And let's never forget TWA Flight 800. Hundreds of eyewitnesses -- from the sky, from the water, from the land -- all said the same thing: there was this reddish flare that went straight up from the surface, there was a big explosion, then raining, burning debris. No, no, no said the FBI and CIA -- together! The mind's a tricky thing!! What you actually saw was first the explosion, then the raining, burning debris.
Well, say those witnesses, say what you will, but I still say...
No cause was ever established for the explosion -- first time ever. But modifications were made, they say -- but how can you make modifications without determining cause?
Speaking of which: what modifications did architects and engineers make to the building of steel skyscrapers after three collapsed the same day, where none had before?
See Boeing?
malvernthenovel.com
3
My dad flew for United and made the jump from the DC-8's he had been flying to the 747 as soon as it joined the fleet in 1969 until he retired in 1987. He told me later learning to fly it was the hardest thing he ever did. In his office, he had a full mock-up of the cockpit with giant posters replicating all the various control panels and a bunch of binders full of all the technical stuff.
He thought it was the greatest plane ever. A dream to fly.
3
This is a wonderful tribute to an amazing aircraft and if you enjoyed it as much as I did, you will love Mark's book,Skyfaring.
My husband and I both got caught up in his explanations of exactly what incredible things transpire while we passengers are sleeping or deleting emails on our iPads! He has a true love of flight and makes you, the passenger, appreciate how amazing it really is.
I love I love these human stories of memory, reflection, and history. I suspect that if we all wrote and talked and read and listened, we would have more community
2
My childhood passion for flight is a big part of what sent me to my early career in the Air Force as a maintainer on F-15's. Thereafter in college, I earned my electrical engineering degree focussing in control systems. My senior design project: a flight controller for drone autopilot.
I now work at a job where international travel is nearly certain. Having never had the opportunity to fly on a 747 to date, I very much hope that I will before they are retired. Second only to my time pulling engines and crawling the intakes of supersonic fighter jets, it's at the top of 10-year-old me's bucket list.
My first flight in a 747 was one from L.A. to Honolulu as part of the father-daughter trip that took us to visiting Tokyo, Okinawa, and Taipei, Taiwan - where the two of us had the chance to meet his Chinese former wingmen from his WW2 14th Army Air Forces days.
I was 14 at the time. And, sadly, one of the last truly shared experiences of our relationship - since just a few years later, he received a TBI during a car crash on the I-405 in L.A.
While the trip to Hawai'i wasn't particularly memorable, certainly the flight back from Tokyo to L.A. was. There was a Japanese tour group that was on that flight - and a large number of group had hit the duty-free store for alcohol before embarking on the plane. The main cabin was completely packed.
I remember the flight attendants spending most of the flight trying to corral the passengers who'd - in multiple groups of 3 or 4 - get up, wander around the cabin, sharing drinks with friends. As soon as the flight attendants had gotten one or two groups returned to the seats, another 3 groups would take the place of those returned to their seats.
All evening long.
Same flight, same plane, leaving Honolulu after we had gone through Customs? Probably no more that 15-20 passenger in the main cabin heading for L.A.
While the flight in the '47 was memorable, so was the leg of the trip flying Space-A from Honolulu to Okinawa on the troop deck of a C-5 Galaxy. It was dead-heading back to the Far East to return more troops home.
From watching 747s fly over on their way to or from nearby JFK to my first flight on one to seeing a 747 go over our house with the Space Shuttle Enterprise on her back, I've always been awed by this plane. Time marches on, but a world with fewer of these elegant giants seems to me a world diminished.
2
It’s fascinating to remember that the Americans were not willing to pay the tremendous sums necessary to build an equivalent of the British/French Concorde and instead invested in the jumbo sized, mass haul carrier the 747, still in commercial use nearly 50 years later.
I remember the first time I saw a 747. it was landing at Dallas Love Field, coming in from the North crossing Northwest Highway and Bachman lake. The size made it seem painfully slow, as if it might decide to pancake the highway.
It didn't of course. It's scale forced me to re-imagine what it was to see a plane, to understand it and appreciate it.
A beautiful moment.
1
My first 747 was a KLM flight from Amsterdam Schiphol to JFK in September of 1983. My late husband and I were coming to the US as twenty-something grad students from Sri Lanka. We were seated close to a group of older American travellers. When the plane touched down the runway at JFK, everyone applauded. That moment is etched in my mind. Since then, we had kids, successful carriers, and unfortunately my husband passed away couple years ago. We have flown on 747s many times after that. But that first one remained the most memorable one.
1
During my time living in Singapore, I have been lucky to usually fly one of Delta's 747s home for holidays back home, from Tokyo to Detroit. These are indeed elegant metal birds.
After saving my frequent flyer miles for almost 10 years, I was able to fly once in the upper deck business class. What a wonderful experience, and I was lucky to do so before the plane's retirement this year.
All that said, the new A350s look great too!
1
Captain Mark Vanhoenacker's wonderful essay, "The 747's Final Approach" practically commands me to tell my story of piloting a 747.
I'm a 95-year old former Naval Aviator, U.S. Marine Corps, 1944, and now, a retired Captain. Back then, I had 1300 hours "stick time" on single and twin-engine bombers. In 1985 while working for Scientific American and flying from London to JFK on BOAC - first class, first row on a 747, the plane had reached 31,999 feet altitude, was cruising at 450 mph, when the captain came down from his cockpit to mingle with his passengers. The captain greeted me. "Ah, Mr. Kirby," And how are you enjoying the flight?"
Very much, Captain, always, with British pilots. I taught them at Pensacola during the war."
"I say!" Would you care to take my seat for a while?"
I don't remember saying "yes" or "thank you" only rushed upstairs to the cockpit where he introduced me to the two co-pilots and flight engineer. Warmly welcomed, the first officer gestured to the captain's seat. The control wheel was locked. The co-pilot laughed saying, "Go ahead, break it. You know how."
First I turned 15 degrees right, then settled back to altitude at 31,000. The cockpit crew smiled approval and applauded gently.
I was startled by how easily the plane responded to all controls, like one of our old fighters. Barely touching the controls the 747 moved more easily than a baby stroller. My old students were now the masters.
John Kirby, Kentfield, CA
5
I remember my first flight on a 747 - Newark to Los Angeles. First Class was jammed full but there were only about a dozen people scattered about in Coach. I watched in amusement as a Flight Attendant took a box of cello wrapped muffins and opened them up and put them in a basket for the First Class passengers. The same unwrapped muffins ended up on the Coach meal trays. A Flight Attendant came over to me and asked if I would like to be really comfortable and asked me to move out of my seat for a moment. She seemed to unlatch each of the 4 seatbacks and reclined them so they were almost touching the seat behind. She them got a bunch of blankets and pillows and set me up with the most comfortable daybed I could ever imagine. She gave me a headset and told me she would bring out a couple of breakfasts and leave them on the trays so I could eat them at my leisure. Here I was in Coach traveling like a Sultan while the folk up in First Class were all clamoring for service. Great Experience!
2
In 2014 I flew on an Air New Zealand 747 from Auckland to SFO. What a wonderful experience! We paid for a Premium Economy seat, and sat upstairs, where there was a mix of First Class and Premium Economy, under 40 passengers in all. We had our own 3-person cabin crew, and the flight was nothing short of memorable. I see that Air New Zealand is now longer flying the 747. We will miss it.
1
My husband Joe was with Continental Airlines, and when the company started flying 747s, an open house was held at LAX so everyone could see (and board) this wondrous machine. Our first flight on one was to Hawaii, our first time there, and I will never forget the first class experience and the lounge on the upper deck.
Joe and I were life-long plane watchers, having spent many hours watching the planes come and go at Stapleton from the top of a lovers’ lane hill (no, really!) Then we did the same at LAX when we moved to L.A. We took along our children, who loved the activity as much as we did.
We went to Vandenberg Air Base to watch the 747 bring in the Shuttle on its back. We breathlessly watched the first flight of the Pan Am to London 747 barely lift off the end of the runway. We were on the first flight of the Robert F. Six 747, and when the pilot greased it onto the runway, everyone on board applauded. As you can see, I too will forever miss this wonderful plane.
2
Wonderful article. I also remember the sense of awe and wonder felt the 1st time I boarded a 747. I predict it will live on in cultural references for centuries to come.
2
Isn't this talk about the 747 going into retirement just a little bit premature? Yes the 400 series is reaching the end of it's days in passenger service, but the 800I series has not long entered service and will probably be in service for about another 15 years. OK it hasn't sold in the extensive numbers that the 400 did but it will still be around for a while yet.
As for the cargo versions they could still be on the go in 30+ years time
2
1968 in grade school. I was doing a show-and-tell on the introduction of this plane. It was awe-inspiring for a nine-year old. I know the world was flying apart then - TET, the assassinations, and a thousand other things - but, for a child, it felt as though anything was possible, at many levels. Aside from what seemed magical about the cultural happenings of the day, the technology front was giddying. We were about to go to the moon. This tremendous, beautiful plane was coming down the pike and, maybe, one day, I might get to ride in it. It felt as though anything was possible. This is, I might add, in contrast to today's dark climate. My first flight was in a 707, but I do remember my first 747. I flew coach. It was great, but air travel was all so different back then. People dressed up. You could walk to the gate. It really was better in those days. I also remember - way back when I smoked - that the last plane I ever smoked a cigarette on was a 747, and that smoking section was pretty foul-smelling. It's an iconic plane and, if we survive as a technological culture, people will one day see the occasional one flying and marvel, just as I do when I still see the occasional DC-3.
2
Sharp dudes flying Boeings loosened up the drug lord Adolph's defences in the 1940s to help rescue my father. By the 1990s he had flown over a million miles as a passenger, mostly on 747s. I did not spend as much airtime on them, but did have hundreds of flights in 747s since the mid '70s. Thank you to the designers, engineers, factory workers, many great pilots, aircrews and ground crews of the 747. You made a transport utility provide joy, discovery, rest, perspective, business growth and pleasure.
1
Accompanied my dad to JFK circa 1969 for his first 747 flight. As a ten year old, after looking at the 747 next to a 707 I advised him to not get on. It was "too big to fly" I said.
3
What an excellent and nostalgic article, the 747 has been the iconic queen of the skis for all but nine years of my lifetime. It's demise as a passenger plane is truly as sad moment and an era ending event, no different than the Space Shuttle and the Concord.
One important note of detail, the U.S. per say as the article describes, isn't retiring anything, Delta and United, the last two US operators of 747s in passenger service are retiring THEIR airplanes. Subtle, but important. The U.S. doesn't control these things, the companies make these choices for their own business reasons that meet their stockholders needs make these choices!
6
But the 747 is not being retired. The -800i only entered passenger service a year or two ago.
