All language subtitles for 23b2613140e14051b223aec41e947150

Chad zdenek: This is a 747,

the world's first jumbo jet.

We're towing
500,000 pounds of 747.

A legendary design that began
a golden age of air travel

and has flown over
three billion passengers.

Now, 50 years
after they first took flight,

these giants of the skies
are being retired...

Their reusable parts
overhauled and recycled,

possibly into
your next soda can.

As we take these planes
to pieces,

I'll uncover
the engineering innovations

that revolutionized aviation...

On the wing of a 747!

...and opened the skies
to all of us.

♪

I'm Chad zdenek.

I spent seven years building
rocket engines for NASA.

Now I'm taking things apart,

breaking down
giants of engineering

piece by piece...

So I can discover what made them
legends of their time.

♪

I'm in the heart of Mississippi,

at a specialist aircraft
disassembly facility.

Walking underneath this thing

really shows you
how big it is?

Will: Yeah, it does.

Chad: This is where
planes get sent

when they reach the end
of their working life.

For an engineer like me,
this place is amazing.

Some of these planes
are beautiful,

and they're in
very good condition.

They've been maintained
and looked after

their entire lives.

The only problem

is that they're not
really needed anymore.

But that doesn't mean
there's not a lot of money

that can be made from them.

That's where
the disassembly team comes in.

Will: Good morning,
how's everybody doing?

All: Good morning.

Chad: I'll be working
alongside these guys

to decommission
a very special aircraft.

They're tracking
its final flight right now.

2689 heavy, tupelo tower,

report a five-mile final,
runway 1-8.

Chad: And here it comes--
a boeing 747.

Man on radio: Clear to land.

Chad: Nearly 300 tons
of aviation legend,

affectionately known
as the queen of the skies.

That's a big plane. Wow.

Once you come to a stop,

you can hold your position,

and they're requesting
shut down the engines.

They're going to
tow you from there, sir.

Chad: That's the final touchdown
for this 747.

It flew its maiden flight
in 1999.

Since then, it's carried nearly
three million passengers

and racked up 14 million miles.

We're towing
500,000 pounds of 747

to its final resting zone.

It's unbelievable to be in here.

The very first boeing 747
took to the sky in 1969.

Film narrator: Here it is,

the largest and the fastest
of all commercial airplanes.

Chad: These aircraft
were twice as big

as previous passenger planes,

earning the nickname
"jumbo jet."

Their size meant
more people could fly further

for less,

while their design
offered luxury

and mile-high glamour,

promising a new era
in jet travel.

The largest, fastest,

most comfortable plane
in history--

the boeing 747 superjet.

Chad: Since then,
over 1,500 747s have been built.

But new production
stopped in 1998.

The hard-working 747 fleet
is now at the end of its life.

One by one,

these iconic planes
are being retired,

making way for more modern,
more fuel-efficient aircraft.

For this jumbo jet,
it's the end of the line.

But there's still
a buck to be made.

This plane will be dismantled

and its
most valuable parts sold.

The rest will be
melted down and recycled.

So, here's the plan.

Over the next 10 weeks,

I'm going to help the team
take this plane apart.

They'll save anything of value

before recycling the fuselage

for aluminum
and other materials...

And I'll reveal
the five engineering innovations

that made this plane
a record-breaker:

The revolutionary jet engines,

which can be worth
up to a million dollars;

the 400-seat cabin,

bigger and wider
than any before;

the vast wings

that got this huge plane
into the air

from the shortest runway;

the cockpit and avionics

that guided this giant
through the sky;

and the massive landing gear

that brought it
safely back down.

Will Smith is
an aircraft mechanic

with ten years of experience
dismantling 747s.

Now he's showing me the ropes.

Will Smith: As you seen
whenever it flew in earlier,

it's just a huge aircraft.

It's always fun
to watch them come in,

it's fun to taxi them in
and get them parked.

And, you know, like I said,
from start to finish,

it's just a fun aircraft
to work on.

♪

Chad: The disassembly team's
first job

is to remove
the most valuable components--

its four giant engines,

each one weighing four tons.

These are 20 years old.

But even with millions of miles
on the clock,

they're still good for
tens of thousands more flights

and can even be fitted
on a different aircraft.

That's why
they're in high demand

and extremely valuable.

Hayley townsend
is in charge of removing them.

Since I've worked
on rocket engines,

she's agreed to let me help
with this jet engine,

provided I don't get in her way.

We take off this cowl here,

and then we take off
this cam door,

and we're going to open these up
in a little while--

the thrust reversers--

and get in and disconnect
everything underneath there.

Chad: Finally, I got a wrench,
I can do some work.

As the cowling comes off,

I can see the complex
engineering underneath

and the huge scale
of its moving parts.

It gives you a perspective size

when you're here
without the inlet

just really how big
these fan blades are.

