In this article:
The 737 is the smallest and most popular jetliner in the Boeing family.
The 737 was designed to share significant component commonality with its predecessor 707 and 727 aircraft. One major difference for the new 737 was elimination of the flight engineer station and adoption of a two-crew flight deck.
Dependable and economical, the 737 series has a reputation as a workhorse and can be found in airline fleets across the world. Since 1967, over 10,000 “Baby Boeings” have been produced.
The 747 was the result of the work of some 50,000 Boeing people. Called “the Incredibles,” these were the construction workers, mechanics, engineers, secretaries and administrators who made aviation history by building the Boeing 747 — the largest civilian airplane in the world — in roughly 16 months during the late 1960s.
First flight occurred on Feb. 9, 1969, followed by an extensive test program and it became a mainstay of the world’s international airlines.
The 747 was the first airplane called a “Jumbo Jet” as the first wide-body airliner.
The Boeing 777, commonly referred to as the Triple Seven, is an American long-range wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
The Boeing 777 is the largest twin-engine commercial jet transport in service today and the most-built wide-body airliner. In 1990, approval to proceed with its development was contingent on defining an airplane the airlines would buy at a price Boeing could afford.
How is piloting a Boeing 737 different from piloting a Boeing 777 or 747? Is it more difficult?
Nicholas Wade, Boeing 737, Boeing 747, Airbus A320, Boeing 777 pilot at British Airways, explains on Quora;
‘Funnily enough, I have flown all three of these aircraft. Hands down the easiest to fly is the 777. It is just a delight, and will make the crappiest pilot feel like Chuck Yeager, due to its brilliant flight control system. In addition, there is no requirement to disengage the auto thrust (in fact it’s prohibited in normal ops in my airline), so it looks after your speed for you too. It also has a great comms panel and an electronic checklist that walks you through the toughest non-normals, and makes missing critical items very hard. Compare that to wading through a paper QRH on the other 2.
‘The 747 and 737 both handle quite similarly, but the 737 is more of a little pig, due to the strong pitch power couple from the underslung engines, that needs anticipating. Add power and do nothing, and you go up and get slow. It’s not as marked on the 747, and the fly-by-wire takes care of it on the 777. All three are very similar to operate through the autopilot and FMC. You could jump from one to the other and hardly notice the difference.’
Wade concludes;
‘To sum up. My favourite to fly was the Jumbo. No fly by wire and you still needed to operate the throttles. A great feeling poling it around. Easiest and nicest the 777. It just does everything so right it’s almost boring. And finally, I’ll always have a soft spot for my first jet, the little pig. She taught me everything I know.’
Photo credit: Boeing