Yes the -400 is being phased out of service by many carriers, but the -800 lives on
1
How about the part where 747s don’t fall out of the sky. Compared to other planes, both Boeing and Airbus, they have been fantastic. 747s crash when people screw up or do it deliberately (possible exception TWA 800 fuel tank defect). Also, how about what plane carried space shuttles on it’s back from where they landed to where they had to go to take off again. Remarakable aircraft.
6
It would be great if the airline industry would design a new generation of planes that the average traveler would find comfortable and enjoyable, not just first class and business class travelers.
I'm sure there are lots of good ideas out there, from travelers and designers both.
3
There are lots of designs with thinner seat backs and unusual seating position, but the bottom line is the bottom line. Air travel in coach is uncomfortable because it is affordable. Comfort means space means fewer seats means dollars.
The airline that solves that problem will be the most profitable.
2
My first 747 flight was TWA in coach -- don't remember to where. Comfortable seats with plenty of legroom, good meals served on real plates, amiable flight attendants. Today, you have to be in Business or First to get that -- and pay a huge premium.
3
My first international flight was a non-stop from Chicago to Athens on a Boeing 707. I recommend the 747.
The most unusual 747 I ever flew on was a KLM freighter with about 15 rows of seats in the front. Imagine my surprise, getting on the plane at the front and finding out that the front was all there was. I thought I was in an Ernie Kovacs television program.
1
My last flights on a 747 was Air France round trip MIA - Paris first class (miles, mind you). It was wonderful. The food was superb, as was the Port according to my husband. Comfortable and smooth. Unbeknownst to us it was our last special trip, but part of all the memories of it was that wonderful 747.
3
"The jet remains a go-to synonym for aerial enormity, one that a “Game of Thrones” director recently deployed to suggest the dimensions of a dragon."
noun: enormity; plural noun: enormities
1. the great or extreme scale, seriousness, or extent of something perceived as bad or morally wrong.
So, depending on whether or not one liked dragons, one might speak of one's enormity. But nobody will speak of the "enormity" of a Boeing 747 in my hearing.
When I flew regularly between NY and SFO (TWA red-eye that left SF at 11 pm and arrived at Kennedy at 6 am) 747s weren't flying domestically and TWA didn't fly them at all, as I recall. Instead TWA featured the Lockheed 1011 Tri-star, which was also a wide-body and for frequent flyers like myself the preferred airliner for two reasons: 1) the introduction of a "business class" section of sumptuous, capacious leather seats; 2) a cabin air filter that was always on that vastly improved air quality.
TWA featured Wilt Chamberlain in its ads for the 1011's business class section to show-off the incredible leg room and massive leather thrones that tilted back far enough to be a plausible bed for 6 hours of reasonably sound sleep. The best part was TWA's frequent flyer policy of upgrades, which because of the large 32 seat business class, meant for coach fare a near certain upgrade on red-eyes.
But it was the cabin air filter on the 1011s that made the big difference on coast to coast flights. Lockheed had designed the air packs so they were on for the entire flight and not controlled by the pilot. The air quality was superb.
When it was introduced, the 1011 featured advanced technology that pilots raved about, which included being the first passenger jet certified to land with zero visibility.
747s were iconic but L1011s were the "Queens of the Fleet" between NY and SF.
I absolutely loved the 1011. On one flight from SFO to JFK we were diverted to and landed at Dulles because of bad weather. We were served bubbly and got to talk with the pilot and his colleagues with exterior doors open for air. It was fabulous. The 1011 was a great aircraft.
But the 747 will always be the Queen for me.
My family traveled often to Europe in the smaller Boeings when I was a child. I still have my PanAm Junior Pilot wings. When the 747 was launched it seemed impossible it could stay aloft. One of my all time favourite smells is jet fuel lingering over the tarmac. The smell of freedom and adventure.
1
Yes. Perhaps because I have never had to fly frequently on business, and have avoided short domestic flights since the advent of the current security unpleasantness, air travel -- hopefully, international -- has never lost its sense of romantic adventure for me, and just smelling the jet fuel as I approach an airport transports me.
1
I'll likely be the odd man out here. The B747 was indeed an impressive engineering and esthetic accomplishment, but having been rated (qualified) in five different large jet transports, it was never my favorite. I was flying the Lockheed L-1011 when I went to 747 - and went back to it after a year on the 747. To me, the L10 was a much sweeter flying airplane as well as being every bit as well, or better, engineered.
For pure beauty I believe the Airbus A340 is the most gorgeous plane in the sky, but another 4-engined anachronism on its way to retirement.
But from a pilot's perspective for all around versatility and flying qualities the old workhorse B727 will always be #1 in my book among jet transports. I had the pleasure of flying it in both scheduled and charter service, everything from semi-transcontinental flights to shoe-horning it into small general aviation airports...magnificent airplane.
I'm with you on the A340. I recently flew the new A340-600 to Munich and just loved it... quiet and beautiful. That said, from a passenger's perspective the 727 always had stale air, sometimes even mixed with exhaust smells.
I recall the billboard I saw as I drove into Manhattan around 1970: "At 6 pm a beautiful place leaves for Los Angeles." It was referring, of course, to a 747.
2
Brings back nice memories of a KLM flight on a 747 from Amsterdam to Sydney, via Dubai and Singapore. I was on my way to Fiji, a new Foreign Service posting. KLM kindly upgraded me because of the long journey. I was upstairs in their "quiet zone" and saw many films and had many meal trays decorated with an orchid and Delft ceramic tiles. The crew were wonderful.
What I love most about the plane is its resemblance to a giant graceful bird because of the bump of its head. Maybe I could get a seat on the 747 cargo planes?
7
Fret not Lufthansa have only recently introduced the 800 series into passenger service, so the 747 won't be gone for a while yet.
My first 747 flight was Boston to Zurich, for a Swiss ski trip. Swiss Air, and we sat upstairs (in coach!). Flying on a 747 for my first trip to continental Europe was a real treat. I still like flying though Detroit, and walking by gates A38-40 where the Delta Jumbo Jets await their next trip to Asia. They are beautiful to behold.
1
Sept 1976 BOS to SFO to HNL and then back on United. I fell in love with flying. It was a city in the sky with all the room. Menu cards in coach. I was hooked.
Most fun 747 flight was Oct 1984. Flying TWA from JFK to BOS. They were just moving the plane there and we lucked out. Maybe 100 passengers spread out in all that space. I still choose to sometimes fly from AMS to BOS via LHR because BA flies a 747 on that route.
Lovely article!
3
Lovely day yesterday, bicycling the flight line at PDX. F-15s roaring off the field, but then a 747 freighter made its stately lift off and slow turn before heading across the Pacific. Both magnificent planes.
1
This article brought back memories of when air travel was glamorous, comfortable, and luxurious. Airlines fought with one another over which one could pamper passengers the most.
Ah, for the days...
11
I loved flying on this aircraft; what I'll always remember most is the piano on the upstairs of first class. An unforgettable experience :)
4
For someone who knows nothing about planes (or trains and automobiles for that matter), this article was absolutely magnificent and enticing. It was a pleasure walking down a memory lane that was not my own and still feel a connection and understanding to the author and the subject. Thank you for a wonderful piece, Mark.
4
Beautiful article! Thank you for it. I will NEVER forget the two times I was able to climb the magical spiral staircase and sit upstairs. I was well into middle age but I felt like a little kid climbing into a secret treehouse.
10
In 1969-1970 I was a sergeant at Holloman AFB in Alamogordo , New Mexico. The first 747 prototypes were undergoing certification nearby, in test flights out of Roswell. I have never forgotten driving in the long twilight of one clear desert evening tracing the path of a 747 that was coasting along above me at maybe 10 or 15 thousand feet. It seemed to be floating in the sky, silent and slow, a giant, gentle whale.
1
As a child of the 70's growing up on Long Island under JFK airport's flight paths, we children would stop playing to look up at 747's as they flew over. We ignored the DC-10's, L10-11's, and other planes of the day. To us kids, the 747 represented the Jetsons, moon shots, and unbridled progress. The 747 was just one step toward day trips to Paris and vacations on the moon.
I flew on TWA's 747s to Europe several times in the 80's in my teens. I'll never forget the first time I saw the huge cabins, with staircases to other flight decks. In 2000, on a British Airways 747 flight to NY from London, a stewardess I chatted up took me up to the cockpit. It was my 1st time going up those staircases, to go through the luxurious lounge to talk with the pilots and see the panoramic view of the cockpit. The crew was happy and gregarious and we all talked for about 45 minutes while I looked out at Greenland and Canada, through those wide windows, with other jets whizzing past in the opposite direction. Everything still seemed possible.
The fact that the 747 is being retired, replaced by the rarely seen, ugly Airbus A380, represents a loss of hope for the future that I'm sure many of us are feeling. I'm glad I had a chance to enter a 747 cockpit in 2000, just before they were locked forever, and no passenger would ever do so again. The loss of the 747 isn't just "the end of an era", but a symbol of the end of the naive expectation we had that the future held only hope and progress.
7
My recollection of the747 is an unusual one. I have never flown on one; but back in the 1970s I represented Massachusetts Port Authority as its attorney in a number of litigations including one involving runway construction. In preparation for trial Jack Davis, the Massport Chief Engineer, took me out onto the airfield. Jack was driving a Massport vehicle along the perimeter road that circles the airfield and is used for maintenance and the like. All vehicles on the airfield, not just aircraft, are under tower ground control at all times. We were approaching Runway 4L (the 4 indicates that it heads toward the northeast and the L that it is the left of two parallel runways [when used in the opposite direction it is 22R) when ground control instructed Jack to hold for an aircraft that was landing on 4L. We stopped short of the approach to 4L. A 747 flew past a couple hundred feet off the ground with the wing tip probably within 1,000 feet of our vehicle. When the 747 touched down there was a plume of smoke from the tires that completely obscured our view of the aircraft, as large as it was, for a couple seconds. It was a breathtaking experience that I have never forgotten.
4
I once worked for an airline. The best times of my life were spent out on the tarmac, watching my airline’s 747s land and take-off. Even after I quit, I would drive out to Kennedy Airport, park at a nearby side road and spend hours watching planes. None gave me a bigger thrill than the Jumbo. Still can’t figure out why, noisy, lumbering, crowded, but it grabbed my heart.
Growing up in Brooklyn during the ‘60s was an adventure on so many levels. I remember quite clearly when my dad loaded us into his Rambler, drive the Belt Parkway and out to JFK, formerly, Idlewild airport just to go up to the outdoor observation decks and ground operations. This was before things got crazy and those outdoor decks were closed off.
The day that huge airship first graced the tarmac is emblazoned in my mind. My dad exclaimed, “look at how BIG that tail is!”. It dwarfed everything else out there. We waited as passengers and their luggage were loaded, anticipating the take-off. I remember how many people were outside watching with us.