They had to be big.

When boeing designed the 747,

there wasn't a jet engine
in the world

big enough to lift it.

They asked engine company
Pratt and Whitney to build one.

It took a huge amount
of trial and error.

60 prototypes were developed

and written off.

But boeing was determined
to make it work,

whatever the expense.

Finally, after two years
and millions of dollars,

one of them worked.

It was five times more powerful
and six times more efficient

than anything before.

I've come to this jet engine
testing facility in Georgia

to meet Barry latter,

one of the original
engine designers.

Barry latter: Yes, we had
problems with the engines.

It was a huge gamble,
with a lot of money involved.

But we were given the latitude
to be able to try ideas out.

If they worked, great;

if they didn't work,
we just tried again.

So, what would you say some
of the major innovations are

that went into the 747 engine?

Barry: In the case of the 747,

the kind of innovation

that was built into
the airplane or the engine

was the first application

of what we call
a high-bypass-ratio engine

to a commercial airplane.

Chad: A high-bypass-ratio engine
sounds complicated,

but like all the best ideas
in engineering,

it's actually pretty simple.

And it starts with understanding
how a classic jet engine works.

It basically comes down
to four principles:

Suck, squeeze, bang, blow.

That's it.

Now, the sucking happens
right here.

These fan blades
are moving really fast

and sucking in a lot of air.

Now, the squeezing--

that's starting up
in this area right here.

Basically,

we're bleeding off some of
the air from the fan blades,

and we're squeezing it
or compressing it down

all the way through this section

until we get to
the combustion chamber.

Here we're adding
fuel and ignition,

and we're getting bang.

Once we have combustion,

those hot gases
are going to expand

through a series
of turbine blades, right here.

Now, these turbine blades,
they're attached to a shaft,

which is connected to
the fan blades at the front.

Those fans blades
are going to spin

up to 4,000
revolutions a minute.

That creates thrust--

the power to get the plane
moving and off the ground.

Even so, with all this work,

we're only creating 30%
of the thrust for the engine.

But it's the way this
bypass engine creates the rest

that is so ingenious.

As well as driving air
through the central turbine,

the fan forces twice as much
down the sides of the engine,

bypassing the turbine,

hence the name.

This air blasts straight out
of the back of the jet,

creating an additional
70% more power.

It's just air that is creating
over 40,000 pounds of thrust

that's propelling
this airplane forward.

The 747 pioneered
the high-bypass engine.

Now it's an industry standard,

delivering more power
with less fuel

on aircraft all over the world.

The engineering it pioneered

is still in use
in these engines.

Hayley: It's looking good!

Chad: They were put into service
when Hayley was just a kid.

Hi, Hayley.
Hayley: Hi!

Chad: Now she's overseeing
their careful removal

so they can fly
for another generation.

Hayley has aviation
in her blood.

Hayley: My dad was
an aircraft mechanic,

and now he's
a sheet metal technician.

My sister is younger than me,

but she does electronics
for airplanes.

Chad: So, I'm gonna guess
it's not your first engine

you've taken down.

Nah, I've taken off several.

Chad: There are 30,000
connections to be undone...

In the south,

this is what they call
a no-joke wrench.

...until the four-ton engine
is left hanging from the plane

by just eight bolts.

But final removal
can only happen

under the watchful eye
of an airline inspector.

We gotta hurry up.

We got the inspector
coming at noon,

and we're supposed to have
all the cowlings off,

duct work off, cabling off,

and only the eight bolts
holding this thing on,

for the inspector to look at,

approve that, yeah,
we can take it down.

If we miss that window,
it's not coming down today.

The process takes hours.

Finally,
the last connections are undone,

just as the inspector arrives.

His job is to make sure
the engine is removed

the right way.

And why is it so important
to get the engines off first

on the whole disassembly?

Well, we want to make them,

they're going to be serviceable.

That means
we're going to take them off

where they can be reused again,

because you want to always
protect the engine bearings,

make sure
all our chains are straight,

'cause once you get
the weight on there,

it's hard to readjust.

Hayley: Ok.

Chad: It's a serious weight

and a seriously tense moment.

One mistake could knock
tens of thousands of dollars

off the value of this engine.

Hayley: What the heck was that?

Chad: Hayley's worried her team
may have damaged the engine.

But it's ok.

Mechanic: A clamp
popped off this duct.

It's fine.

Chad: Crisis averted,

they continue
disconnecting the engine

until it's held to the 747
by just four bolts.

Now Hayley has to make sure
it's fully supported from below.

Hayley: We're going to pick
the whole cradle up,

and square it,
it'll sit level,

all four tires off.

Hold up, just the front.

With the weight of the engine

supported evenly by the cradle,

we can finally
take out the last bolts

that connect it to the plane.

I've taken out
a lot of bolts in my day,

but nothing like this before.

