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747-400 development history & lore

Started by Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers, Sun, 7 Feb 2021 11:04

Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers

Thanks to another Forum member I got a copy of a very recent Dutch book, 747 Farewell, ISBN 978-90-8246669-0. Next to the expected features such as the delivery flights of their 744s to KLM and their final destinations, it also contains interesting details on some of the 744 development history.

What surprised me was the history of the flight deck design. In summary, the book states that the original spec from launch customer Northwest included a Classic three-crew cockpit, not even close to the 757-767 design. Airbus at that time went significantly further. After venting their disappointment to Boeing, KLM teamed up with many other airlines and together they brought up "the European cockpit" which eventually won over and Northwest did not object. Boeing scrapped the original design and in a few months went digital (likely because their engineers saw this coming while management resisted, but this is my interpretation).

Any more details on this?

200 more pages to go...

Hoppie

https://klm747.nl/