Eventually the plane pushed back from the gate and lumbered down the tarmac to the runway. It seemed like forever for an 11-year young kid as we waited to see that 747 take off. In time though that wonderful behemoth was rolling, first quite slowly, then faster and faster, it’s engines screaming until the nose lifted up and pointed skyward as it departed over Jamaica Bay. We were able to see that ship climbing for a long time.
I had the pleasure of flying with my wife in a British Airways 747 from Seattle to London, and back again around 2004 as we were invited to a friend’s wedding. We had the last row, 52 if I remember correctly. What I do recall was there were only two seats, so it was very quiet and intimate. It was one of the best and smoothest flights ever.
Thank you Mark for your story. It brought back fond memories!
2
My first 747 flight was in 2008. Flying to Newark from Tokyo with Continental Airline. It was really beautiful body.
2
Enjoyed this article. Have flown the 747 all over but never LHR to NYK. Singapore Airlines offered beds in the Upper deck and So did Japan Airlines: Tokyo to SFO. Was a frequent traveller on both. Flying was a great experience those days. Today it is not!!!
1
My first flight on one was 47 years ago, Chicago to Paris, in the fall of 1970. RIP to a great plane.
Nostalgic, but for the sheer joy and physical sensations of flight, the F-27 Fokker Friendship, the DC-3 Dakota and the Vickers Viscount remain without peer. The Boeing 707, the 747, and Sud Aviation's Caravelle were remarkable aircraft that marked the early-middle era of the jet age. But imagine a trans-Atlantic flight today in the DC-3 compared to one in a 767. There, you get the idea!
Everyone who flies, pilot, crew or passenger, remembers the first time.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Amsterdam to New York, January, 1972.
1
It was in the early 1970s when I saw the B747 for the first time - a Pan Am example at Heathrow. I was waiting with my Mom to board a BOAC B707 (was supposed to have been a VC-10 which I have always thought was the most beautiful aircraft ever, but my flight was switched to a 707) for our return flight to Montreal. Over the years I would enjoy many flights on the 747 with KLM, Thai, JAL and PAL (which had beds set aside in the upper deck for first class pax). I remember in particular a domestic flight in Japan on a 747SR which was absolutely packed with excited passengers (many of them honeymooners) on their way to Okinawa. It was that flight which demonstrated to me the sheer enormity of this remarkable aircraft. The 747 has certainly left its mark on the development of commercial aviation like no other.
1
I once sat on the beach behind LAX for some time, just watching for them to take off. No other plane compares in beauty and elegance. The A380 looks like an overweight whale. The Dreamliner and 777 arevdull in comparison. The 747 is the ultimate _beautiful_ aircraft.
6
Growing up under the landing path to LaGuardia Airport, I was enthralled (and still am) at seeing planes gracefully lifted in the sky flying past my bedroom window -- almost low enough to touch. First propellers and later jet engines. To a seven year old, it was magic.
My first overseas trip was in 1971 on a 747 Pan Am Clipper to Paris, France. I was thrilled, and I’ve been in love with Paris and the 747 ever since. Watching planes land still makes me tingle. But now I always look for those four engines. There’s not many left.
3
I recall the first 747’s were publicized as having a bar/lounge upstairs. Did any actually have one there? The couple of times I flew one transatlantic, the upstairs was just regular seating.
Yes, they did.
My first 747 flight was from LAX to Frankfurt. The airline was Lufthansa. I was headed eventually to Munich where I worked at the Olympic games. I spent the flight occasionally reviewing my German declensions and conjugations, but mostly marveling at the cavernous interior of the plane.
1
What I remember most about my first flight in a 747 was the piano bar at the of the spiral staircase. It was an Air Canada flight from Vancouver to Toronto back in 1971 or thereabouts and I was flying first class as a journalist doing a story on the Skifari trips being offered at the time. I believe the piano bar eventually disappeared, to be replaced with more first class seating. Ah, those early planes offered an oh-so-elegant way to fly.
1
I love traveling on the 747. I think it is the most beautiful commercial jet liner. I also helped design the F14, Tom Cat, jet fighter. I think that is the most beautiful jet fighter. I am glad to have associated in my small ways with two beautiful planes.
The first South African Airways 747, Lebombo, was delivered in 1971. I was a student at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and remember watching from the campus as the jumbo flew over the city before landing at was was then Jan Smuts Airport. The pilot’s route had included the nearby Kyalami racetrack where thousands of motor racing fans were gathered.
In 1995 Lebombo famously and to stupendous effect flew (very) low over thousands of rugby fans, including Nelson Mandela, in Ellis Park before the start of that year’s Rugby World Cup final.
I missed that one, but not the misty Saturday morning in 2004. This time I could only hear the engines as Lebombo once again flew low over Johannesburg for the final landing at Rand Airport, where the old bird is on display for the South African Airways Museum Society.
1
My one and only 747 flight was a super-budget run on a somewhat tatty Tower Air run from Miami to JFK- I remember that, I'm assuming due to fuel load or something, no one (in a very sparse passenger load) was seated forward of the central forward bulkhead. After we took off, I got up and walked forward, finding a place alone in the center of the plane in row five or six, surrounded by what felt like hundreds of empty seats. It felt like I was on the plane by myself. A spaceship, even, with the flight crew unseen above. I fly a lot, and it was one of the most curious and transcendent experiences of my life.
3
Mr. Vanhoenacker!
In my opinion, in addition to being a great pilot, and one who seem to truly enjoy and take pride in his job, I thing you are also a prolific writer. I have tremendously enjoyed reading this article. I love 747 and as I read this article I am "taking some very long flights down memory lane." Recalling my first flight in the early 70ties from Lagos to London going back to school in London. Tears of leaving family disappeared upon boarding the plane. I was not the only one--the flight also had kids of expatriates returning to school. The awesomeness and shear monstrosity of the plane occupied your mind that you immediately forget the people you're leaving behind. I have clocked tremendous mileages on 747 with BA, TWA, KLM, Lufthansa, Singapore Air, United Airline, Air France, etc. crisscrossing the globe on both business and personal trips--each one of them on 747 was as awesome and amazing as the other, affirming the beauty of human creativity. As a binge watcher of Game of Thrones, the first description that came to mind about the 3 dragons was 747 -- their enormous power and elephantine size. What a gigantic beauty! Thank you Mr.. Vanhoenacker for this well-deserved accolades and memorium you have given 747! Perhaps I will see you some day in Seattle.
3
Dear Mark,
Thank you for sharing your love story of the Queen in your delicious "Skyfaring". You taught me the physics of flight and respect for the many crews that have flown me and my family so many, many times on a 747. The linking of aircraft terms to ocean crossing sailing ships was an eye opener - poetry really.
Twice a year for almost 20 years we flew from JFK to Greece on TWA's 747's and it was always memorable in a good way. I never slept because I loved watching the wing and the engines from first or business class. Downstairs was magical in the front because of the great view from both the port & starboard windows. Upstairs was great because of its intimacy and closeness to the cockpit... my then young sons were both invited by the captain into the cockpit and offered a full tour plus a turn at theco-pilot's seat. Yes, those were the days.
My favorite was the 747 SP which I still prefer to any new aircraft. I just returned from Frankfurt on a 747-8 and look forward to years of pleasure on that aircraft.
Thank you so very much.
2
I will always remember what a marvel the 747 was when it was introduced in the 1960's.
Lately, with our children grown, we've taken to travel to Europe. Somehow our United miles always translate into the 747 that leaves San Francisco just after 7:00 pm and lands at Frankfurt the next morning (even when the destination is Portugal!). Feels like a trip back into time, which isn't a bad way to start a vacation in Europe.
I will miss this great airplane.
1
Thanks to Captain Vanhoenacker for reminding us of a revolutionary airplane. I would add: 1--How it drove engine development--"high-Bypass" Turbofan engines. The remarkable Pratt and Whitneys on the first 747 produced 25,000 pounds of thrust. (Certain current 777 models produce more than 100,000 pounds from just one of its two engines!);
2--How it drove noise reduction, complying first with Stage 1, then Stage 2, and ultimately Stage 3 U.S. noise limits (and the comparable international standards).
3--As much as people remember their upper deck experiences, I cherish my memories of the first row on the main deck of KLM 747s, a "Business Class" seat with 14 windows. Wow!
2
First flight ever from Europe to US - TWA 747. Best seats in all fleets - top deck 747. The discovery, the adventure, the excitement - they are gone in air travel. Will miss it.
3
I remember my first wide-bodied aircraft as a pilot was the 747. I too recall Singapore, taking off in the early morning. For that brief moment as I pushed the four throttles forward, I too felt like I owned the runway and later the skies filled with those unique columns of clouds, seemingly distended, refusing to break from the South China Sea. I would later marvel at these great air captains who for decades safely crossed all over Asia, quietly slip into retirement like the great flying machine the 747---mission accomplished.
1
I will never forget my first 747 flight. I was discharged from the Air Force in 1971. I had just spent a year in Thailand working on B52's. I was discharged from a base in California and flew home to New York, I was excited flying on a 747. However, after we took off, a very nice stewardess came over to me and asked if I wanted to sit in a seat in the middle aisle and lie down and she would raise the arm rests so I could lie across several seats since no one was sitting there. I was so tired from the flight from Thailand etc. that I conked out, the next thing I knew we were landing in New York. I love planes, that's why I joined the Air Force, the 747 is my favorite commercial aircraft.
8
I was going to write a long comment about all the significant journeys in my life that I took on a 747 (as an ex-pat I've flown the London/NY route more times that I can remember), but actually I'd just like to see a picture of that wedding cake!
9
Wonderful article.
I was on the first transcontinental flight (TWA) of the 747, from NY to LA. I remember the champagne and cake at the departure gate (that wonderful TWA terminal at JFK). It was so impressive then, and still is today.
Luckily it's only the US airlines that are abandoning the "Queen of the Skies". Many European and Asian carriers continue to fly the latest versions, and certainly for any long flight, when possible, I invoke the old saying "if it aint Boeing, I aint going".
2
As the daughter of a Boeing employee of rank, I secured a seat on a 747 delivery flight out of Boeing Field in February 1971.
My father had taught me that the safest place to sit on an airplane was at the emergency exit over the wing. As I took my seat there I was in the company of a KLM representative who was shepherding the new plane to Amsterdam. As we taxied inconceivably slowly along the runway (the 747 is designated "heavy" and has no zoom to its takeoff) and were lifting off, I watched and marveled at the two shiny, enormous jet engines on the starboard side. As we lifted off and were only feet above the runway, a small part flew off the side of closest engine with a flash bang. The KLM representative muttered: o mijn god! but still we climbed, higher and higher, inexorably.
