The Gold Standard
by Alex Esguerra
Title
The Gold Standard
Artist
Alex Esguerra
Medium
Photograph - Color
Description
By a bean counter's standards, she is no longer the best in her game. Those that came after her are now able to fly further and more efficiently than she. Nor can she claim to be the biggest purpose-built commercial airliner anymore - the title has now gone to the Airbus 380. And yet, if you pause and ask around, you would be hard pressed to find a more beloved and recognized aircraft anywhere in the airliner game.
The aircraft is the 747, the original Jumbo Jet and the plane that revolutionized travel. When she entered service in 1970, she was a massive upgrade from the then international workhorse, the Boeing 707. A typical seating capacity that was more than double that of her predecessor and able to carry them further and more efficiently endeared her to airline CEOs while the public was (and largely STILL IS) enamored to her by her sheer size and her unique, humped-upper deck silhouette. To this day, being to fly somewhere on a 747 remains a treat, and for many a passenger or crewmember, something of a bragging right.
With the 747-800 not the successor Boeing thought it would be, the trend for airlines to phase out the type for the now much more efficient twin-engined wide body planes is well in place. The 747 is becoming more and more rare a sight at an airport. But few of those successors capture the hearts of the public quite like the 747. She may forever be the gold standard of commercial aviation.
Uploaded
November 9th, 2017
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