Here's Why The Boeing 757 Got The Nickname 'atari Ferrari'

InsectWorld/Shutterstock

There's thing slick, almost double-o-seven Bond-like, astir Boeing's 7X7 naming convention. It's clean, consistent, and sounds cool coming disconnected nan radio. But successful a world afloat of nicknames and telephone signs, fewer jets wore their moniker for illustration a badge of grant rather for illustration nan Boeing 757. Pilots called it nan "Atari Ferrari", a long, thin narrow-body rider pitchy pinch nan capacity of a sports car and conscionable capable '80s tech to make it consciousness futuristic astatine nan aforesaid time.

What made nan nickname instrumentality wasn't conscionable nan performance, though nan level could perfectly haul. The 757's copy Rolls-Royce aliases Pratt & Whitney engines delivered awesome takeoff thrust and climb performance, helped by their commendable thrust-power ratio. Combine that pinch a formation platform that introduced immoderate of Boeing's first computer-controlled systems, hence nan famous Atari gaming institution reference, and you had a level that demanded respect and delivered thrills. If Super Sprint ever dropped a DLC pinch the eventual analog car, nan Ferrari F40, and a jetliner, nan 757 would've been it, and that would've been highest '80s beatified trinity of horsepower, microchips, and aviation.

Kevin Carter/Getty Images

Given that Ferrari arsenic a marque is inspirational capable for moreover nan seven-time F1 world champion, Lewis Hamilton, to navigator up a modern type of nan '80s supercar, the "Ferrari" portion of nan 757's nickname comes easy –– nan 757 was a performer. Its engines gave it immoderate superior grunt, moreover touted arsenic overpowered for nan plane's size. That made takeoffs from short runways imaginable and a brisk matter astatine that. From FedEx to Air Force Two, everyone loved nan 757's chaotic climbing ability, blasting skyward astatine 6,000 feet per infinitesimal and cruising astatine 42,000 feet astatine 80% nan velocity of sound, for illustration it was trying to outrun its ain formation plan.

The "Atari" part? That came from nan formation deck. The 757 was 1 of Boeing's first craft pinch a solid cockpit, swapping retired analog steam gauges for cathode ray conduit screens and integer readouts. Compared to nan old-school dials that pilots were utilized to, nan large-format show strategy [LDS] connected nan 757 looked for illustration it was borrowed from a spaceship, still primitive by today's standards, but groundbreaking for nan time. Between nan velocity and nan caller tech, flying a 757 felt much for illustration gaming than piloting a jetliner.

Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images

The 757 wasn't conscionable a deed pinch pilots; it earned emotion from galore airlines, too. Its unsocial operation of range, power, and ratio meant it could run connected short location hops aliases agelong its legs crossed nan Atlantic. Boeing sold complete a 1000 of them earlier accumulation ended successful 2004, and galore are still flying coming – one has moreover been converted into a fire-fighting monster.

Pilots loved calling nan Boeing 757 nan "sports car" of nan skies, but that nickname wasn't for its fighter-jet-like maneuverability. In truth, its handling isn't flashy. It's much composed, smooth, and neutral. The much hours that pilots logged, nan much they appreciated what nan 757 really was: a neutral, balanced, and stubbornly bully craft erstwhile it came to doing conscionable astir everything.

The nickname "Atari Ferrari" suits nan 757 because it was precisely that –– a fast, responsive, somewhat temperamental instrumentality wrapped successful early integer flair. It might've been hauling visitors to Florida, but successful nan cockpit, it was thing overmuch much fun. Much for illustration over-modding your sports car, Boeing recovered that "too much" wasn't successful its dictionary astatine nan time.