To me, not a pilot or engineer, it seemed the take off had not been slowed one bit by the loss of an engine and certainly not stalled, but we were not attempting cruising altitude, that was certain, as the plane banked and swung wide around Puget Sound. Eventually, the matter-of-fact voice of the pilot came over the speakers. We had picked up a bird on take off, we were now jettisoning fuel to guarantee a safer landing and would be returning to Boeing Field and that was that.
The KLM rep was stoic. No insurance for birds, he told me. One million dollars for a new engine. He shrugged. We were never in danger. The plane was engineered to fly even on one engine. Heavy, but fail safe.
4
It requires a minimum of two engines.
Best view from a 747 window seat:
Daytime flying SAS from Stockholm to NYC. It was a marvelously clear day. We flew along the southern coast of Iceland and I was on the north side of the plane. Saw many icebergs calving off the glacier into the ocean.
Not too long after that SAS retired its two 747s, one of which was named Huge Viking (Pronounced Who-ga Vee-king).
When I first heard the name "Jumbo Jet" when I was six or seven in London at the tail end of the swinging sixties I knew that this was the plane for me...
First 747 flight: 1974, TWA, JFK - Los Angeles
Last 747 flight: 2016, El Al, Tel Aviv - Newark
I will sorely miss The Queen of the Skies.
3
Dear Mr. Vanhoenacker!
I'm a pilot's daughter. My dad flew a P51 in WWII and after the war he flew DC3's and DC4's carrying unusual cargo...cattle out of the llanos in Colombia, gold out of the high mountain valleys in Bolivia. But he never got to fly a jet, let alone a 747.
And so it happened for me, the thrill of a lifetime on a 747 flight. Coming back from a business trip from Singapore, the first-class steward took a liking to me and kept coming back to me in my coach seat to invite me upstairs for champagne...which I repeatedly declined. Toward the end of the 20-hour flight as we were nearing the West Coast of the US, he came back with a different offer...'Would I like to visit the cockpit?' This time I leaped at his offer!! He introduced me to the captain and promptly showed me my seat, directly behind the captain. I could see the lights of San Francisco approaching - just a distant glow - with the sun setting to the West and a full moon rising in the East. The real thrill came as we started to approach LAX...I tapped the captain's shoulder and asked if I could remain in the cockpit during landing. He said 'Yes'!! I could hardly contain myself as I saw the green approach lights of the LAX landing runway. I knew that my father had been sitting beside me the entire time, grinning like me, from the thrill of it all!!!!
PS. This was long before 9/11. And the name of the airline co. will remain anonymous!
15
One thing I have not seen commented on is the unique sound made by the 747-400. At the end of the runway when it is starting to take off, the engines go up to about 40% power (pilots please correct me if that is not an accurate %). They stay like this for a couple of seconds, the pilot hits a button, and then powers up to 100% with a corresponding noise increase. That sound at 100%, part whine, part hum is like no other airplane.
1
I share that same memory of my dad taking us to Kennedy Airport to view the new 747s at the Pan Am terminal. I remember being absolutely awestruck at the size and the sleek design. I believe that was day I became an official av-geek for life!
1
My father was an engineer at Boeing and worked on the design of the 747. Boeing had an open house once a year for its employees and their families so we got to tour the plant where they were being assembled and even walk inside a half-constructed 747. The plane and the assembly plant were so huge that Boeing resorted to Paul Bunyan metaphors on its posters and publicity.
My father showed us the spot inside the cockpit where some sort of control panel would be located when the plane was finished; his job was to help design the instruments that would be used to test those control panels when they were constructed.
So my first time inside a 747 was before they even started flying!
3
I was a TWA flight attendant from the mid 70's to the mid 80's and the 747 has always been my favorite aircraft, hence, my email addresses also contain 747. I've worked on many different aircrafts, including the L-1011 and B707 and 767 but the 747 always seemed the most graceful and impressive of all. Working that plane seemed more like an event than any other aircraft and when I fly it now as a passenger, I still get that feeling. I haven't flown on the 787 yet and am curious to do so, but have flown multiple times on the A380 and many other of the Airbus planes, but for me, nothing is quite like the 747.
3
I was told once that pilots transitioning into the 747 were misled by the perspective into taxiing too fast; so fast that they retrofitted a speedometer into the cockpit.
Also, there is a great story about the first 747 taking off for a nonstop to Hong Kong from San Francisco, then the longest route attempted, and pronging the approach lights into the fuselage.
I remember once being in the first row of seats at the nose, and feeling a deliciously weird feeling about being *ahead* of the pilots in the plane.
3
747s in strangely painted liveries assemble in Star Wars-like gatherings at cargo terminals the world round. Would be sad to see them disappear.
First flight as an 18 yr old was on a Sabena 747 to Brussels. I could not believe there was an UPSTAIRS!! Beautiful, smooth flight marred only by all the cigarette smokers. Rescued by the Belgian beer.
2
There is no mention in the article about the 747 being chosen as Air Force One. We will have to see what the next Air Force One will be.
what an absolutely beautiful & informative homage to the 747. Together with the Concorde, the 747 will always be remembered as sleek & beautiful icons of global travels.
1
On pain of treason, I have to say that the A380 replaced my fascination with the 747. Growing up, I flew on 747s a few times here and there but have recently ended up on the A380 for Asian flights. Talk about a mammoth plane! Maybe the nostalgia for the 747 is a generational thing. I'm 41 and it was always just the big plane one took overseas and the plane the President flew in.
I had the opportunity to sit in the seats behind the pilots on a KLM 747-400 from South Africa to Amsterdam. I asked the pilots as they boarded if I could visit the cockpit. They said maybe, but they were too busy now, ck later. At 2 AM I asked the disbelieving stewards and to their surprise, the pilots said "come on up". My girlfriend and I gleefully climbed the stairs, passed the pods of sleeping wealth, and spent a wonderful 30 minutes with the engaging pilots at 38,000 feet. As a small aircraft pilot I asked as many questions as I could.
The pilots walked us through an altitude change using autopilot to clear thunderstorms over Libya. "How high is the cockpit when the wheels hit?" "15 meters" they said, “a 5 story building, like a giraffe". "How do you know when you're close?" "Radio altimeter". "What part of the plane is it indicating from?" They paused, conversed in Dutch then cautiously said it recorded the distance between the rear of the plane and the ground. Pilot mostly use peripheral vison (and audio-callouts), not the altimeter, to judge distance with the nose high. I wasn't surprised that they were a bit uncertain.
Landing at 6 AM, almost everyone asleep, we hit the runway very hard, waking everyone up and causing bins to open. I think I screwed them up a bit, getting them thinking about the distance measuring equipment rather than using their natural landing technique. It was the year 2000, the last year a regular passenger would be so lucky.
9
I will never forget the view from Hong Kong's Ngong Ping cable car of 747s lining up to land, their landing gear dangling like so many mosquitos.
1
that advertisement from 1971 made my jaw drop. Dare I ask...did flying use to be comfortable?
24
Yes, relatively speaking, and it was also very expensive. Deregulation of air fares resulted in lower prices and a race to the bottom in services.
1
A great song they didn't mention was the classic Paul Kelly song 'Sydney From A 747' :-) I flew over Sydney Harbour many times when I was living and working there for twelve years through the 90s. One of the world's great views. This homemade clip isn't very good but it's a great song :-)
https://youtu.be/C2TaaeeDhRg
2
My first flight on a 747 (a 747-200) was in 1981, when I was 11 years old. Our family vacation that year was extraordinary: all five of us spending two weeks in Hawaii. The flights from Florida to Los Angeles were thrilling enough--I had never flown that far before--but the real treat was boarding a United Airlines 747 "Friendship" for their signature (at the time) "Royal Hawaiian Service" to Honolulu. Everything was special--the flight attendants' uniforms, the snacks (macadamia nuts!), the meals, the entertainment. It was the least boring seven hours of my life up to that point. And as if my horizons hadn't been expanded enough, we arrived in Honolulu to the sight of a fleet of 747s from Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Europe--liveries of all kinds on these grand aircraft. This included one of Braniff International's legendary "Big Orange" 747s, which I particularly adored. I knew then and there I was destined to see the world, and I have. I have since flown on 747s numerous times, though in more recent years my most memorable flight was on Air France from Boston to Paris, where I was "upgraded" to a seat in the "hump" on a 747-400. It was Economy Class, alas, but it still felt special. We're fortunate to get 747s regularly in Boston, still, thanks to Air France, British Airways, and Lufthansa, who all use them. Lufthansa has the newest, the 747-8, which is a spectacular thing to behold gliding over Boston Harbor.
1
I joined Boeing in 1965 as a young engineer, and grew up with the 747. The airplane truly is a phenomenal design and a major milestone in modern transport aviation. Born out of the loss of the C-5 transport Air Force contract, it is the product of unbelievable vision of Pan Am's Juan Trippe and Boeing's CEO T.A. Wilson. An aircraft so huge that many thought that it would never fly. Now taken for granted, the 747 was the first wide-body aircraft, debuting a number of advances in air travel: type "A" doors, designed to evacuate two passengers simultaneously; large, inflated escape slides with double lanes; overhead storage bins replacing earlier aircraft's hat racks; containerized luggage to expedite baggage handling (along with a powered loading system in the lower hold); twin aisle interior, significantly increasing the passenger compartment comfort; a unique upper deck ; a passenger capacity doubling that of the 707, significantly lowering seat-mile costs which opened air travel to the masses; and an exterior shape that is instantly recognizable. She was and still is the "queen of the skies". Developed in an era expecting air transport to reach supersonic airspeeds, which would quickly make these subsonic behemoths obsolete . The initial 747 design included "cargo provisions" in anticipation of obsolescence by supersonic aircraft, and relegation of 747's to use as freighters (which is why the aircraft has a raised cockpit, to accommodate a nose cargo door).
5
That "hump" - now I know what it reminds me of: the melon of cetaceans. That mysterious house for the unfathomable intelligence of the sleekest of swimmers in the sea.
Once again, thank you for this lovely piece. You've masted the artform of the 747 and shared it so brilliantly with us!
1
Thank you for bringing back pleasant memories. My first and only trip on 747 was mid 1980's, JFK to Madrid with seats in the nose of the plane (I think we were upgraded for unknown reasons, or maybe it was economy class, but it was delightful nonetheless). I was 18 and had been on many other planes and vividly recall my amazement upon boarding the aircraft. I was and remain an anxious flyer, but something about that jet made me feel safe. I'm happy I had the opportunity to fly when traveling was still fun and exciting.
1
My husband and I always flew on a 747 in those days and I'll be sorry to see them go, especially since I will be beginning air travel soon after so many years.
What differences will I see, my son wonders, and I worry how to prepare. It was so easy then.
