Did you know…

Did you know a 747-200 was tested at 385,560 kg?

Short answer

The figure was actually slightly lower: 381.2 t (840,500 lb). On 1 November 1976, the first RB211-powered 747-200 set a world record for the greatest mass lifted during a test flight at NAS Lemoore, climbing to 2,000 m (6,562 ft) with that weight.

Did you know a 747-200 was tested at 385,560 kg?
Lufthansa Boeing 747-400 departing BostonFoto: 4300streetcar (CC BY 4.0)

A record for mass lifted in 1976

The 747-200B prototype held the record for the greatest takeoff weight at the time, until heavier and more powerful 747-200 airframes were built. On 1 November 1976, the first RB211-powered 747-200 set a world record for the greatest mass lifted during a test flight at NAS Lemoore. On that flight it climbed to 2,000 m (6,562 ft) with a weight of 840,500 lb, equivalent to 381.2 t. The -200 variant was produced in passenger, freighter, and combined passenger-freighter versions.

The first 747

The first 747 rolled out of the Everett assembly building on 30 September 1968, before the world press and representatives of the 26 airlines that had already ordered it. Its first flight took place on 9 February 1969.

Other family records

The 747SP stands apart from the other variants with a shorter fuselage: it measures 56.31 m (184 ft 9 in) in length, 14 m (47 ft) less than the original 747 versions. In 1976, a South African Airways 747SP registered ZS-SPA flew non-stop from Boeing's factory in Seattle to Cape Town on its delivery flight. It was a world record for a commercial aircraft without air-to-air refuelling, and it held for more than a decade.

More questions

Did you know a 747-200 was tested at 385,560 kg?