This is a whole
different animal.

Hey, Hayley, these guys are
having a hard time.

They might need
your help up here.

Mechanic:!

Man: Let's go, Chad.
Let's get in there, man!

Hayley: Go, Chad!
Mechanic: One, two, three...

That's it!

That's it!

Hell, yeah!

Man, these bolts are tight.

Man, that is a serious bolt.

Mechanic: There's your bolt.
Chad: Wow, look at that.

Whoo!

So right now
Hayley is making sure

the guys are
bringing it down evenly,

because if they don't,
you could tweak it

and mess up one of those pylons,

and then we're going to have
a big problem on our hands.

Hayley: Can that come down
the back some?

What do you think?

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking.

Hayley: All right.

Mechanic: Ready, art?
Man: Yeah.

Mechanic: Yeah, go ahead.

Art and I'll just
hit a quarter...

What do you think, Hayley?

Hayley: Doing good!

All right, everybody go.

Chad: Over 9,000 pounds
of engine

are now suspended in mid-air.

Any mistake could be disastrous.

Hayley: Hold on a second!

Chad: Inch by inch,

the team lowers the engine
to the ground.

Hayley: All right, everybody?

Man: There we go. Right there.

Hayley: Everybody come down.

Yeah! Good job, guys.

Chad: One engine down,
three to go.

With the engine
safely in the cradle,

Hayley gets sign-off
from the airline inspector.

This prize engine
can head to the warehouse.

There, they'll overhaul it,
test it,

and then sell it.

The engineering genius
behind the 747's engines

means they can be used
again and again--

not just on other jumbo jets,

but also on
more modern aircraft.

I'm back at the test facility
with Barry latter,

who helped develop
the 747's engines.

This engine
is being reconditioned,

which gives me the chance
to see and hear it in action.

Barry: Dark screen's up.

Here comes the fuel.

Egt's rising...

Chad: Barry goes right
for the ear protection.

He knows what's coming.

If you've ever wondered
what it's like

to stand alongside a 747
at takeoff, this is it.

This engine can produce
60,000 pounds of thrust.

Four of them are enough
to take a fully loaded 747

to 600 miles an hour.

Wow!

Barry: There you go.
Chad: That was amazing!

So I'm just imagining a 747
having four of those,

Max throttle all at once.

I mean,
that's some serious power.

Barry: Serious power.

And that's why, even now,

you listen to that engine
start up and run,

it's still exciting.

Chad: It never gets old,
does it?

Barry: Never gets old.

Chad: Two weeks later,

and all four jet engines
have been successfully removed.

The team's next job

is to take out the interior
of the plane's cabin.

One challenge
747 engineers faced

was to build a space big enough

to fit twice as many passengers
as any other airplane,

without making it feel
like a cattle car.

The cabin is the next
engineering innovation

I want to uncover.

But how do you get inside a 747
without a jet bridge?

It turns out,
every one has a secret entrance.

Man, this is tight.
Sheesh!

It leads directly
to the passenger cabin.

This is nice.
Will: Yeah, it is.

Chad: What do you guys
actually do

with the seats and these pods?

Will: We have to take them out
by sections,

just because of
the size of the seats.

Chad: So, with the 747
being retired,

are these becoming more
a collector item type pieces?

Will: If we can't sell them,
you know, to the airline

or back to united, you know,

I see customer interest
in these for sure.

Chad: I guess
we better get started.

Will: We gotta get started.
Plenty of work, yup.

Chad: We're starting in economy,

where the dismantling team

has already received an order
from a major airline

for over 300 seats.

I've teamed up
with mechanic Ronnie.

So, I imagine it'd
take a little while

to get all 300
of these chairs out?

Ronnie: Yeah,
it's gonna take a while.

Chad: Man!

Airlines buy seats in bulk,

and that means they have to be
removed together.

Each row consists of three seats

bolted together
into the cabin floor.

Is this all aluminum framing?

Ronnie: Yes.

Chad: So even that's probably
worth money?

Ronnie: Yup.

Chad: Getting them out
requires a bit a turbulence.

Is it good?
Is it free now?

All right.
So, one down, 150 to go.

Man: Probably
something like that, yeah.

Chad: A 400-seat plane may be
familiar to travelers today,

but in the 1960s,
it was revolutionary.

Then, the biggest
passenger aircraft

were the boeing 707
and Douglas DC-8.

They each sat just 200.

Lots of these small planes

meant congested airspace
and crowded airports.

Pan American airways decided
they would find a solution.

In 1963, they approached boeing
with a daring proposition--

design the biggest
passenger plane

the world had ever seen--

one that could carry
twice as many people

as its competitors.

Their initial request?

A tall narrow aircraft.

A double Decker,

with two decks running
the length of the plane--

a cruise ship for the skies.

But there was a problem.