Things change, I know.
Any tips to make my trip go smoother?
1
My first and only flight in a 747 was in 1979. I was a young Marine just out of the Navy's aviation electronics school, and after leave in New York, I flew on American Airlines on a flight from JFK to LAX.
I sat next to a pretty girl and we had a nice time on the long flight. The only hairy thing was that when the plane landed at LAX, it blew most of the main landing gear tires. I could hear the air-to-ground on one of the channels on the headset, and the debate was over whether the plane would be towed to the gate or make it on its own power.
Finally, the plane began to taxi. It was a lumpy ride that took some engine power, but we got to the gate, debarked and then I saw what was left of the main landing gear tires.
The 747 may be leaving service, but there's something about seeing one. Our society in the U.S. may not be perfect, but we can make one of those, and it can fly.
What more can I say?
1
A note to Mark:
Back in the day, circa 1982, I was on my first 747 flight on Pan Am's "circle the world" route, but only JFK-BKK. Coming back through Hong Kong we were delayed a day as the 747 was too heavy for taking off in the high Hong Kong temperatures. I was flying on a pass, bounced to lighten the load.
I enjoyed talking about this experience with my then Miami neighbor, a retired Pan Am pilot. He had the distinction of piloting both one of Pan Am's Boeing 314's (the Flying Boat) and one of their first 747's (~1970?).
2
Beautiful piece. Much the way I have always felt—though the bird was quite different, of course—about the Beech Bonanza F33. I still remember my first 747 flight to France way back. Thanks for the memories.
1
I once took a half-full flight from Chicago to LAX on a United 747. It was one of those cold and crystal-clear mid-winter days and the view was as fine as you can imagine as the pilot pointed-out the landmarks as we flew over.
I always felt safe on this plane and that's saying something.
1
Having been born and raised in Hawaii, I was quite used to traveling in narrow-body aircraft. Leaving Honolulu headed to Washington, DC for college, my first flight on a 747 was revelatory = SPACE was EVERYWHERE: at your feet, over your head, all the way across the impossible width. You could really go for a walk on this thing to stretch your legs. How did something this BIG get up/stay up in the air? Mind blown.
Years later, I was headed to Tokyo from Washington DC on a business trip and got upgraded not just to First Class, but the UPSTAIRS First Class (still not sure why I got the upgrade). I was totally spoiled by the 747sp.
The Queen of the Skies will be sorely missed == I NEVER want to ride in an A380!
1
I retired from Boeing as an engineer 10 days shy of a year ago after almost 33 years at the company. My last office overlooked the final assembly bay allowing one to look down on the vast space as the planes came together. At floor level, a favorite view was observing the big 747s (and other planes) on jacks having their landing gears tested
Prior to this was in a test building about a mile north of the end of Paine Field in Everett, WA . Many mornings and nights I would see these huge birds fly by very low.
Leaving the office into the northside parking lot you would often see the lights of an approaching aircraft miles away. I’m not sure how far away they were over Puget Sound, probably 25-35 miles. They soon disappear behind a high hedge of evergreens and alders bordering the lot. I’d always wait a few minutes before I got into my car. After a minute you begin to hear the engines from behind the screen of trees. Then, this huge jet, with its long curvy wing and its landing gear trucks deployed, appears above the tree tops and flies past until it disappears again behind the tall building I just came from. I never tired of watching this.
I really didn’t have much to do with the design, build or testing of this jet. I’ve only flown on a 747 twice. But in those parking lot moments I always felt a sense of pride in the engineering, craftsmanship and technical talent that went into these aircraft. It always amazed me something so huge is so quiet and graceful upon approach.
1
I was a graduate student and freshly minted private pilot in Seattle when the 747 first rolled out and was present at Boeing Field when it came down from Everett and during some of its touch and goes - very unlike my bumps and grinds, When Jack Wadell said that it handles like a Cessna 172 (or at least my memory says that's what he said) I thought YES, that's the way an airplane should handle. Now retired from a career as a geneticist I'm trying to get powered wheelchairs to "fly" like a C172 and maneuver like a Grumman Tiger. Though nothing I do will ever be as beautiful as a 747 (for me, more beautiful than even the gracious Connie), do wish me luck.
2
Always thought the 707 was sexier but the 747 won my heart on my first flight to Sydney with QANTAS 30+ years ago. Very nice article and gorgeous photo. Good to read about the human connection to technology.
1
Although I have already written a comment on this wonderful essay, in looking over others' comments I notice two things: people's love of a thing well made, and people's pride in parents who were part of the aerospace industry.
Those of us whose fathers -- usually fathers -- worked for airplane plants like Boeing, Republic Aviation, and Lockheed, or who were pilots or maintenance crew, have uniformly expressed sheer delight in their accomplishments.
What our dads designed and built and ran they did with great attention to detail. It wasn't only that they brought expertise to their jobs, or that many of them had fought in World War II and Korea and had done mechanical, engineering, navigating, and radio work on which their fellow soldiers and sailors' lives depended -- it was that they were Americans who built things.
They worked. And their companies treated them well. We were part of a larger family. There were days when kids were able to visit the factories, and I remember hearing the enormous noise that giant tools, some two and three stories tall, made when they put together wing parts. My dad's company, Republic Aviation, gave scholarship money to employees' kids, and I had a stipend that helped put me through college. My father had a terrific pension and health plan, which my mother was able to keep after he died. By the time he retired, in the late 1980s, the younger men wouldn't have the benefits he would get.
A bygone era.
11
The best of times. In 1979 I was selected by PriceWaterhouse (PW) to go to Copenhagen for a 3 year tour. To celebrate those selected to go abroad in the European offices PW flew us all back for a party in NYC. We flew first class in a 747 and went up into the top floor which back then was the bar area for first class. Standing and walking around with mixed drinks talking to all the passengers. The party was at Eyes of the World, the restaurant on top the World Trade Center, then out to some discos. On the flight back I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep. Warren Beatty was on the flight and my wife and several other women joined him up in the upstairs bar. Carved roast beef dinners, serve yourself bottles of wine and alcohol. It was very nice. When we came back from Denmark in 1982 we traveled first down through Europe and ended up in Athens and caught a flight back to NYC on TWA. There was a mix up in ticketing so they said your family can fly back using the upstairs lounge. The bar had been removed and couches lined the walls. Just my wife by 5 year old daughter and 9 month old son all alone up there. Those were the days.
1
I've always loved airplanes, especially the 747. I was fortunate enough to fly on one a few times. In fact, my tow most memorable flights were on a 747. The first was returning to Chicago from a business trip. It had been a beautiful, smooth flight. When we were landing and the plane was no more than 100 feet off the ground and, without warning, the pilot banked hard to the right and made a steep climb away from O'Hare Airport. I remember say whoa! And hearing many passengers screaming. It took several minutes for the plane to level off again before the captain announced what happened. We had been cleared to land on the same runway as a departing plane! Thanks to the quick thinking pilots we averted a disaster. We finally landed safely. As we taxied to the terminal I remember thinking how amazing it was that such a large aircraft could maneuver so nimbly and so quickly!
The second memorable 747 flight was for our honeymoon to Italy. I used frequent flier miles on United and booked us in business class. We ended up on a code share flight on Pan Am; this was literally weeks before Pan Am shut down. I was relieved to see that we were on a 747. Not only that, but we were in the nose hump. The quiet and relaxation of that flight was amazing. My wife, who does not like to fly, still calls that the best flight she has ever had. And I couldn't agree not only did it take us to our honeymoon, it has stayed with us even after 26 years of marriage!
2
"...a window seat, of course..."
Window seat indeed! I am always similarly in awe of the experience of flight, so much so that I too must sit in a window seat to maximize the dream humans of the past could only imagine. And this love letter to the mighty 747 was certainly a window seat to its joys. I've been lucky to fly on it only a few times and am as saddened by news of its retirement as I would be by the death of any of the towering figures of my childhood.
1
I'm so happy to see all these comments praising the marvel of flight technology. It's easy for us to get jaded in modern times with this miraculous way of travelling. The world is smaller than ever before! Thank you to the author - your book was excellent and your writing is enjoyable.
1
As a child of the 70's (truly, I was born in the first few days of 1970), I grew up overseas, and the options for intercontinental travel in those days were the DC-10 (awful), the L-1011 (Cathay Pacific's bird), and Pan Am's 747. Even in coach - the giant exit areas, the wide 3-5-3 (or was it 2-4-2 in those days?), and everything was just that much better than on any other plane.
The exterior still delights, but of course deregulation have made today's interiors anything but a delight.
Now we've got the 380 - gigantic for sure, but not attractive in the least, and if you've ever been on the first floor of that bird - the lack of interior curvature is downright freaky. Otherwise, it's just a gigantic generic plane. Exit in Delhi with 500 other passengers - delightful? Yeah, no. Boeing's 777 fails to delight me in any way as a passenger.
So now we've got the 787, which is supposed to be a passenger's dream with higher atmospheric pressure, enhanced cabin lighting, and an overall better experience. Haven't flown on one yet, so we'll see.
But what's next? Will Boeing or Airbus ever again inspire us as Boeing did 47 years ago with the Queen? Or will that inspiration come from another company or one that doesn't even exist yet. In these dark days, as our nation looks backwards for its future, we need that inspiration.
Godspeed Queen of the Skies!
1
My Uncle Mike worked for KLM at JFK. As best as I can recall he invited my family out for a tour of a 747 sometime in the summer of 1970 when I was 12. It was dark when we did it. Imagine a mother, her sister, two grandmothers and five kids just waltzing through the baggage room and out to an airplane for an informal tour by one of the employees. I don't think that could happen now. I recall sitting in the pilot seat and especially recall going to the second level. It was pretty cool. That said I do not recall flying on one although I may have. The big ones I recall were the L10-11. Nice, insightful article.
1
I never got to fly in a 747. But on 9/11 , I saw one flying very low to land at KCI when all the planes were grounded. It was a plane that normally did not fly out of that airport. I have never seen anything so magnificent and so scary .
2
If you fly to Istanbul Attaturk Airport, a huge, busy airport, with many worldwide flights, it is surprising how rarely you see a 747, or an A380 for that matter. Admittedly Turkish Airlines, who operate the majority of flights, do not possess 747s, but you never see 747s of other carriers either. It's all 777s, A330s and smaller aircraft.
1
Greatest device of the 20th century. My wife and I have flown probably 2,500,000 miles since 1971; many on the 747.
The upper deck business seating, on United, had 26 seats. We'd always try for 15J&K or A&B, bulkhead, with ten feet of space in front of you.
Returning from London to DC in 2002, when terrorists had threatened to blow up four transatlantic flights, we checked in at Heathrow, and our Row 15 seats had been changed by United, so two sky marshals could sit there.
