Let's start with a look at the most famous of jets, the Boeing 747. The Boeing website states that this model, with a gas tank capacity of 63,500 gallons, may burn five gallons of jet fuel per mile of flight.
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The 747-400 has eight fuel tanks, with a combined capacity of 57,164 gallons of Jet-A fuel. This amount weighs in excess of 380,000 pounds. (Pilots normally discuss fuel in terms of weight rather than volume.)
With today's fuel prices, it costs about $450,000 to fill up a Boeing 747, depending on your market. By contrast, the Gulfstream G280, a popular business aviation aircraft, costs around $8,000 to fill.
Hundreds of millions brand new? According to Boeing's current list prices, a brand new 747-8 would be worth $418.4 million, while its freighter sister is listed slightly higher at $419.2 million.
Can a 747 refuel mid air? The current pair of VC-25A-modified 747-200s known in popular culture as Air Force One have aerial refueling capabilities. This allows the jumbo jets to receive fuel inflight from an aerial tanker such as the Boeing KC-46.
The four engines of the Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet burn approximately 10 to 11 tonnes of fuel an hour when in the cruise. This equates to roughly 1 gallon (approximately 4 litres) of fuel every second.
As a rule of thumb for the Boeing 747, pilots either quote dump rates ranging within 1–2 tons per minute or reference a thumb formula of dump time = (dump weight / 2) + 5 in minutes.
There are four main fuel tanks in the wings, a tail plane tank, a center wing tank, and reserve fuel tanks in the outer wing sections. The maximum fuel capacity is 216,846 L (57,284 gal.).
The cost per gallon of fuel in September 2022 ($3.49) was up 2 cents (0.6%) from August 2022 ($3.47) and up $1.53 (78.1%) from September 2019. Total September 2022 fuel expenditure ($4.89B) was down 6.3% from August 2022 ($5.22B) and up 69.2% from pre-pandemic September 2019.
In the event of an emergency requiring a return to the departure airport, the aircraft circles nearby in order to consume fuel to get down to within the maximum structural landing weight limit, or, if the situation demands, simply land overweight without delay.
It would seem strange that pilots would purposefully dump fuel from their aircraft at a time when fuel prices have skyrocketed. What's more bizarre is that they do it in the air while flying. Tossing fuel into the air is a safe procedure for a good reason. Additionally, it is not as wasteful as it seems.
As of Sep 22, 2023, the average annual pay for the Boeing 747 Pilot jobs category in Staten Island is $100,515 a year. Just in case you need a simple salary calculator, that works out to be approximately $48.32 an hour. This is the equivalent of $1,932/week or $8,376/month.
Without engine thrust, the 747 had a glide ratio of 15:1, meaning it can glide forward 15 kilometres for every kilometre it drops. After calculating the glide ratio, the crew realized that they had less than 30 minutes to regain power before they smashed into the ground.
But it's much more than a time waste. It's also a big source of carbon emissions. The average taxi time in the U.S. is between 16 and 27 minutes, which accounts for about 5% of a flight's fuel consumption. A Boeing 747, for example, uses 1 ton of fuel during a 15-minute taxi.
Commercial Pilot Licensing for Boeing 747 PilotsTo gain a license to fly the Boeing 747, pilots must first obtain their Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate. To do this, pilots must meet certain educational requirements, such as having a college degree, or having a minimum of 1,500 hours of flight time.