A double-Decker fuselage

could accommodate
a high number of passengers.

But it could be very difficult

to get those passengers
off the plane,

especially during an emergency.

Aviation law required
that all passengers

could be evacuated
off of a plane

in less than 90 seconds.

Impossible
on a double-Decker design.

It was a setback
that changed aviation history,

for better or for worse.

Boeing went back
to the drawing board

and came up with
a giant twin aisle cabin--

20 feet wide,

300 feet long,

fitted with 400 seats.

Crucially, the twin aisles
gave each passenger

speedy access
to eleven emergency exits,

satisfying aviation law.

The 747 engineers
pulled out all the stops

and made their presentation
in a specially built boardroom

the exact dimensions
of their cabin.

Pan am were so impressed,

they signed off
on the twin aisle design

right there and then.

With a nod
to the original brief,

boeing even incorporated
a short upper deck

that seated
first class passengers.

Just like that,

an aviation icon
was born.

Film narrator: Having led
the world into the jet age,

pan am tops itself.

Working closely with boeing,

pan am develops
a huge new aircraft

far exceeding
in size and capabilities

anything that anyone
had ever dreamed of.

Chad: 50 years later,

this wide-body design
is the industry standard

used on 7,000 other
passenger aircraft flying today.

If you've ever flown long haul,

you've probably flown on one.

Now, on this plane,

that cabin has got to go.

We've pulled out all the seats.

Now it's time
to take out what's left.

Ronnie: You're getting pretty
good at this stuff, Chad.

Chad: The design of the 747

makes it possible to disassemble
the plane in separate pieces.

Windows...

Wall panels...

Overhead bins...

They all come out,
ready for use again.

Now we have to start the one job

we have been putting off
all week.

Ok, Ronnie, what's next?

Ronnie: Well, it's time
to remove the toilets.

Yeah, it's a crappy job.

Chad: You knew it was coming.
Ronnie: Yeah, it's coming.

Chad: All right,
I'll roshambo you for it.

Ready?
Ronnie: All right.

Chad: One, two, three.

Ronnie: Yeah!

Chad: This plane has flown
three million passengers,

so I don't want to think

how often this toilet
has been used.

Ronnie: Make sure you wash
your hands when you're done.

Chad: Definitely need
hazard pay.

But, like so much on board,
it's still valuable.

Reconditioned, it could fetch
thousands of dollars.

Man.

Ronnie: Good job, Chad.
Good job, man.

Chad: Before I finish the cabin,

there's one other important
piece of equipment

I want to find.

It's kept hidden safely away,
right in the tail.

Well, this is something
the passengers don't get to see.

The quarters for the crew.

Six beds...

Two chairs...

And one very important
piece of equipment,

the flight data recorder--

I think it's right in there--

also known as the black box.

Let's take a look.

So here we are, second level,

we're at the aft of the plane,
right near the tail section.

And this is where
the black box recorder is,

and that's because the faa
regards this area

as the safest part of the plane
during a crash.

So, we're going to pull it.

Let's see what we've got here.

There it is.

That is definitely not black.

This slides right out.

Ok, and this is your black box,

or in layman's terms,

a really bright orange neon box.

And we're just gonna tag it,
and we'll be good to go.

All right, we're ready.

Now, this thing records

dozens of parameters
on the airplane

so that if there's
ever an incident,

it can be used
for the investigation.

And this thing is built to last.

Jet fuel will typically burn at
about 1,800 degrees fahrenheit.

This thing's designed
to withstand

just over
2,000 degrees fahrenheit.

So regardless of what
the incident might be

that the plane goes through,

this is going to be critical in
helping with the investigation.

With the 747 design signed off,
pan am took a leap of faith,

and in 1966 awarded boeing
a record-breaking contract--

$525 million for 25 747s.

It was a huge gamble
for boeing, too.

The cost of failure
would destroy the company.

It had just two years
to begin delivery--

two thirds of what was normal

for planes half the size
of the 747.

Boeing even had to build
a factory from scratch

to house the vast
production line.

Film narrator: 1966.

A tranquil woodland
near Everett, Washington,

swept clean to make room
for a new dimension.

Inside, the 747 program
becomes a reality.

Chad: It would eventually become

the biggest building
in the world.

But production of the plane
couldn't wait,

so 50,000 engineers

began assembling the first 747
in snowstorms

as the factory
was constructed around them.

Film narrator: The giant task
of assembly began.

Someone called the 747 group
the incredibles.

We think it's a good name.

Chad: Boeing built
a giant factory.

And inside it, the sheer size
of their new aircraft

gave engineers
a giant headache.

The super-sized plane was going
to have to take off and land

on runways built
for aircraft half its size.

To do that, the 747 engineers
needed an ingenious solution--

one that would make the 747
a truly global airplane.

Now I want to uncover
the engineering innovation

that made that possible--

its giant wings.

