What plane has a hump on top?
Almost always a Boeing 747: the hump is its upper deck, with the cockpit at the front. If the whole top of the plane bulges, it's an outsize freighter like the Airbus BelugaXL or Boeing Dreamlifter. A 747 with a second bump behind its hump is an E-4B.
The Boeing 747
The hump is the 747’s upper deck. The cockpit sits up there, at the front, with seats or crew rest behind it. Boeing put the cockpit on top so freighter versions could have a nose that swings open for loading straight through the front. That decision gave the 747 the most recognizable shape in the sky.
The hump’s length tells you the version. The early 747-100 and -200 have a short hump. The 747-300 and -400 stretched it further back, and the 747-8 is longer still. The 747SP is a shortened 747 with a taller tail, which makes its hump look huge for the size of the plane. Very few still fly, mostly as engine testbeds and research aircraft, like the Pratt & Whitney 747SP.
The Airbus BelugaXL
The BelugaXL carries Airbus aircraft parts, like whole wings and fuselage sections, between factories. It’s built from an A330, with the cockpit lowered beneath a giant cargo bay, so the “hump” is the entire top of the plane, from just behind the nose to the tail. The front of the bay swings up to load. Six were built, and they’re painted with eyes and a smile. The original Beluga ST, built from the smaller A300, has handed most of Airbus’s own work to the XL. Meet the Beluga fleet.
The Boeing Dreamlifter
Boeing’s answer to the Beluga. The Dreamlifter is one of four 747-400s converted to carry 787 parts between factories. You can still see the 747’s hump and cockpit at the front, then the fuselage swells into a huge cargo hold behind it. The whole tail section swings open to load. More on the Dreamlifter.
The Super Guppy
NASA’s Super Guppy is the oldest idea on this list: a bulbous cargo hold built onto parts of a Boeing C-97 Stratocruiser, with four turboprops. Its nose hinges open 110 degrees so outsize cargo, like rocket and spacecraft sections, can roll straight in. It’s based at Ellington Field near Houston and turns up wherever NASA needs something big moved. See the Super Guppy.
The E-4B: a hump on a hump
The E-4B Nightwatch is a military 747-200, painted white with a blue stripe. Look for a second bump on top, just behind the upper deck: it holds a satellite antenna. There are four, flown by the US Air Force as airborne command posts, and they’re better known as the Doomsday Plane.
The A380 is not a hump
The A380 has two decks, but the upper one runs the full length of the plane, so the whole fuselage is tall rather than humped. Two complete rows of windows from nose to tail mean A380. A hump that stops partway back means 747. More Boeing-or-Airbus tells.
How to tell them apart
- Hump behind the cockpit, four engines, airline paint: a 747.
- Short body, tall tail, big hump: a 747SP.
- Whole top bulges, low cockpit, two engines, a smile: a BelugaXL.
- 747 nose with a giant body behind it: a Dreamlifter.
- Bulbous body, four propellers: the Super Guppy.
- White 747 with a second bump on top: an E-4B.
All of these have four engines except the Belugas. Here’s every four-engine plane you’re likely to see.
