components and systems. One important test involved the evacuation of 560 volunteers from a cabin mock-up via the aircraft's emergency chutes. The first full-scale evacuation took two and a half minutes instead of the maximum of 90 seconds mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and several volunteers were injured. Subsequent test evacuations achieved the 90-second goal but caused more injuries. Most problematic was evacuation from the aircraft's upper deck; instead of using a conventional slide, volunteer passengers escaped by using a harness attached to a reel. Tests also involved taxiing such a large aircraft. Boeing built an unusual training device known as "Waddell's Wagon" (named for a 747 test pilot, Jack Waddell) that consisted of a mock-up cockpit mounted on the roof of a truck. While the first 747s were still being built, the device allowed pilots to practice taxi maneuvers from a high upper-deck position.


title: Boeing 747

text: In 1968, the program cost was US$1 billion (equivalent to $ billion in dollars). On September 30, 1968, the first 747 was rolled out of the Everett assembly building before the world's press and representatives of the 26 airlines that had ordered the airliner. Over the following months, preparations were made for the first flight, which took place on February 9, 1969, with test pilots Jack Waddell and Brien Wygle at the controls and Jess Wallick at the flight engineer's station. Despite a minor problem with one of the flaps, the flight confirmed that the 747 handled extremely well. The 747 was found to be largely immune to "Dutch roll", a phenomenon that had been a major hazard to the early swept-wing jets.


title: Boeing 747

text: During later stages of the flight test program, flutter testing showed that the wings suffered oscillation under certain conditions. This difficulty was partly solved by reducing the stiffness of some wing components. However, a particularly severe high-speed flutter problem was solved only by inserting depleted uranium counterweights as ballast in the outboard engine nacelles of the early 747s. This measure caused anxiety when these aircraft crashed, for example El Al Flight 1862 at Amsterdam in 1992 with of uranium in the tailplane (horizontal stabilizer).


title: Boeing 747

text: The flight test program was hampered by problems with the 747's JT9D engines. Difficulties included engine stalls caused by rapid throttle movements and distortion of the turbine casings after a short period of service. The problems delayed 747 deliveries for several months; up to 20 aircraft at the Everett plant were stranded while awaiting engine installation. The program was further delayed when one of the five test aircraft suffered serious damage during a landing attempt at Renton Municipal Airport, the site of Boeing's Renton factory. The incident happened on December 13, 1969, when a test aircraft was flown to Renton to have test equipment removed and a cabin installed. Pilot Ralph C. Cokely undershot the airport's short runway and the 747's right, outer landing gear was torn off and two engine nacelles were damaged. However, these difficulties did not prevent Boeing from taking a test aircraft to the 28th Paris Air Show in mid-1969, where it was displayed to the public for the first time. The 747 received its FAA airworthiness certificate in December 1969, clearing it for introduction into service.


title: Boeing 747

text: The huge cost of developing the 747 and building the Everett factory meant that Boeing had to borrow heavily from a banking syndicate. During the final months before delivery of the first aircraft, the company had to repeatedly request additional funding to complete the project. Had this been refused, Boeing's survival would have been threatened. The firm's debt exceeded $2 billion, with the $1.2 billion owed to the banks setting a record for all companies. Allen later said, "It was really too large a project for us." Ultimately, the gamble succeeded, and Boeing held a monopoly in very large passenger aircraft production for many years.


title: Boeing 747

text: On January 15, 1970, First Lady of the United States Pat Nixon christened Pan Am's first 747 at Dulles International Airport (later Washington Dulles International Airport) in the presence of Pan Am chairman Najeeb Halaby. Instead of champagne, red, white, and blue water was sprayed on the aircraft. The 747 entered service on January 22, 1970, on Pan Am's New York–London route; the flight had been planned for the evening of January 21, but engine overheating made the original aircraft unusable. Finding a substitute delayed the flight by more than six hours to the following day when Clipper Victor was used.


title: Boeing 747

text: The 747 enjoyed a fairly smooth introduction into service, overcoming concerns that some airports would not be able to accommodate an aircraft that large. Although technical problems occurred, they were relatively minor and quickly solved. After the aircraft's introduction with Pan Am, other airlines that had bought the 747 to stay competitive began to put their own 747s into service. Boeing estimated that half of the early 747 sales were to airlines desiring the aircraft's long range rather than its payload capacity. While the 747 had the lowest potential operating cost per seat, this could only be achieved when the aircraft was fully loaded; costs per seat increased rapidly as occupancy declined. A moderately loaded 747, one with only 70 percent of its seats occupied, used more than 95 percent of the fuel needed by a fully occupied 747. Nonetheless, many flag-carriers purchased the 747 due to its prestige "even if it made no sense economically" to operate. During the 1970s and 1980s, over 30 regularly scheduled 747s could often be seen at John F. Kennedy International Airport.