I'm about to walk out
on the wing of a 747,

and even the pilots
don't get to do this.

Yeah!

On the wing of a 747!

We've seen how important
the jet engines were

on the evolution of the 747.

But it was also the wings
that made it a unique plane.

Together, its two wings
measure 222 feet wide

and double as gas tanks,

holding 35,000 pounds of fuel.

But even at that size,

engineers needed
a trick up their sleeve

to get this plane up in the air,

before the runway ran out--

movable lift-altering surfaces,

or wing flaps.

The 747 has 36 of them.

And like the rest of the plane,

they're huge...

So that when just these
three flaps are extended,

the surface area of the wing
is increased by 21%.

And that increases overall lift
from the wings

by a whopping 90%,

meaning that even fully loaded,

the 747 can take off

from runways built for planes
just half its size

and make use of existing
airports all over the world.

Today, these wing flaps are
still in demand as spare parts.

And universal asset management

has just received
an order for one.

I'm helping the team
remove it from the plane.

The flap is held in place
by just four pins.

We have to take these out
one by one, without damaging it.

So basically,
we're connecting up

this spreader bar
with these choker straps

to the trailing edge
of the flap.

We need to make sure the load is
evenly divided between the two

so that it comes off evenly.

Otherwise,
when you pop those pins,

it's going to want to jump
one way or another,

and we don't want that
to happen.

We gotta make sure Clint,
who's our rigger right now,

is happy with the way it looks

'cause he's gonna be ultimately

the one who's gotta
pull this thing off.

If we go up a little bit,

I think I can probably get
my hands through there

and just pop it in this way.

We have to make sure the guys
controlling the crane

keep enough tension
in the cables

to hold the flap steady.

Clint, how's that load?

You got 1,200?

All right.

Three down, one to go.

Man: Last one!

Perfect.

Chad: With the pins removed,
the flap should pop off.

It's up to the rigging team
to do the lifting

without breaking it.

Man: Now it's outside
of our hands.

We just go down
and get out of their way.

Man: Keep coming down.

There we go.

A little more.

Little more!

Keep it coming.

Come down, Clint!

Chad: These are a lot bigger
when they're on the ground.

This thing's huge.

It's crazy to think
just four of these pins

are the main support
that's holding that flap,

that last trailing edge flap
on the wing.

There's just four of these.

This thing, with the rigging,
was about 1,400 pounds,

but when this thing's
under load from that wind,

I can only imagine the load
that's going through this.

The 747's wing design
may be ingenious,

but they didn't come easy
or cheap.

By 1968, production overruns
and design snags

left boeing $2 billion in debt.

Then...disaster.

Engineers discovered
the huge wings

cracked under the immense weight
of the engines.

The design had to be revised

and the wings rebuilt,

plunging the company
even further into the red

and leaving boeing's fate
hanging entirely

on the success of the 747.

Film narrator: Rollout day
for the boeing 747.

Chad: In January 1970,

boeing revealed its jumbo jet
to the world,

and with it, offered the jet set
a new way to travel--

one that was unique
and luxurious.

Man: We have an airplane now--

a remarkable one.

Chad: It was
an impressive spectacle.

But now boeing
needed to convince the world

their plane was worth it.

The huge debts
from developing the 747

meant their deal with pan am

was not enough
to keep the company afloat.

And the 747 was already facing
some competition--

new supersonic planes

offering an elite trans-Atlantic
service to passengers.

Boeing needed other airlines

to place big orders
for their new aircraft,

or they'd be sunk.

It's now six weeks

into taking apart
and recycling a 747.

We've removed the engines,

the seats,

and parts of the wings.

That's already over $5 million
in reusable parts

ready for a new life
on other aircraft.

This is universal asset
management's enormous warehouse.

It's stacked high
with reconditioned parts,

all salvaged
from retired airplanes

and ready to be sold.

In this warehouse,
do you have all the parts

from the small stuff
to the big stuff of the 747?

Michael kenney: Everything.
Everything ends up here.

If it doesn't sell fast enough

that it ships directly
from the airplane itself,

it'll end up here
in the warehouse.

Chad: So, is the philosophy

that a plane is worth a lot more
in different parts and pieces

than it would be
in its entirety?

Michael: When we acquire it
and when it comes to us,

it's hit that point.

It's hit the point
where it's more useful to us

than it is to an airline.

Chad: Just for, let's say,
a landing gear, for instance.

How much would these
go for, roughly?

Some of the older landing gear,

maybe, $25-30,000 per leg.

Some of the newer landing gears

are several hundred
thousand dollars...

Chad: Wow.

Michael: Even approaching
a million dollars.

Chad: Price tags like that

reflect how
the 747's engineering

has endured over the decades

and the demand
that still exists for them.

Now an order has just come in
from an airline

for the nose landing gear
off this 747.

