Leviathans of the Sky

A new Boeing 747 is brought to term at the Boeing facility in Everett, Washington, once every six days. This sleek, ungainly creation, whose survival was once uncertain, now rules the world of transoceanic airline travel. In its latest adaptation—as the 747-400, which can travel nonstop with ease from New York to Tokyo—it seems destined to become the beast of burden of the Pacific century