title: Boeing 747

text: The recession of 1969–1970, despite having been characterized as relatively mild, greatly affected Boeing. For the year and a half after September 1970, it only sold two 747s in the world, both to Irish flag carrier Aer Lingus.


title: Boeing 747

text: No 747s were sold to any American carrier for almost three years. When economic problems in the US and other countries after the 1973 oil crisis led to reduced passenger traffic, several airlines found they did not have enough passengers to fly the 747 economically, and they replaced them with the smaller and recently introduced McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and Lockheed L-1011 TriStar trijet wide bodies (and later the 767 and A300/A310 twinjets). Having tried replacing coach seats on its 747s with piano bars in an attempt to attract more customers, American Airlines eventually relegated its 747s to cargo service and in 1983 exchanged them with Pan Am for smaller aircraft; Delta Air Lines also removed its 747s from service after several years. Later, Delta acquired 747s again in 2008 as part of its merger with Northwest Airlines, although it retired the Boeing 747-400 fleet in December 2017.


title: Boeing 747

text: International flights bypassing traditional hub airports and landing at smaller cities became more common throughout the 1980s, thus eroding the 747's original market. Many international carriers continued to use the 747 on Pacific routes. In Japan, 747s on domestic routes were configured to carry nearly the maximum passenger capacity.


title: Boeing 747

text: After the initial , Boeing developed the , a higher maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) variant, and the (Short Range), with higher passenger capacity. Increased maximum takeoff weight allows aircraft to carry more fuel and have longer range. The model followed in 1971, featuring more powerful engines and a higher MTOW. Passenger, freighter and combination passenger-freighter versions of the were produced. The shortened 747SP (special performance) with a longer range was also developed, and entered service in 1976.


title: Boeing 747

text: The 747 line was further developed with the launch of the on June 11, 1980, followed by interest from Swissair a month later and the go-ahead for the project. The 300 series resulted from Boeing studies to increase the seating capacity of the 747, during which modifications such as fuselage plugs and extending the upper deck over the entire length of the fuselage were rejected. The first , completed in 1983, included a stretched upper deck, increased cruise speed, and increased seating capacity. The -300 variant was previously designated 747SUD for stretched upper deck, then 747-200 SUD, followed by 747EUD, before the 747-300 designation was used. Passenger, short range and combination freighter-passenger versions of the 300 series were produced.


title: Boeing 747

text: In 1985, development of the longer range 747-400 began. The variant had a new glass cockpit, which allowed for a cockpit crew of two instead of three, new engines, lighter construction materials, and a redesigned interior. Development costs soared, and production delays occurred as new technologies were incorporated at the request of airlines. Insufficient workforce experience and reliance on overtime contributed to early production problems on the . The -400 entered service in 1989.


title: Boeing 747

text: In 1991, a record-breaking 1,087 passengers were flown in a 747 during a covert operation to airlift Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Generally, the 747-400 held between 416 and 524 passengers. The 747 remained the heaviest commercial aircraft in regular service until the debut of the Antonov An-124 Ruslan in 1982; variants of the 747-400 surpassed the An-124's weight in 2000. The Antonov An-225 "Mriya" cargo transport, which debuted in 1988, remains the world's largest aircraft by several measures (including the most accepted measures of maximum takeoff weight and length); one aircraft has been completed and was in service until 2022. The Scaled Composites Stratolaunch is currently the largest aircraft by wingspan.


title: Boeing 747

text: After the arrival of the , several stretching schemes for the 747 were proposed. Boeing announced the larger 747-500X and preliminary designs in 1996. The new variants would have cost more than US$5 billion to develop, and interest was not sufficient to launch the program. In 2000, Boeing offered the more modest 747X and 747X stretch derivatives as alternatives to the Airbus A3XX. However, the 747X family was unable to attract enough interest to enter production. A year later, Boeing switched from the 747X studies to pursue the Sonic Cruiser, and after the Sonic Cruiser program was put on hold, the 787 Dreamliner. Some of the ideas developed for the 747X were used on the 747-400ER, a longer range variant of the .


title: Boeing 747

text: After several variants were proposed but later abandoned, some industry observers became skeptical of new aircraft proposals from Boeing. However, in early 2004, Boeing announced tentative plans for the 747 Advanced that were eventually adopted. Similar in nature to the 747-X, the stretched 747 Advanced used technology from the 787 to modernize the design and its systems. The 747 remained the largest passenger airliner in service until the Airbus A380 began airline service in 2007.