The giant engines and wings

lift this huge plane
into the air.

But landing it?

Well, that's a whole
different ball game.

So, the next amazing feat
of engineering

I'd like to take a look at
is the 747 landing gear.

747 engineers
faced a conundrum--

how to land 300 tons of plane.

Most existing passenger planes
had six wheels--

two under each wing
and two under the nose.

But those planes were much
smaller and lighter.

Simply making the wheels bigger
wouldn't work.

There would still be
too much weight

on too few points of support.

So, engineers added more wheels.

18 wheels arranged
in five separate trucks.

This pioneering design spread
the plane's huge weight

and allowed it to land safely.

Now our next job is to remove
the nose gear from this 747.

So, it's taken the crew
about a day

to get these support structures
underneath the plane

to lift the load
off of the landing gear.

These support structures,

they consist
of two interlocking frames

with tie rods at the top

to match the curvature
of the plane.

The section we're working in

is known to the disassembly team
as the dog house.

It's shaped liked a kennel,
and it's a tight squeeze.

There's a lot of
moving parts up there,

and you've got to follow it
step by step

because this is one of
the most dangerous parts

of taking apart the 747.

There's
hydraulic lines in there,

there's a lot of linkages,

and there's a lot of
tension in these parts,

so that if you don't
do it step by step,

you could run into
a lot of problems.

The landing gear doesn't just
stop the plane on touchdown;

it's also designed to take
the load off the plane landing.

This nose gear takes about
10% of the 747's weight.

So, these spring-loaded blocks

have to handle the pressure
of over 66,000 pounds.

Any mistake or failure here
could release those blocks

and cause a serious accident.

The last thing we want to do
is take a pin out

and have this whole thing
spring back at us.

I imagine there's
a lot of force in here.

Man: Yeah, there'd be
a lot of force.

Chad: On top of the risk
of getting hit by a flying part

is getting crushed
by the gear itself.

It weighs 1,600 pounds.

Ok, here it comes,
here it comes.

There we go.

That's no joke.

Man: That's a serious pin.
Chad: That's a pin!

So, we have to be extra careful

to take the parts out
in the correct order.

Yeah, there it is.

Whooo!

This is one of the biggest
nose landing gears

ever installed on a plane.

But there was
more to its innovation

than just size.

One thing you almost never see
when an airplane lands

is a blow-out.

Think about it.

These tires
are hitting the tarmac

at 170 miles an hour,

carrying the weight
of a small office building,

and they nail it every time.

When the 747 touches down,

the wheels must accelerate
from zero to 150 miles an hour

in a heartbeat,

making them skid
before they start to spin.

That's why they smoke
on touchdown.

That friction causes heat
to build inside the wheel,

creating the risk
of an explosion,

which is never good
on an airplane.

So, the 747's tires
are filled with nitrogen,

an inert gas,

which unlike oxygen,
won't aid combustion.

That helps protect the plane
from blow-outs

and keep landings safe.

♪

Here in the dog house,

you can get an idea of how fast
those tires are spinning

after takeoff.

It's definitely
pretty tight in here,

a lot of tire dust,
rubber dust,

because when these tires are
spinning right off the ground,

they're still spinning
when it comes up,

and they hit these stop plates
at the top,

that's just like
a friction stop on it,

and that's where all this
rubber is from, grease.

It's a pretty dirty area
up here.

We're finally ready
to pull the whole thing off,

but it's going to take
brute force.

So, the last section
of the nose landing gear

is this huge section right here,

and this is when we call
for the big breaker bar.

Back it up..

I've worked on a lot
of machines before.

But when you need three guys
and a 6 1/2-foot breaker bar,

you know you're dealing
with some serious bolts.

All clear!

Chad: Looks good on this side.

Man: You've successfully
removed the landing gear.

Chad: That was awesome!

With the landing gear removed
from the front of the plane,

there's now another
valuable part to take out,

all the way at the back.

It's the 747's fifth engine,

the auxiliary power unit.

It's a small
but crucial feature.

There it is.

The apu.

It'll take most of the day,

but it's definitely coming out.

So basically,

I think the way
to think of the apu

is basically like
your battery for the car.

The battery is what gives your
power to the car to start it.

The apu is used to power
the 747's electronics

and air conditioning

and to start up its engines.

But when you're dealing
with something like jet engines,

you got to have a lot of power
to kick-start the jet engines,

so to speak.

The apu puts out
1,800 horsepower,

which gets
the jet engines turning.

Just like them,
it's still valuable for resale.

Hayley: It's basically
everything

that's connected to it,
just disconnect.

It's not that difficult.

There's some duct work up top

that I'll have to crawl
on top of to get out,

which is always fun.

Chad: How come you're doing that
instead of Paul?

Well, I think you can tell.

Paul: It's a little harder
for me to squeeze in there.