Our best experience was November, 2000, Sydney to LA, on a 747-400. We boarded early, and were admiring the cockpit, 30 feet from our seats. The pilot said he didn't then have time, but when we got to LA, he'd show us around the cockpit. He did! We got to sit in the pilot and copilot's seats, with their hats on our heads. We were the happiest 51 year olds that you can imagine. That's my fond memory of the 747. It will always be the greatest plane, ever.
2
For pilots and passengers alike, this article brings back a life time of fond memories of air travel. As a passenger, one cannot help but marvel at the engineering feat of building an aircraft that remains unparalleled in its beauty. The 747 has indeed become an icon. As the author noted, its has lent its weight to the timeless poetry of Joni Mitchell. I have come to wonder - is that the shadow of a 747 flying across the pool in the Chanel No. 5 commercial? Share the Fantasy.
11
As the director of Youth Aviation Camps on Nantucket and at the Bullis School in Maryland, I have seen our enthusiastic young people - ages 8 to 16 - begin their dreams of flight just as the author did, in a small Cessna, under the tutelage of a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI.) For many, the camp experience has changed their world. Campers have headed off to the Air Force Academy, to a university to study aviation management, to training that will lead to their soloing and most important, they have acquired a sense of accomplishment and independence. Guest speakers have ranged from a British Airways and Emirates pilot to astronauts and super-cool military pilots to the Chairman of the NTSB to aviators who flew aircraft around the world - including the "youngest ever" pilot to fly the route solo and an adventurer from Northern Ireland who flew the trip in an auto-gyro. Thank you Mr. Vanhoenacker, I just shared your wonderfully descriptive article with our many "friends" on Facebook.
My best Boeing 747 memory has to be watching one bring home the Space Shuttle Discovery to the Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian. We had an amazing view from Boling Air Force Base and it was unforgettable. What a beautiful aircraft.
2
As a child, in the 70's, I was flying back home to Colombia when I spotted a Pan-Am 747 at JFK. I did not get to travel internationally for another 15 years, so my only chance to see them was in the airline ads of magazines at my dentist's office (Air France! Pan Am! Lufthansa!). And I would dream...
I finally got my wish after graduating from college and had the chance to fly to Europe via Air France. Best experience ever.
I remember how comfortable and stable the 747s were, particularly up in the front rows, and how majestically did they touch the ground, almost like a feather, after so many hours of flight. They were also faster than any newer jetliner.
Simply the best that came out of Everett.
3
My best memories of this plane was years ago flying BA (back when it was still decent) in simpler security times, PHX-LHR, when, even as a mere coach passenger, I was permitted to visit the flight deck as we cruised over the icy landscape of Greenland. It was a magical 15 minutes as the flight crew pleasantly chatted with me and answered my many questions. Still a great memory especially as we will never see those days again.
2
I flew a 747 regularly from Sydney to Los Angeles throughout my childhood.
But as a reminder to those lamenting the end of the "golden age" of air travel: my ticket cost me $1400 in 1987 (around $3000 in today's dollars), via Auckland and Honolulu; last week, I paid just $980 for the same ticket - but non-stop.
Air travel is now safer, more accessible, and quicker than it has ever been. The 747 played a huge role in that. It will be sorely missed.
3
In the 1990's I had to travel extensively for my job. I had the opportunity to fly just once in a Northwest Airlines 747. On a flight normally flown by one of their ubiquitous DC-9's we found ourselves on one of these amazing aircraft which was being moved to its next days long haul flight.
As a frequent traveler on NWA I was allowed to sit in the forward most seat downstairs. That seat is actually in front of the pilots position and has a window which has quite a bit of forward view.
The power of the aircraft on taking off, the quietness of the ride, and the service were all amazing. I'll never forget my one time flight on the aircraft that opened the skies for most everyone to travel.
1
My Dad, Chuck Darcy, was a flight engineer for Pan Am, and was among the crews to train and fly them. He started out on the Boeing 314 flying boat and retired in 1977 flying the 747s-an incredible span of technology.
2
a copy of my post : A note to Mark:
Back in the day, circa 1982, I was on my first 747 flight on Pan Am's "circle the world" route, but only JFK-BKK. Coming back through HKG we were delayed a day as the 747 was too heavy for taking off in the high Hong Kong temperatures. I was flying on a pass, bounced to lighten the load.
I enjoyed talking about this experience with my then Miami neighbor, a retired Pan Am pilot. He had the distinction of piloting both one of Pan Am's Boeing 314's (the Flying Boat) and one of their first 747's (~1970?).
1
I bet he has some awesom stories. The 314 was a fascinating plane, along with another post-war Boeing favorite of mine, the 377 Stratocruiser, with its stair case to the lower bar area, a forerunner of the design of the 747.
2
"My life with the 747" began before it ever took off. My dad was one of the principal engineers for the Pratt and Whitney JT9D high bypass turbofans that hung under it's wings. As a "first of its kind" design for P&W there were endless problems to solve and unknowns to deal with.
The huge fan blades that you can seen from the front of the engine, for one. Everything about it was "impossible" and novel. It's aeronautical shape, it's construction process, it's metallurgy. A single, contiguous, piece of metal on which the entire program literally depended.
In the end, the craft actually flew. My dad, who has a fear of heights, sat in the cockpit of the 747 as the pilot did "touch and goes". Ten, then twenty, then thirty takeoff and landings in a day. Eyes glued to the temperature gauges; looking for the first signs of engine failure.
Then there was a year of flying around the world "testifying" that the engines would provide the thrust, and fuel economy, and reliability Boeing and P&W claimed. Slowly our house in Connecticut filled up with things and visitors from around the world.
Years later, and for decades, I "commuted by 747", over 1M miles, as a data network engineer. Seen almost 60%, 70%,?, of the earth's surface from 35,000 feet in one. Thanks, Dad.
A complete JT9D sits in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.
8
Mark, this is a great article on what has to be one of the most iconic symbols of 20th century design and innovation. My first experience with the 747 was not onboard the aircraft...in 1972 when I was 10 years old while on a family trip that required us to overnight at Pan Am's Worldport at New York-JFK Airport, I had fallen asleep at the gate. I awoke early in the morning, and to my astonishment (and shock!) found myself staring nose to nose with the behemoth that was the 747. It had arrived from some exotic locale during the middle of the night and stood ready in just a few hours to take some lucky passengers off on another globe-girdling flight - but not me! I had so hoped our flight to Bermuda would be on that beast, but alas our travels that day would be on a Boeing 707. It would be over 10 years later before I sat onboard a 747 (a United Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu)...it was worth the wait! I am fortunate that I get to fly on the 747 a couple of times a year - such is the magnificence of this one-of-a-kind aircraft, it still thrills me to no end!
1
My dad was a pilot, too, and his favorite plane was the 747. When the plane first came out, he took the family to the airport for a tour. We rode the elevator, went up the winding stairs to the upper deck, marveled at the cockpit ... One of my regrets is that I was never a passenger on one of dad's flights. I was seated on one of his flights once, and the door was already closed, but I was tossed off because a late-arriving customer demanded a seat. Left behind, I cried in the airport, but never told Dad that.
9
My father could not be a commercial pilot because he was red-green color blind, but he worked for Dining and Commissary of TWA at JFK from 1961 to 1994. So, in December 1974, I was very fortunate to fly to London First Class on a 747 and "go upstairs". It was a red-eye flight so the ocean below was as black as the night sky, but that privilege was not lost on me even at 11.
I grew up in Massapequa, but, beginning in 1981, I moved to the Albany area. I quickly missed the 747 and all those final approaches of 747s from Europe.
When I was young, my father would take me to the airport and teach me about the planes and airlines. I learned to experience the pure joy of watching aircraft take-off and land. Later, in 1992-93 when I was working for The Aerospace Corporation, a think tank south of LAX on Aviation Blvd which forms the eastern border of LAX, I knew that, once again, I could relish the majesty of a 747 taking-off and landing. So, after work on Fridays, I drove north on Aviation Blvd and pull over where I could (you can't now), and just park and watch the planes come in from the east. One could literally see near a dozen aircraft on final approach; the scene reminiscent of Close Encounters. The thrill of seeing and hearing a 747 only several dozen feet overhead as it is landing is unmatched. From that vantage point, I also experienced the other great unmatched thrill: the 4 engines of a 747 roaring as the plane was given permission to take-off and soar.
5
It was, and is a, special aircraft. I briefly worked at Boeing in the early '80s on the 767 in Everett WA where the 747s were assembled. When you walked through the hangar you really didn't see a lot of activity. Maybe it was just the size of the place, but they kept pumping aircraft out the doors at rates that were quite impressive although I don't remember the actual numbers.
I note that the photos in the article seem to emphasize the early years when the available seating space for coach passengers was far more than it is today. But, it was a different time and doesn't detract from the aircraft's design and impact on aviation history.
2
A wonderful article. As a passenger what I liked best was the photos of the service on the airplane: real China plates for a meal in economy? Wow! Leg room in economy, wow! The past isn't always better, but sometimes it is.
5
I have flown on 747's hundreds of times and always take a moment to find a vantage point from which I can best see it before or after the flight.
I am awed every time and the feeling has not been blunted by the frequency and number of flights I have taken. The A380 is as awesome, but not nearly as beautiful.
Thanks, Mark Vanhoenacker, for perfectly capturing the feelings this big bird inspires. If you are as good a pilot as you are writer, your passengers are in safe hands.
12
My first 747 flight was on United from Denver to LAX in the mid-90s. Must have been the continuation of some international flight. The plane was nearly empty and I regretted that the flight was so short.
1
My first 747 flight, along with my wife and seven-year old daughter, was a charter (Condor) from Frankfurt to Los Angeles. The cabin configuration was similar to today's, that is, very cramped with the added discomfort of cigarette smoke. The size of the plane was awe-inspiring; it was hard to believe that this leviathan could get off the ground.
Years later, on a trip from LAX to Tel Aviv, we flew first class on the leg from New York. We had been upgraded in San Francisco to business class at no cost to us, and were upgraded again in New York. We had found our seats in business class when a flight attendant asked us if we would mind moving to first class. Graciously, we accepted the offer. We sat waiting at the gate for four hours for deicing and because a plane was parked on the tarmac behind us. Finally, after the bumpiest takeoff I can remember on an icy runway, we sat back to enjoy the comforts usually reserved for those much wealthier.
It always seemed like an adventure when we boarded these beautiful airplanes, no matter how crowded and how pedestrian the service. I am sure we will see them flying for many more decades.
1
Lovely. I well and fondly remember taking my family (including my mother) to Paris on a Pan Am 747 a very long time ago: we were lucky enough to have been assigned the entire top section by ourselves (as I recall there were only seven seats up there, and we had our "own" flight attendant and "our" own toilet).