title: Boeing 747

text: On November 14, 2005, Boeing announced it was launching the 747 Advanced as the Boeing 747-8. The last 747-400s were completed in 2009. , most orders of the 747-8 were for the freighter variant. On February 8, 2010, the 747-8 Freighter made its maiden flight. The first delivery of the 747-8 went to Cargolux in 2011. The first 747-8 Intercontinental passenger variant was delivered to Lufthansa on May 5, 2012. The 1,500th Boeing 747 was delivered in June 2014 to Lufthansa.


title: Boeing 747

text: In January 2016, Boeing stated it was reducing 747-8 production to six a year beginning in September 2016, incurring a $569 million post-tax charge against its fourth-quarter 2015 profits. At the end of 2015, the company had 20 orders outstanding. On January 29, 2016, Boeing announced that it had begun the preliminary work on the modifications to a commercial 747-8 for the next Air Force One presidential aircraft, then expected to be operational by 2020.


title: Boeing 747

text: On July 12, 2016, Boeing announced that it had finalized an order from Volga-Dnepr Group for 20 747-8 freighters, valued at $7.58 billion at list prices. Four aircraft were delivered beginning in 2012. Volga-Dnepr Group is the parent of three major Russian air-freight carriers – Volga-Dnepr Airlines, AirBridgeCargo Airlines and Atran Airlines. The new 747-8 freighters would replace AirBridgeCargo's current 747-400 aircraft and expand the airline's fleet and will be acquired through a mix of direct purchases and leasing over the next six years, Boeing said.


title: Boeing 747

text: On July 27, 2016, in its quarterly report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Boeing discussed the potential termination of 747 production due to insufficient demand and market for the aircraft. With a firm order backlog of 21 aircraft and a production rate of six per year, program accounting had been reduced to 1,555 aircraft. In October 2016, UPS Airlines ordered 14 -8Fs to add capacity, along with 14 options, which it took in February 2018 to increase the total to 28 -8Fs on order. The backlog then stood at 25 aircraft, though several of these were orders from airlines that no longer intended to take delivery.


title: Boeing 747

text: On July 2, 2020, it was reported that Boeing planned to end 747 production in 2022 upon delivery of the remaining jets on order to UPS and the Volga-Dnepr Group due to low demand. On July 29, 2020, Boeing confirmed that the final 747 would be delivered in 2022 as a result of "current market dynamics and outlook" stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to CEO David Calhoun. The last aircraft, a 747-8F freighter for Atlas Air, rolled off the production line on December 6, 2022, for a 2023 delivery.


title: Boeing 747

text: The Boeing 747 is a large, wide-body (two-aisle) airliner with four wing-mounted engines. Its wings have a high sweep angle of 37.5° for a fast, efficient cruise speed of Mach 0.84 to 0.88, depending on the variant. The sweep also reduces the wingspan, allowing the 747 to use existing hangars. Its seating capacity is over 366 with a 3–4–3 seat arrangement (a cross section of three seats, an aisle, four seats, another aisle, and three seats) in economy class and a 2–3–2 layout in first class on the main deck. The upper deck has a 3–3 seat arrangement in economy class and a 2–2 layout in first class.


title: Boeing 747

text: Raised above the main deck, the cockpit creates a hump. This raised cockpit allows front loading of cargo on freight variants. The upper deck behind the cockpit provides space for a lounge and/or extra seating. The "stretched upper deck" became available as an alternative on the variant and later as standard beginning on the 747-300. The upper deck was stretched more on the 747-8. The 747 cockpit roof section also has an escape hatch from which crew can exit during the events of an emergency if they cannot do so through the cabin.


title: Boeing 747

text: The 747's maximum takeoff weight ranges from for the -100 to for the -8. Its range has increased from on the -100 to on the -8I.


title: Boeing 747

text: The 747 has redundant structures along with four redundant hydraulic systems and four main landing gears each with four wheels; these provide a good spread of support on the ground and safety in case of tire blow-outs. The main gear are redundant so that landing can be performed on two opposing landing gears if the others are not functioning properly. The 747 also has split control surfaces and was designed with sophisticated triple-slotted flaps that minimize landing speeds and allow the 747 to use standard-length runways.


title: Boeing 747

text: For transportation of spare engines, the 747 can accommodate a non-functioning fifth-pod engine under the aircraft's port wing between the inner functioning engine and the fuselage. The fifth engine mount point is also used by Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne program to carry an orbital-class rocket to cruise altitude where it is deployed.