Chad: We need
to be ready to remove

the last pieces connecting
the apu to the tail,

which means we need to be ready
to support it.

So right now,
we're positioning the pads

to get underneath
the structural part of the apu.

Once we get that
all squared away,

we're going to lift up
a little bit higher

to take the load off,

and then we can undo
the bolts at the top.

It's a good thing
Hayley is kind of small

because there's not
a lot of room up there.

So we took off the three nuts
that were holding this on,

and now it's just
the upward pressure of our stand

that's holding it there,

and the plan is that we're going
to slowly bring it down,

and we gotta make sure it's
coming down at the same angle,

'cause you don't want it to
get caught on one of the posts.

So, the challenge is
we have this exhaust duct,

it's about 2 feet in diameter,

and we got to make sure that
when this thing's coming down

that it's not getting hung up
on the part of the exhaust duct

that's staying attached
to the plane.

And it looks like it might be
getting hung up up there,

so we're gonna double check.

We've got about 1,500 pounds
of apu right here.

The problem is that the apu,
when it's up there,

it's not squared
with the ground,

so you gotta
tilt down, back down,

tilt down, back down,
like this,

all the way down, inch by inch,

and a big reach fork like this

isn't used to moving
inch by inch.

Whooo!

Hayley: Yeah!

Chad: Man!

Like all the other parts
we've taken off the 747,

that apu is now ready to be sold
and installed in a new aircraft.

After years of development
and setbacks,

boeing now had an aircraft

that could change the way
we travel forever.

But it also had
a sound financial argument.

A fully loaded 747 could cut
the cost of flying a passenger

in half.

More passengers meant more money
for the airlines.

The economics were undeniable.

Over the next ten years,

four major airlines

ordered almost 600 new planes
between them.

Boeing was saved from ruin.

And the 747 ushered in a new
golden age of jet travel,

now on its way to becoming
an aviation icon.

Eight weeks into
the disassembly of this 747,

we've removed the engines,
the seats,

and the cabin interior.

We've removed
the flaps from the wing

and taken off the landing gear.

Now, the final innovation
I want to uncover

is the plane's nerve center--
its cockpit and avionics bay.

Wow!

The cockpit of the 747.

Now, this is the spot.

If I could have any job
in aviation,

it would be right here,

the captain.

So, I'm excited to meet
a very special 747 pilot.

In 1980, Lynn rippelmeyer

made the remarkable leap

from flight attendant

to become the first
female pilot of a 747.

So how does it feel

to be back in the cockpit
of a 747?

It's fantastic.

This is my favorite baby.

Chad: Was it?
Lynn: Yeah, it really was

Chad: I can't imagine that
there's many flight attendants

that made their way
all the way up to captain

of a huge plane like this.

What was that like?

Lynn: My main job,

being the most junior one
on the airplane,

was to serve the cockpit.

To not have to listen
to the lousy jokes,

I started asking questions
about the cockpit,

and I'd get to sit
in that jump seat.

I started learning
about flying

and the airplane in general,

and I got addicted.

I think it's
the closest explanation.

It's just where I wanted to be
and what I wanted to be doing,

so I spent the summer
taking lessons,

and then I heard

that the airlines decided
women could fly airplanes!

Chad: That was in 1973.

Lynn would go on to become
an aviation pioneer.

But today, still only 3%
of commercial airline pilots

are women.

Of all the planes you've flown,

what made you feel
so attracted to the 747,

or why did this become
your favorite plane to fly?

Lynn: I guess
because it's so big,

it was stable.

Of course, the 74,

you've got a redundant system

for every engine
that you've got,

so the more engines you have,
the more redundancy you have.

So for the 74, you've got
four backups to everything--

to the hydraulics,
the electrics, the pneumatics.

Best workplace,
best office I can imagine,

you know,
7 miles above the ground.

Kind of sad that
it's the last time, you know,

um, but I guess there's always
got to be a last time.

Chad: When Lynn
first sat in this cockpit,

there were over 900
lights, gauges, and switches.

They output so much
technical information

that a dedicated
flight engineer was needed.

But all that
was about to change.

By 1982, the innovations
the 747 pioneered

were being used
on other, newer planes,

and sales of the 747
began to dip.

Boeing responded
by reinventing their icon,

giving it even more
efficient engines,

stronger, lighter alloys
for the wings,

carbon brakes
for the landing gear,

and a brand-new avionics system

to control
the new and improved plane.

Today, all the hardware
in this aircraft

is still state-of-the-art.

And will and I
are going to remove it

so it can be sold and reused.

Avionics components
are highly sensitive,

so we have to wear
special gloves

to protect the devices

from any static charge
we could be carrying.

These look a little thin.

Are they warmer
than my gloves here?

Will: No, they're not
anywhere close

to warmer than these gloves,

but they do protect a $30,000
or $40,000 component for sure.