It was splendid, and my wife and I still get catches in our throats thinking about those halcyon days.
3
My 1st 747 ride 12/71 LAX to Dulles, what a ride . It had a piano bar and it seemed like I was sitting on the 50 yard line. Cost: student fare $100.00
1
My best 747 memory was flying from Hong Kong to San Francisco in the early 90s. We were in the 2nd floor business class section, only a few seats behind the cockpit. My colleague, who was a stunning beauty, had given a flirtatious smile to one of the pilots, so before take-off there was an invitation to check-out the cockpit. I tagged along. We took pictures seated in the first officer chair. Such an engineering marvel ! And as an engineer myself, very humbling.
1
Technically speaking, Air Force One does not refer to a specific aircraft, but rather to whatever plane the President is flying in. But there is one aircraft that is (almost, at least) always used to carry the President, and that is currently a seven-four. I watched it land at my home field a few years ago, carrying President Obama.
2
1969 I was a young private pilot on board TWA to Paris, my first 747 trip, and fascinated, of course. Looking out the right window -- whoa! THREE engines (two on the left side). A visit to the cockpit (yup) provided the answer: years after the 747's debut the airlines were shuttling spares of the enormous engines by bolting them to an underwing attachment. The pilot told me the speed penalty was 50 knots.
16
Would have been difficult to have flown on a TW 747 in 1969. Pan Am's first 747 flight was on January 21, 1970. TWA didn't start 747 service until February 25, 1970
In 1970 I was doing research on Bougainville, an island in the Southwestern Pacific. My trip home to the US went like this:
-- grass strip, Cessna 172 then
-- Fokker F27 then
-- Boeing 727
-- Boeing 747
When I saw the 747 at Sydney I was astonished, not just because of its size and shape, but because of the size progression of the aircraft I'd been on while getting to it.
1
Look at that picture of the 1970s economy meal service. Look at the size and room of the "economy" seats!!! Never see that again in economy.
My most memorable flight was from Denver to Newark in the 1980s on a Continental DC-10. The flight was packed, but economy passengers could go to a stand up bar that fully replaced the business class section. I think that version of Continental Airlines went bankrupt.
4
Now multiply these memories and lamentations 10,000-fold for the last crossing of the last of the great North Atlantic liners, the SS France, Sept. 6, 1974.
I too took a KLM 747 from Amsterdam to JFK. Fullest plane I've ever been on -- every seat taken -- the plane used every foot of runway taking off, every foot of runway landing.
Also: talked to a distinguished gentleman from Greenwich CT that trip. He told me he was on Korean Air flight 007 the week before 007 shot down over/near Japan. He said he was looking out the aircraft window when a stewardess told him to shut it. He did. Several minutes later he opened the shade, looked out the window again whereupon, he said, the stewardess came back, leaned over, and brusquely slammed the window shut.
It was 1990. I was returning from Seoul to Fort Myers Florida on an 747sp that was completely loaded. One entire center section was taken up by infant orphans. Two per seat, there must have been a hundred or more. Our flight was non-stop to Chicago via the North Pole. It was the longest takeoff I've ever experienced. As you can imagine, it was not a quiet flight, but in my fitful sleep I had a vision of a celestial machine carrying tiny sparks to a new life. The flying machine is mankind's most transformative creation, and the mighty 747 will always be remembered as a bringer of dreams.
18
While the size of the 747 will always impress and the amenities afforded in its as-delivered configurations (with 2-4-3 seating in economy class (!) and those upstairs lounges), in fact the truly transnational aircraft was an earlier Boeing product,- the 707, the first commercially successful jet air craft. Introduced in 1958 it cut transcontinental and international travel times by about half and brought the peoples of the world (those who could afford to fly it, at least) closer together. It heralded a short-lived optimism about America and the future. You Tube the Pan American promotional films for the inaugural 707 flights from JFK to Paris and London and you will be transported to a naive and wondrous time...
The 747 wan't really an advance in reducing travel times (the raison d'etre of the airlines since their inception) the way the 707 was except for its extended-range versions which permitted longer-range nonstop flights than most 707s could manage. And unfortunately the 747s arrival was quickly followed by airline deregulation here in the U.S. which forced airlines to convert the behemoths into cattle cars or ditch them. Nowadays a sclerotic air traffic control system and draconian security procedures have significantly lengthened air travel times from those halcyon days of the 50s and 60s,
One last note - as a former Pan Am employee I can assure you that the photo of meal service aboard the 747 is most assuredly in the business class cabin!
5
In the late 1960s I traveled frequently between Los Angeles and cities in Europe. I was on one of the first flights of the 747 going from London to New York. The feeling of roominess was truly amazing.
One of my favorite memories related to the sheer size of 747s comes from the late 1980s when I would regularly take transpacific flights to Asia from SFO. The plane would taxi to the end of the runway, and it always seemed like the tail was hanging over the bay to get maximum runway space. With the brakes locked, the pilots would spool up the engines to an enormous scream, finally let the brakes go, and the flight would lumber down the runway to slowly lift off very near the other end of the runway. It seemed magical that something so big, with so much fuel and passengers, could go the whole way non stop to Asia.
9
There's a streamlined elegance to the 747 like no other aircraft. Just for starters, compare the distinctive silhouette of its tapering fuselage to the fat blimp of the Airbus 380.
8
I recall a photo from a high school football game at night near LAX in the earliest days of the 747. The stadium was under final approach, so, very used to low-flying jets. In the sky, a 747 lumbered home and every head was looking up. Fans, players, even the referees, the game on hold until the awesome sight disappeared into the night.
11
Sorry; didn’t mean to hit submit. Can I start again?
As a Queens resident, my engineer father would often take us to the observation deck at Kennedy Airport, where I got my first look at the majesty of the 747 when Pan Am introduced them in 1970. I didn’t get to fly on One until my honeymoon to Italy in 1985. We flew many times subsequently, always on TWA, and often in the coach seats near the exit door which had unlimited legroom. We would drive down to Kennedy when check-in began six hours before flight time to get those seats; we would then go back home until an hour before departure.
Alas, by the late 1990’s, the TWA 747 fleet was getting long in the tooth and not that well maintained by a declining airline. I remember one flight where my headphones kept going on and off and I found that playing with a wiring harness below my seat would get the sound working again for a short time. I’m sorry to admit that, in frustration, I gave the harness a sharp tug, only to hear a line of passengers in front of and behind me start to complain in unison that their headphones had stopped working. I still feel guilty about that.
1
Sincere thanks, Mark, for this lovely homage to the "Queen of the Skies." In my youth (back in the days of huge discounts for young fliers--the "youth fare"), I occasionally--and repetitively--flew from Los Angeles to London for a 3-day weekend, the major attraction being the chance to spend most of the 3 days aboard a PanAm or TWA B747. It still gives me a thrill to see one overhead or in final approach to the airport.
Much appreciated, Mark! Keep up the excellent work--both at your writing desk and in the air.
3
A couple more thoughts –
It’s worth mentioning that the 747 was used *to fly the Space Shuttle* from place to place. Think of how extraordinary that is.
On a personal note, my first flight as a passenger on a 747 was in the early ’70s, when I first left my home in the Pacific Northwest to attend Brown University.
That flight left nearly an hour late; it was delayed so that Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas was able to board with his young wife. I didn’t mind; I thought it was an auspicious omen.
As I mentioned in my other comment, my father’s access allowed me the rare privilege of boarding the first 747 off the line; still, I regret that I was never able to climb that spiral staircase to the upper level. I wish I still had the photos I saw after my dad’s trip to the Paris Air Show; that upstairs bar was stocked with a prodigious supply of alcohol for the serious fete that would be shared with Boeing’s eager customers at the show.
9
What memories. In 1970, I was booked London to JFK to spend some time with this gorgeous American guy I'd recently met in Nairobi. The 707 scheduled flight was overbooked, and a few of us were bumped. The next day, to my utter amazement, we were booked on a 747, the inaugural PA001 flight! The aircraft had technical problems and was grounded overnight for repairs. There were only a handful of us in the gigantic cabin. My first sight of the interior literally took my breath away. Where did the time go?
3
My favorite story of the 747 involves serendipity. The 747 was the result of a Pentagon design competition for a heavy lift cargo plane. The competition was ultimately won by Lockheed's C-5. Boeing, which had a huge installed base of 707s in commercial aircraft, decided with a few modifications the 747 could be a commercial airliner, saving tens of thousands of hours of engineering time. However, the lift capacity of the original 747 wings and engines exceeded the normal ratio of passenger weight and luggage by about 15 tons as well as more cargo area available than required for just passenger luggage. The 747's excess cargo space opened a market for economically shipping packages globally and across the country, even perishable foods like lobsters. The excess lift capacity of the 747 revolutionized global and transcontinental shipping. All because of a failed Pentagon contract bid.
10
And the tuna market in Japan opened up to Eastern Long Island tuna hunters
Within the last year I have flown on KLM 747s between AMS and JFK or ORD. I am always impressed with the smooth ride, without vibration or turbulence, on a massive aircraft moving through a thin atmosphere at extreme speed. Other than space limitation, a passenger would not imagine being 10000 meters above earth. The newer, smaller planes are not so smooth, sorry to say.
2
When I was a military kid growing up in the Far East, we'd come back to the States every summer. It was around 1970 or '71 when we first flew the 747. Pan Am didn't fly it completely round the world yet, so we had to take a 707 from Hong Kong to Tokyo, then change to the 747 for the Tokyo-SF/LA leg. We were on the transfer bus between planes when we turned a corner and the mighty 747 appeared. Everyone on the bus gasped at the sight of the monster before us. My Mom, a former flight attendant for Cathay Pacific in the DC-3/4 days, was gripping the arm rests during takeoff saying "this thing isn't going to get off the ground!" These were the glory days of Pan Am and Northwest, with their 747's having 9 across in economy, making the trans-Pacific flights comfortable and fun. And movies projected onto the bulkhead screens. I remember a whole 747 of soldiers returning on a NW flight laughing their heads off watching Young Frankenstein.
5
As a Queens resident, my engineer dad would often drive us to the observation deck at Kenneday airport, where I got my first look at the majesty of the 747 when it made its first appearance at the Pan Am terminal.
Also, I didn’t get to fly one until my first trip to Europe on my 1985 honeymoon. We flew TWA many times in the years after that, always on a 747, and often on the coach seats by the exit door with unlimited legroom. In those days, you had to ask for those seats upon check in. Ivin
A great aircraft. In all my flights on the 747, except for one, I flew coach. But even there, with a big crowd in front of me, behind me, and on both sides, I always felt like I mattered. Much of that was the airline, but a good deal was due to the engineers and workers at Boeing who designed and built the plane. I'll miss her.