title: Boeing 747

text: The 747-100 with a range of 4,620 nautical miles (8,556 km), was the original variant launched in 1966. The 747-200 soon followed, with its launch in 1968. The 747-300 was launched in 1980 and was followed by the in 1985. Ultimately, the 747-8 was announced in 2005. Several versions of each variant have been produced, and many of the early variants were in production simultaneously. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) classifies variants using a shortened code formed by combining the model number and the variant designator (e.g. "B741" for all -100 models).


title: Boeing 747

text: The first 747-100s were built with six upper deck windows (three per side) to accommodate upstairs lounge areas. Later, as airlines began to use the upper deck for premium passenger seating instead of lounge space, Boeing offered an upper deck with ten windows on either side as an option. Some early -100s were retrofitted with the new configuration. The -100 was equipped with Pratt & Whitney JT9D-3A engines. No freighter version of this model was developed, but many 747-100s were converted into freighters. A total of 168 747-100s were built; 167 were delivered to customers, while Boeing kept the prototype, "City of Everett". In 1972, its unit cost was US$24M (M today).


title: Boeing 747

text: Responding to requests from Japanese airlines for a high-capacity aircraft to serve domestic routes between major cities, Boeing developed the 747SR as a short-range version of the with lower fuel capacity and greater payload capability. With increased economy class seating, up to 498 passengers could be carried in early versions and up to 550 in later models. The 747SR had an economic design life objective of 52,000 flights during 20 years of operation, compared to 24,600 flights in 20 years for the standard 747. The initial 747SR model, the -100SR, had a strengthened body structure and landing gear to accommodate the added stress accumulated from a greater number of takeoffs and landings. Extra structural support was built into the wings, fuselage, and the landing gear along with a 20% reduction in fuel capacity.


title: Boeing 747

text: The initial order for the -100SR – four aircraft for Japan Air Lines (JAL, later Japan Airlines) – was announced on October 30, 1972; rollout occurred on August 3, 1973, and the first flight took place on August 31, 1973. The type was certified by the FAA on September 26, 1973, with the first delivery on the same day. The -100SR entered service with JAL, the type's sole customer, on October 7, 1973, and typically operated flights within Japan. Seven -100SRs were built between 1973 and 1975, each with a MTOW and Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7A engines derated to of thrust.


title: Boeing 747

text: Following the -100SR, Boeing produced the -100BSR, a 747SR variant with increased takeoff weight capability. Debuting in 1978, the -100BSR also incorporated structural modifications for a high cycle-to-flying hour ratio; a related standard -100B model debuted in 1979. The -100BSR first flew on November 3, 1978, with first delivery to All Nippon Airways (ANA) on December 21, 1978. A total of 20 -100BSRs were produced for ANA and JAL. The -100BSR had a MTOW and was powered by the same JT9D-7A or General Electric CF6-45 engines used on the -100SR. ANA operated this variant on domestic Japanese routes with 455 or 456 seats until retiring its last aircraft in March 2006.


title: Boeing 747

text: In 1986, two -100BSR SUD models, featuring the stretched upper deck (SUD) of the -300, were produced for JAL. The type's maiden flight occurred on February 26, 1986, with FAA certification and first delivery on March 24, 1986. JAL operated the -100BSR SUD with 563 seats on domestic routes until their retirement in the third quarter of 2006. While only two -100BSR SUDs were produced, in theory, standard -100Bs can be modified to the SUD certification. Overall, 29 Boeing 747SRs were built.


title: Boeing 747

text: The 747-100B model was developed from the -100SR, using its stronger airframe and landing gear design. The type had an increased fuel capacity of , allowing for a range with a typical 452-passenger payload, and an increased MTOW of was offered. The first -100B order, one aircraft for Iran Air, was announced on June 1, 1978. This version first flew on June 20, 1979, received FAA certification on August 1, 1979, and was delivered the next day. Nine -100Bs were built, one for Iran Air and eight for Saudi Arabian Airlines. Unlike the original -100, the -100B was offered with Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7A, CF6-50, or Rolls-Royce RB211-524 engines. However, only RB211-524 (Saudia) and JT9D-7A (Iran Air) engines were ordered. The last 747-100B, EP-IAM was retired by Iran Air in 2014, the last commercial operator of the 747-100 and -100B.