This part that we
pull out of this aircraft

could end up on a plane
that your family is on.

Chad: Gotcha.

Will: So, I always keep that
in mind. It helps me.

Chad: That gives it perspective.

Will: Yeah, yeah.
Chad: All right, let's do it.

One by one, we take out
the cockpits' gauges and dials,

navigation units,

fuel controls,

engine monitors--

each one still worth
thousands of dollars.

One and done.

So, this looks like
it's the no-joke box right here.

Evac with a special red cap.

Will: That would mean

to please proceed quietly
to the nearest exit.

Chad: Man.

Will: Go ahead
and just pull that out.

Chad: All right, last piece.
Here we go.

Will: Let's do it.

Chad: Ok.

Cool. Glad to see it
all getting reused.

Will: Yeah. Definitely.
Definitely.

From nose to tail, most
everything on these aircraft

are reusable in some way.

Chad: Yeah.

♪

Chad: The avionics
in the cockpit

are just the start.

The whole plane is wired

to allow computerized control
of every system,

from tip to tail.

In a 300-foot-long plane,

that's over 170 miles
of cabling.

I'm climbing
into the avionics bay.

It was created by partitioning
off part of the cargo hold

and filling it
with computer hardware,

to handle that
digital information

coming from
all over the plane.

So, all the control systems,
from the wings,

the fuselage,
the passenger systems,

engines...

Everything is basically
processed in this area,

and then the information
that the pilots need

is sent up to the cockpit.

All right, so we need esd gloves
for this one?

Man, I'm gonna feel
like a brain surgeon

taking these things out.

Clinton: What we'll do first
is you'll just take these knobs

and you'll just loosen them
to a certain point,

and you'll feel it
get really free. Yeah.

Chad: And then it just
slides out?

Clinton: Yeah, just slide out.

Chad: It's just like
the cockpit.

Clinton: Yeah.

Chad: Now, I've done
my fair share

of engineering wiring diagrams,

but nothing would compare

to the one of the avionics bay
of a 747.

This one coming out?

Clinton: Yeah, that one's
coming out as well.

Chad: That's kind of cool.

So you don't need to have
someone in the cockpit

to do the checks.

Clinton: Radioing down
to do checks as well.

Chad: Got it.

Clinton: I'll go take these
and put them in the bin.

Chad: Ok.

Wherever you are on the 747,

there's something new
to discover.

Who knew the cockpit
was equipped with one of these?

Whoa!

Will: Aircraft crash axe.

Chad: No way.

Will: Yeah. They keep these
on every aircraft

in case of emergency,

if you need to
get out of the aircraft,

or a zombie apocalypse
or whatever the case may be.

There's an escape hatch here.

There's ropes
inside this compartment,

inside that compartment there.

You'll escape
out of the access hole,

the hatch on top of the cockpit,

and you will rappel.

Film narrator: Let your knees
bend on touchdown.

Chad: James Bond's
got nothing on us.

Will: James Bond!

Chad: Wow!

Ha ha ha!

Whoo!

It's really high up here.

Saved the best for last?

Will: Yeah, we saved
the best for last,

pilot and co-pilot seats.

Chad: Ok.

These seats
are the final connection

to the men and women
who flew this plane.

Ok.

By the mid-1980s,

the 747 could be flown
by just two flight crew--

a pilot and a co-pilot--

while its new
fuel-efficient engines

promised savings
of a million dollars a year.

These were savings
the industry couldn't ignore.

20 major airlines placed orders
for 700 more planes,

keeping the 747 in production
for the next 25 years.

During its years of service,

it flew more than
3.5 billion passengers.

That's almost half
the world's population.

But now, its golden era is over.

The fleet is being replaced

by more fuel-efficient
two-engine designs.

♪

This has been an incredible
journey we've been on.

You know, we started
with the 747 fully functional,

landing here on the airstrip.

And then piece by piece,
part by part,

we took it apart,

and, and now
we end up with this,

which is, you know, it's really
end of a legacy, the 747.

All that's left now
is the aluminum hull.

That can be torn apart
and recycled.

This high-value metal
will be sold,

melted down,

and transformed.

Next time you have
a can of soda or a beer,

you could be drinking from
a piece of aviation history.

It was a design
unlike any other...

That began a new era
in jet travel

by offering long-distance
flights to the masses.

But which almost destroyed
the company that created it...

Only to prove that a giant plane
made commercial sense

and fly for 50 years.

The golden age of the 747
may be over,

but it lives on in the parts
installed on other planes

and in the legacy
it leaves behind.

My time spent on the 747
has been inspiring.

For the last four months,

we've taken apart a piece

of history bolt by bolt.

We've been given total access
to its engineering marvel

and amazing design.

And I've learned
that without a doubt,

the 747 has lived up

to its iconic reputation.

♪