Joe Sutter, ‘Father Of The 747,’ Dies At 95

http://aviationweek.com/commercial-aviation/joe-sutter-father-747-dies-95


Joe Sutter, ‘Father Of The 747,’ Dies At 95

Aug 30, 2016 Guy Norris | Aviation Week & Space Technology

LOS ANGELES—Joe Sutter, dubbed “Father of the 747” by the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, has died. He was 95. The cause of death was not revealed.

As the former chief engineer of Boeing’s 747 program, Sutter is credited with leading the development of the first widebody aircraft, which ushered in the globe-shrinking age of mass air travel.
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Sutter will be best remembered, however, for leading the design of the 747 from 1965 onwards. It was Sutter who led the design away from the initial concepts of full-length double decker to the very wide single deck with twin aisles—the first widebody. The cross-section, which was large enough to seat 10 passengers across with two aisles, was drawn around the space required to accommodate two freight pallets on the main deck.

At the time, with supersonic aircraft on the drawing board in Europe and the U.S., the 747 was expected to be used more as a freighter than as a passenger airliner. The decision to make the new aircraft capable of carrying cargo also led to the positioning of the flight deck above the main deck, creating the 747’s famous humped upper deck.
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Sutter also served on the presidential commission which investigated the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986, and continued to work as a consultant to Boeing. He was closely involved with further developments of the 747, such as the 747-400 and 747-8, and for many years continued to visit airlines and discuss their future requirements, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.