title: Boeing 747

text: The development of the 747SP stemmed from a joint request between Pan American World Airways and Iran Air, who were looking for a high-capacity airliner with enough range to cover Pan Am's New York–Middle Eastern routes and Iran Air's planned Tehran–New York route. The Tehran–New York route, when launched, was the longest non-stop commercial flight in the world. The 747SP is shorter than the . Fuselage sections were eliminated fore and aft of the wing, and the center section of the fuselage was redesigned to fit mating fuselage sections. The SP's flaps used a simplified single-slotted configuration. The 747SP, compared to earlier variants, had a tapering of the aft upper fuselage into the empennage, a double-hinged rudder, and longer vertical and horizontal stabilizers. Power was provided by Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7(A/F/J/FW) or Rolls-Royce RB211-524 engines.


title: Boeing 747

text: The 747SP was granted a type certificate on February 4, 1976, and entered service with launch customers Pan Am and Iran Air that same year. The aircraft was chosen by airlines wishing to serve major airports with short runways. A total of 45 747SPs were built, with the 44th 747SP delivered on August 30, 1982. In 1987, Boeing re-opened the 747SP production line after five years to build one last 747SP for an order by the United Arab Emirates government. In addition to airline use, one 747SP was modified for the NASA/German Aerospace Center SOFIA experiment. Iran Air is the last civil operator of the type; its final 747-SP (EP-IAC) was to be retired in June 2016.


title: Boeing 747

text: While the 747-100 powered by Pratt & Whitney JT9D-3A engines offered enough payload and range for medium-haul operations, it was marginal for long-haul route sectors. The demand for longer range aircraft with increased payload quickly led to the improved -200, which featured more powerful engines, increased MTOW, and greater range than the -100. A few early -200s retained the three-window configuration of the -100 on the upper deck, but most were built with a ten-window configuration on each side. The 747-200 was produced in passenger (-200B), freighter (-200F), convertible (-200C), and combi (-200M) versions.


title: Boeing 747

text: The 747-200B was the basic passenger version, with increased fuel capacity and more powerful engines; it entered service in February 1971. In its first three years of production, the -200 was equipped with Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7 engines (initially the only engine available). Range with a full passenger load started at over and increased to with later engines. Most -200Bs had an internally stretched upper deck, allowing for up to 16 passenger seats. The freighter model, the 747-200F, had a hinged nose cargo door and could be fitted with an optional side cargo door, and had a capacity of 105 tons (95.3 tonnes) and an MTOW of up to . It entered service in 1972 with Lufthansa. The convertible version, the 747-200C, could be converted between a passenger and a freighter or used in mixed configurations, and featured removable seats and a nose cargo door. The -200C could also be outfitted with an optional side cargo door on the main deck.


title: Boeing 747

text: The combi aircraft model, the 747-200M (originally designated 747-200BC), could carry freight in the rear section of the main deck via a side cargo door. A removable partition on the main deck separated the cargo area at the rear from the passengers at the front. The -200M could carry up to 238 passengers in a three-class configuration with cargo carried on the main deck. The model was also known as the 747-200 Combi. As on the -100, a stretched upper deck (SUD) modification was later offered. A total of 10 747-200s operated by KLM were converted. Union de Transports Aériens (UTA) also had two aircraft converted.


title: Boeing 747

text: After launching the -200 with Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7 engines, on August 1, 1972, Boeing announced that it had reached an agreement with General Electric to certify the 747 with CF6-50 series engines to increase the aircraft's market potential. Rolls-Royce followed 747 engine production with a launch order from British Airways for four aircraft. The option of RB211-524B engines was announced on June 17, 1975. The -200 was the first 747 to provide a choice of powerplant from the three major engine manufacturers.


title: Boeing 747

text: A total of 393 of the 747-200 versions had been built when production ended in 1991. Of these, 225 were -200B, 73 were -200F, 13 were -200C, 78 were -200M, and 4 were military. Iran Air retired the last passenger in May 2016, 36 years after it was delivered. , five 747-200s remain in service as freighters.


title: Boeing 747

text: The 747-300 features a upper deck than the -200. The stretched upper deck (SUD) has two emergency exit doors and is the most visible difference between the -300 and previous models. After being made standard on the 747-300, the SUD was offered as a retrofit, and as an option to earlier variants still in-production. An example for a retrofit were two UTA -200 Combis being converted in 1986, and an example for the option were two brand-new JAL -100 aircraft (designated -100BSR SUD), the first of which was delivered on March 24, 1986.


title: Boeing 747

text: The 747-300 introduced a new straight stairway to the upper deck, instead of a spiral staircase on earlier variants, which creates room above and below for more seats. Minor aerodynamic changes allowed the -300's cruise speed to reach Mach 0.85 compared with Mach 0.84 on the -200 and -100 models, while retaining the same takeoff weight. The -300 could be equipped with the same Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce powerplants as on the -200, as well as updated General Electric CF6-80C2B1 engines.


