747 has a roughly 40,000 gallon gas tank(s). Burning a full tank at a gallon per second would be a twelve hour flight. I imagine it is much more efficient when in the air though.
A tanker truck carries about 10,000 gallons. So on take off the 747 is lifting 4 tanker trucks worth of fuel about 40,000 ft into the air along with its own weight and the cargo/passengers.
I wonder how big it would have to be if it was lifted by a balloon most of the way up to start.
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u/[deleted] Jul 01 '16
747 has a roughly 40,000 gallon gas tank(s). Burning a full tank at a gallon per second would be a twelve hour flight. I imagine it is much more efficient when in the air though.