"Big Ol'" Is Not Well Defined

Very sad to discover that a Boeing 707 is bigger than I thought it was


This is especially shocking, because Jeremy's actually really really good with random plane knowledge, for whatever reason.  Of course, what prompted this to become a Sametime Status is a different matter entirely.  


I had a great idea planned for today's Sametime Status.  It was going to be the next installment in the popular series of Silly People posts.  You would have loved it.  The idea came to me not long ago while listening to the Steve Miller Band's song "Jet Airliner."  The chorus makes repeated reference to a "Big ol' jet airliner," as you're probably familiar.  This is all well and good, until later, Steve specifies the airliner in question by singing, "...as I get on the 707."  This made me think, "Gee...the 707 isn't a very big jet airliner.  Silly Steve Miller."  

After a little fact checking, something which is in Sadly Short Supply On The Internets, I discovered to my total chagrin, that a Boeing 707 is actually a reasonably large plane.  It's not huge, and certainly far from the largest thing in the sky (truth be told, Boeing hasn't produced any 707s in 21 years, and there aren't many still in the sky, but that's beside the point entirely), but compared to what I thought a 707 was, it's pretty big ol'.  My bad, Steve Miller Band.  

While there were several variations on the Boeing 707 design, most of the aircraft were around 145 feet long.  This pales in comparison to a 747 (a decidedly big ol' jet airliner), which has a length between 231 and 250 feet, depending on the model.  It it, however, considerably longer than what most would consider a small airliner, a base model McDonnell-Douglas DC-9, which measures 104 feet.  The 707 is capable of holding between 104 and 229 people on board.  Again, somewhere in between a DC-9 (max 139), and the 747 (mid-400s up to 660 passengers).  So, to reprimand Steve Miller for calling a 707 a "Big ol' jet airliner" appears to have been in error.  Fortunately, it never made it to Sametime Status form.  What a mess that would have been.  Instead, you get this story and some fun airplane facts.  Lucky you!