title: Boeing 747

text: Swissair placed the first order for the on June 11, 1980. The variant revived the 747-300 designation, which had been previously used on a design study that did not reach production. The 747-300 first flew on October 5, 1982, and the type's first delivery went to Swissair on March 23, 1983. In 1982, its unit cost was US$83M (M today). Besides the passenger model, two other versions (-300M, -300SR) were produced. The 747-300M features cargo capacity on the rear portion of the main deck, similar to the -200M, but with the stretched upper deck it can carry more passengers. The 747-300SR, a short range, high-capacity domestic model, was produced for Japanese markets with a maximum seating for 584. No production freighter version of the 747-300 was built, but Boeing began modifications of used passenger -300 models into freighters in 2000.


title: Boeing 747

text: A total of 81 series aircraft were delivered, 56 for passenger use, 21 -300M and 4 -300SR versions. In 1985, just two years after the -300 entered service, the type was superseded by the announcement of the more advanced 747-400. The last 747-300 was delivered in September 1990 to Sabena. While some -300 customers continued operating the type, several large carriers replaced their 747-300s with 747-400s. Air France, Air India, Pakistan International Airlines, and Qantas were some of the last major carriers to operate the . On December 29, 2008, Qantas flew its last scheduled 747-300 service, operating from Melbourne to Los Angeles via Auckland. In July 2015, Pakistan International Airlines retired their final 747-300 after 30 years of service. , only two 747-300s remain in commercial service, with Mahan Air (1) and TransAVIAexport Airlines (1).


title: Boeing 747

text: The 747-400 is an improved model with increased range. It has wingtip extensions of and winglets of , which improve the type's fuel efficiency by four percent compared to previous 747 versions. The 747-400 introduced a new glass cockpit designed for a flight crew of two instead of three, with a reduction in the number of dials, gauges and knobs from 971 to 365 through the use of electronics. The type also features tail fuel tanks, revised engines, and a new interior. The longer range has been used by some airlines to bypass traditional fuel stops, such as Anchorage. A 747-400 loaded with 126,000 lb of fuel flying 3,500 statute miles consumes an average of five gallons per mile. Powerplants include the Pratt & Whitney PW4062, General Electric CF6-80C2, and Rolls-Royce RB211-524. As a result of the Boeing 767 development overlapping with the 747-400's development, both aircraft can use the same three powerplants and are even interchangeable between the two aircraft models.


title: Boeing 747

text: The was offered in passenger (-400), freighter (-400F), combi (-400M), domestic (-400D), extended range passenger (-400ER), and extended range freighter (-400ERF) versions. Passenger versions retain the same upper deck as the , while the freighter version does not have an extended upper deck. The 747-400D was built for short-range operations with maximum seating for 624. Winglets were not included, but they can be retrofitted. Cruising speed is up to Mach 0.855 on different versions of the .


title: Boeing 747

text: The passenger version first entered service in February 1989 with launch customer Northwest Airlines on the Minneapolis to Phoenix route. The combi version entered service in September 1989 with KLM, while the freighter version entered service in November 1993 with Cargolux. The 747-400ERF entered service with Air France in October 2002, while the 747-400ER entered service with Qantas, its sole customer, in November 2002. In January 2004, Boeing and Cathay Pacific launched the Boeing 747-400 Special Freighter program, later referred to as the Boeing Converted Freighter (BCF), to modify passenger 747-400s for cargo use. The first 747-400BCF was redelivered in December 2005.


title: Boeing 747

text: In March 2007, Boeing announced that it had no plans to produce further passenger versions of the -400. However, orders for 36 -400F and -400ERF freighters were already in place at the time of the announcement. The last passenger version of the 747-400 was delivered in April 2005 to China Airlines. Some of the last built 747-400s were delivered with Dreamliner livery along with the modern Signature interior from the Boeing 777. A total of 694 of the series aircraft were delivered. At various times, the largest 747-400 operator has included Singapore Airlines, Japan Airlines, and British Airways. , 331 Boeing 747-400s were in service; only 10 Boeing 747-400s were in passenger service as of September 2021.


