How To Differentiate a 737, 747, and 777

I'm back, from all the business. Preperation for practical training this coming July 2006 has kept me busy. Nevertheless, i'm looking forward towards it, as my real life will all start in July 2006. All the best to me, and sincere apologies for such a long stop of blogging from me.

Do u know what is a Boeing, and what is an Airbus? This two names are the names that u always hear of whenever people talk bout planes, isn't it? For those of u who donno, dun worry, let me teach u all about aeroplanes. Just sit back and read and learn cos it's pretty interesting hihihi....

Boeing and Airbus are aircraft manufacturers. Just like Toyota, Honda, BMW, Ferrari... which are car manufacturers. There are many other aircraft manufacturers too like McDonnell Douglas, Eagle, Cessna, Piper, Antonov... but Boeing and Airbus are the largest commercial aircaft manufacturer in the world. All the 737, 747, 777, 330, 340, 380 that u heard of are from this 2 companies.



Boeing is an American company based in Seattle (if not mistaken); whereas Airbus is a French company based in Toulose. So this 2 companies are serious rivals in terms of doing business and also technology. Always trying to out-do each other.

To narrow down the topic, I'll explain about Boeing only. Boeing's aircraft models always start with a '7'. For instance B(Boeing) 737, B747, B777. Till today, they have produced many models namely from 707 all the way up to 777, and the upcoming B787 that will be released in year 2008.

Our national flag carrier - Malaysia Airlines, made a very wise choice of getting the 3 most popular models of Boeing: B737, B747, and B777. The 737 is the major work horse for the company, boasting a fleet of 39 of them. The 747 is the famous jumbo jet that fits the most people. And the 777 (also called T7 - Tripple 7) is the famous fully digital aircraft with the latest & highest technology.



But do u know how to differentiate them? When u hear a plane flying above you, and you tilt your head upwards, shielding the sun with your hand to have a look at the plane, do you see it as just-an-aeroplane, or do u try to figure out what model it is like what i do?

It's the same like checking out cars while driving. U'll go like.."wahh BMW 5 series... wah Mazda RX-8... that car damn sleek" rite? haha... now here's the few things to look out for to differentiate the planes.

1st thing to check out is the SIZE.


737 & 747

Size does matter. Having the 737 in the foreground and 747 in the background, it is obvious that the 737 is so much shorter in length (almost half), and so much shorter in height too (almost half too).

2nd thing to check out is the ENGINES.


747


737

The 747 has 4 engines: 2 on each wing. Whereas the 737 has 2 engines: 1 on each wing. Also, pay attention to the shape of 737's engine. Instead of round, the 737's engine is rather flat at the bottom part. This is because the aircraft is not tall but the engine is very big, so the manufacturer decided to flatten the bottom part to increase clearance between the runway and engine (to prevent from sucking in debris/stones).

3rd thing to check out is the SHAPE.


747


737

The 747 Jumbo Jet has its trademark of the swollen front part (double decker), so it is very easily noticed. The 737 is straight from nose to tail. Next, check out the vertical thingy at the end of the wings(wing tip) of the 747. It's called a winglet, and the 737 doesn't have winglets. Then, look at the tail section. The connecting section between the vertical tail and body of the 737 has 2 angles, whereas the 747 has only 1 angle.

The last thing to check out is the LANDING GEARS (wheels).


747


737

The 747 has 18 wheels: 4 4 4 4 2. The 737 has only 6 wheels: 2 2 2. Knowing that the 747 is twice it's size, and 3 times its weight, more wheels are needed to distribute and absorb the impact of the plane.

And here's my all time favourite - The T7.


Boeing 777
- Twin engine
- No winglet
- 14 wheels: 6 6 2
- Economy class seat configuration: 2 5 2

I've heard from my seniors who are already license aircraft engineers that they can even differentiate the aircraft models just by listening to the roaring of the turbine engines. Amazing! they must have reached the 'God-like Level'! :P