title: Boeing 747

text: The 747-400 Dreamlifter (originally called the 747 Large Cargo Freighter or LCF) is a Boeing-designed modification of existing 747-400s into a larger outsize cargo freighter configuration to ferry 787 Dreamliner sub-assemblies. Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corporation of Taiwan was contracted to complete modifications of 747-400s into Dreamlifters in Taoyuan. The aircraft flew for the first time on September 9, 2006, in a test flight. Modification of four aircraft was completed by February 2010. The Dreamlifters have been placed into service transporting sub-assemblies for the 787 program to the Boeing plant in Everett, Washington, for final assembly. The aircraft is certified to carry only essential crew and not passengers.


title: Boeing 747

text: Boeing announced a new 747 variant, the , on November 14, 2005. Referred to as the 747 Advanced prior to its launch, the 747-8 uses similar General Electric GEnx engines and cockpit technology to the 787. The variant is designed to be quieter, more economical, and more environmentally friendly. The 747-8's fuselage is lengthened from to , marking the first stretch variant of the aircraft.


title: Boeing 747

text: The 747-8 Freighter, or 747-8F, has 16% more payload capacity than its predecessor, allowing it to carry seven more standard air cargo containers, with a maximum payload capacity 154 tons (140 tonnes) of cargo. As on previous 747 freighters, the 747-8F features a flip up nose-door, a side-door on the main deck, and a side-door on the lower deck ("belly") to aid loading and unloading. The 747-8F made its maiden flight on February 8, 2010. The variant received its amended type certificate jointly from the FAA and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on August 19, 2011. The -8F was first delivered to Cargolux on October 12, 2011.


title: Boeing 747

text: The passenger version, named 747-8 Intercontinental or 747-8I, is designed to carry up to 467 passengers in a 3-class configuration and fly more than at Mach 0.855. As a derivative of the already common , the 747-8I has the economic benefit of similar training and interchangeable parts. The type's first test flight occurred on March 20, 2011. The 747-8 has surpassed the Airbus A340-600 as the world's longest airliner, a record it would hold until the 777X, which first flew in 2020. The first -8I was delivered in May 2012 to Lufthansa. The 747-8 has received 155 total orders, including 106 for the -8F and 47 for the -8I .


title: Boeing 747

text: During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Boeing studied the development of a shorter 747 with three engines, to compete with the smaller L-1011 TriStar and McDonnell Douglas DC-10. The center engine would have been fitted in the tail with an S-duct intake similar to the L-1011's. Overall, the 747 trijet would have had more payload, range, and passenger capacity than both of them. However, engineering studies showed that a major redesign of the 747 wing would be necessary. Maintaining the same 747 handling characteristics would be important to minimize pilot retraining. Boeing decided instead to pursue a shortened four-engine 747, resulting in the 747SP.


title: Boeing 747

text: In January 1986, Boeing outlined preliminary studies to build a larger, ultra-long haul version named the , which would enter service in the mid- to late-1990s. The aircraft derivative would use engines evolved from unducted fan (UDF) (propfan) technology by General Electric, but the engines would have shrouds, sport a bypass ratio of 15–20, and have a propfan diameter of . The aircraft would be stretched (including the upper deck section) to a capacity of 500 seats, have a new wing to reduce drag, cruise at a faster speed to reduce flight times, and have a range of at least , which would allow airlines to fly nonstop between London, England and Sydney, Australia.


title: Boeing 747

text: Boeing announced the 747 ASB ("Advanced Short Body") in 1986 as a response to the Airbus A340 and the McDonnell Douglas MD-11. This aircraft design would have combined the advanced technology used on the 747-400 with the foreshortened 747SP fuselage. The aircraft was to carry 295 passengers over a range of . However, airlines were not interested in the project and it was canceled in 1988 in favor of the 777.


title: Boeing 747

text: Boeing announced the 747-500X and -600X at the 1996 Farnborough Airshow. The proposed models would have combined the 747's fuselage with a new wing spanning derived from the 777. Other changes included adding more powerful engines and increasing the number of tires from two to four on the nose landing gear and from 16 to 20 on the main landing gear.


title: Boeing 747

text: The 747-500X concept featured an fuselage length increased by to , and the aircraft was to carry 462 passengers over a range up to , with a gross weight of over 1.0 Mlb (450 tonnes). The 747-600X concept featured a greater stretch to with seating for 548 passengers, a range of up to , and a gross weight of 1.2 Mlb (540 tonnes). A third study concept, the 747-700X, would have combined the wing of the 747-600X with a widened fuselage, allowing it to carry 650 passengers over the same range as a . The cost of the changes from previous 747 models, in particular the new wing for the 747-500X and -600X, was estimated to be more than US$5 billion. Boeing was not able to attract enough interest to launch the aircraft.


title: Boeing 747

text: As Airbus progressed with its A3XX study, Boeing offered a 747 derivative as an alternative in 2000; a more modest proposal than the previous -500X and -600X that retained the 747's overall wing design and add a segment at the root, increasing the span to . Power would have been supplied by either the Engine Alliance GP7172 or the Rolls-Royce Trent 600, which were also proposed for the 767-400ERX. A new flight deck based on the 777's would be used. The 747X aircraft was to carry 430 passengers over ranges of up to . The 747X Stretch would be extended to long, allowing it to carry 500 passengers over ranges of up to . Both would feature an interior based on the 777. Freighter versions of the 747X and 747X Stretch were also studied.


title: Boeing 747

text: Like its predecessor, the 747X family was unable to garner enough interest to justify production, and it was shelved along with the 767-400ERX in March 2001, when Boeing announced the Sonic Cruiser concept. Though the 747X design was less costly than the 747-500X and -600X, it was criticized for not offering a sufficient advance from the existing . The 747X did not make it beyond the drawing board, but the 747-400X being developed concurrently moved into production to become the 747-400ER.


title: Boeing 747

text: After the end of the 747X program, Boeing continued to study improvements that could be made to the 747. The 747-400XQLR (Quiet Long Range) was meant to have an increased range of , with improvements to boost efficiency and reduce noise. Improvements studied included raked wingtips similar to those used on the 767-400ER and a sawtooth engine nacelle for noise reduction. Although the 747-400XQLR did not move to production, many of its features were used for the 747 Advanced, which was launched as the 747-8 in 2005.


title: Boeing 747

text: In 1979, Qantas became the first airline in the world to operate an all Boeing 747 fleet, with seventeen aircraft.


title: Boeing 747

text: , there were 462 Boeing 747s in airline service, with Atlas Air and British Airways being the largest operators with 33 747-400s each.


title: Boeing 747

text: The last US passenger Boeing 747 was retired from Delta Air Lines in December 2017, after it flew for every American major carrier since its 1970 introduction. Delta flew three of its last four aircraft on a farewell tour, from Seattle to Atlanta on December 19 then to Los Angeles and Minneapolis/St Paul on December 20.


title: Boeing 747

text: As the IATA forecast an increase in air freight from 4% to 5% in 2018 fueled by booming trade for time-sensitive goods, from smartphones to fresh flowers, demand for freighters is strong while passenger 747s are phased out.


title: Boeing 747

text: Of the 1,544 produced, 890 are retired; , a small subset of those which were intended to be parted-out got $3 million D-checks before flying again.


title: Boeing 747

text: Young -400s were sold for 320 million yuan ($50 million) and Boeing stopped converting freighters, which used to cost nearly $30 million.


title: Boeing 747

text: This comeback helped the airframer financing arm Boeing Capital to shrink its exposure to the 747-8 from $1.07 billion in 2017 to $481 million in 2018.


title: Boeing 747

text: In July 2020, British Airways announced that it was retiring its 747 fleet. The final British Airways 747 flights departed London Heathrow on October 8, 2020.


title: Boeing 747

text: As of October 2020, the 747 has been involved in 166 aviation accidents and incidents, including 63 accidents and hull losses causing fatalities. There have been several hijackings of Boeing 747s, such as Pan Am Flight 73, a 747-100 hijacked by four terrorists, causing 20 deaths.


title: Boeing 747

text: Few crashes have been attributed to 747 design flaws. The Tenerife airport disaster resulted from pilot error and communications failure, while the Japan Airlines Flight 123 and China Airlines Flight 611 crashes stemmed from improper aircraft repair. United Airlines Flight 811, which suffered an explosive decompression mid-flight on February 24, 1989, led the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to issue a recommendation that the Boeing 747-100 and 747-200 cargo doors similar to those on the Flight 811 aircraft be modified to those featured on the Boeing . Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down by a Soviet fighter aircraft in 1983 after it had strayed into Soviet territory, causing US President Ronald Reagan to authorize the then-strictly-military global positioning system (GPS) for civilian use.


title: Boeing 747

text: Accidents due to design deficiencies included TWA Flight 800, where a 747-100 exploded in mid-air on July 17, 1996, probably due to sparking electrical wires inside the fuel tank. This finding led the FAA to adopt a rule in July 2008 requiring installation of an inerting system in the center fuel tank of most large aircraft, after years of research into solutions. At the time, the new safety system was expected to cost US$100,000 to $450,000 per aircraft and weigh approximately . El Al Flight 1862 crashed after the fuse pins for an engine broke off shortly after take-off due to metal fatigue. Instead of simply dropping away from the wing, the engine knocked off the adjacent engine and damaged the wing.