2
My dad worked for Boeing, so when I was 5 years old I got to ride a new 747 being delivered to Aerolinias Argentinas in the early 70s. There were only about 30 people on board. During the night the plane dropped violently about a thousand feet, then lurched upwards. I hid under the seat, and my mom thought we were dead, but the stewardess explained that we had just crossed the equator, and it was part of the initiation of the plane as a tribute to Neptune. I wonder if they still do that, or if its yet another tradition killed by the lawyers and insurance people.
5
I don’t believe that the 747 would have ever been created in a Trump, America-first, anti-globalist culture. The concept only works when you see the earth as one, inter-connected, interdependent whole obsessed with collaborating and interacting.
17
I'll always remember my first flight fondly, and the fact that it was on a 747 made it ideal. It was so comfortable, and I had a window seat. I regretted having to close the window so the old lady on the aisle could watch "Coal Miner's Daughter" on our way to LAX from JFK. The flight back was good too, but I had some stupid grouchy business type in the aisle this time. I love seeing the new 747-8's depart from Dulles when I'm in the area.
I too remember my first flight as a college student on a 747 in 1969 from JFK to London. I was 19 years old and it was quite a big deal for me and my friends! The size of this plane was so amazing especially after earlier flights on 707's.
1
The 747 remains my favorite plane. I like the A380 as well, but it just isnt the same. There is something about the shape and size that speaks of elegance. I have films and fond memories of going up that staircase to the second floor for the first time. Not all of the memories are great like how Lufthansa was still flying 747s without personal video screens on flights from Hong Kong to Frankfurt last decade, but it was still a nice ride. I was saddened when Air New Zealand stopped flying the planes and then United stopped flying them to Sydney from LAX and SFO. I purposely plan trips on Lufthansa to fly in the 747-8.
Climbing three flights of stairs into my first 747 flight (World Airways Oakland to London in 1975) I couldn’t believe it could fly. I was terrified.
I appreciate hearing about the majesty of the plane from others because I never got over that discomfort. Like another commenter, I also hated climbing over (sometimes multiple) other passengers in the economy hold.
In August, on a United flight from SFO to London, the pilot announced that our 747 was retiring in October. The lavatories were tattered and grimy and the tail-end rattled like a bread truck. It was a noisy, miserable, flight. Give me a Dreamliner anytime.
In the late 1980's my new husband and I excitedly planned our trip from LAX to Ireland - his first trip home in 7 years - and were tipped off to the secret of the upstairs, which by that time had been converted from a cocktail lounge/dining area to a regular economy class section on British Airways. There were about 30 seats up there, a dedicated flight attendant, and no crying babies! All that for economy fare. It was wonderful!
3
When I was in college, returning from Chicago to Denver for school, I flew in one of the first 747s (if not THE first) in Continental's fleet from O'Hare to Stapleton. I was apprehensive (I started flying in 1953 on a DC 3 as a very small child) because I just couldn't believe the plane could take off. And as we began our roll the plane lurched to a halt—a service vehicle had crossed the runway—confirming my worst fears, I thought at the time.
But as the years went by and I started to work for a living, I had cause to fly 747s to Europe a great deal and I found them marvelous. They seemed unfazed by turbulence, and the spaciousness of the cabins (at first tourist, then business later) was always comforting. The newer Boeing widebodies are fine, but they lack the grandeur of the 747.
The 747 is a magnificent ship, but how some airlines have used it makes for discomfort. Three seats between the bulkhead and aisle, six seats in the middle, three between the second aisle and the bulkhead. Nothing like the 'economy class' (are you sure, two seats abreast, food on china) shown in the picture of Pan Am service in the 70s. Best and most remembered 747 flight for me was on British Airways from Newark to London, when I had an economy seat aft, where the plane is narrower. I had a window seat, only one seat to my right and space between my headrest and the bulkhead in which to stuff pillows and then sleep, after seeing the lights of Halifax recede, to awake with a view below of England's fields of green.
1
I can remember my first flight on a 747 like it happened last week, not 1971. I was serving in the USAF in Germany at that time. My fiancé lived outside London and I was flying there to visit. I was lucky enough to get a ticket on a 747 TWA flight stopping at Heathrow on its way to DC. There seemed to be few passengers on the flight and the 747 was still new to the crew. In fact they invited the passengers to tour the plan before we took off. It was incredible. While the flight time was quite short the memories have lasted a lifetime.
Ah yes, when flying used to be fun.
Thank you for this lovely (and poignant) ode to the 747, Mr. Vanhoenacker. I still remember the thrill I had as a little girl flying on my first 747 and going up those stairs. And I'm sad to hear that there will be no more 747 passenger flights in the United States.
7
Summer of '69 driving through the Tacoma area saw a 747 flying low and slow, amazed to see something that big hanging in the sky. In later yrs while airplane spotting from the end of the runway watching a fully loaded 747 take off and pass 50' above us the roar of the mighty engines felt in every cell of the body. Still get chills thinking about.
2
I remember my first flight on a 747 in 1985. People Express - Newark to London Gatwick for our honeymoon. We were shuttled out to the huge plane after dark and climbed up the steep steps under the glare of a spotlight. A flight attendant pushed a cash register down the aisle after takeoff to collect the fare. Another attendant reminded the gentleman sitting next to me he could not drink anymore from the bottle he was clutching in a paper bag and had to purchase his alcohol on board. Beer $1.00 a can, assorted snacks and simple breakfast. A soccer team sat behind us buying 12 cans at a time. A British Airways 747 took us back to England five years later. We could now enter the plane from a jetway and enjoyed much better food along with the superb British attention even in coach, albeit at a somewhat more expensive ticket purchased in advance. Will always have fond memories of the spaciousness and comfort of this wonderful plane and what a thrill it was to fly on.
1
It was perhaps 1970 and my dad took the family to JFK for an excursion to see the new 747. We could enter the terminal with no security to speak of and go right to the gate to see the plane nose (mine) to nose (the 747). It was spectacular. My dad, an engineer, was in awe of the size and grace of the plane parked at the gate. His affection was contagious.
Years later (1981) I started my international business career before the fall of Pan Am and flew 747s "all the time". From a 747SP from LAX to Hawaii for refueling before on to Sydney. From the new 747-400s (short flights to give the pilots experience) flying in Germany on short hops to the 747s flying in Taiwan bought to be prepared for the takeover of the Mainland...the 747 was always my go-to favorite.
Flying on Pan Am in first class with the monster silver trolley with roast beef and the flight attendant with a giant carving knife cutting off slabs of beef for passengers. Alas, no more silver trolleys and no more giant carving knives.
This was also the plane that before they had computers to do it, the attendants used paper based notes. Sitting on a flight an attendant would ask "and so, Mr. Mennone, would you like your usual the Dewar's on the rocks?" How did they perform that feat.
The 747 made the impossible possible. In so many ways.
3
I have fond memories of many 747 flights, mostly JFK & EWR to LHR & LGW while working for Virgin Atlantic Airways. Also more than a few LAX/JFK trips, when American flew 747s on this route. On the first such flight my seat neighbors were the Ramones, returning to Noo Yawk exhausted from an Australian tour. To me the 747 is nonpareil. Thank you for the wonderful article.
1
I happened to be with Juan Trippe when he returned from signing for the first 747's. He imagined them as mainly air freight carriers as the common wisdom predicted an unlimited fleet of SST's for the future.
A wonderful plane in every respect.
3
I love 747's, and all Boeing planes, but am permanently boycotting all Boeing products. If America thinks it can bully Canada, it has another thing coming. There's a concerted effort starting up here to make sure no more Boeing products come to any Canadian airlines, and that no military products are purchased from Boeing by the Canadian government. You picked the wrong fight, Boeing.
5
Nothing spools up Canadians quite like a perceived slight on the part of the US it appears. In any event, Bombardier would’ve ceased operating years ago if not for the endless subsidies the Canadian and Quebec governments have provided it. The C-series is just one more example of a product being dumped on the market under cost hence Boeing’s legitimate complaint.
Make sure you turn off your GPS, and take with the smart phone you use, plus home internet service. One of the spin-offs of current Boeing GPA-IIA constellation is the emergence of PNT, or precision navigation and timing. That timing of GPS clocks provides the network timing base for most computer networks that home internet and cellphones rely upon as well as most global networks. Still want to boycott all Boeing products or just the commercial aviation? The CAF flies Boeing F-18s for Canada's defense, and most of North America is under the Boeing GMD anti-missile defense. and your Government is backdooring their own stated opposition to Boeing products by purchasing used F-18's from Australia to keep up appearances.
Thank you for bringing back memories.
1
As a kid, I was on American Airlines first 747 flight from LAX to JFK. Having only flown on 727s before, the size of the plane astounded me. It is a wonderful memory.
3
Some of my nicest memories were watching European bound 747s take off over Miami Beach on their way to Europe. Lying on the sand, I could not have felt more connected to the world. The timeless design of this beautiful aircraft is a marvel and emblematic of the beauty man is capable of creating.
5
I'm old enough to remember when Pan Am used the upper deck of some of its 747's as a dining room and bar -- if you were flying first class you could make a dinner reservation at a real table at the top of the spiral stairs. A marvelous way to break up the monotony of very long flights.
3
Sometime in the late 70's one of the airlines that flew 747's was contemplating landing them at Stewart Airport. I still remember the day when that big bird was circling Newburgh, over lower Dutchess County and back. Cars were pulled over on Rt. 9 watching the plane- everyone awestruck. Surprisingly my first flight on a 747 was 2 years ago on my way to Germany. It still has the "wow" factor!
3
This article has brings back two fond memories of this wonderful aircraft. In the early 70's, I traveled with my parents, now long deceased, First Class on a 747 from JFK to LAX. We were well traveled but the opportunity to enjoy dinner at a table for four was magical.
As a college student in 1976, I flew Pan Am from Dulles to Tokyo, with a stop in SF. Even in Coach there was an elegant buffet of beautiful foods and an air of graciousness.
These experiences were lovely and civilized in such contrast to today's world and traveling around it.
Thank-you for resurrecting these beautiful memories.
3
Surprised nobody pointed out that the President of the United States has flown in an adapted 747 since around 1987. It's a wonderful airplane and I've always loved flying on one from first class to cattle class.
P.S. I find British Airways to be an excellent service. Sounds like they found a great pilot and enthusiast to join their team.
5
As we think about this airplane we should also remember the tragedy of TWA 800, and the inherent flaws of the 747's center fuel tank design. Also, the importance of the Flight Engineer and their unsung role in keeping the operating systems (and pilots) in proper balance.
1
Inherent flaws? One highly controversial set of probable causes for one crash?
3
Recently, I flew on a Lufthansa-operated Boeing 747 and it was a superb ride during the trip to Frankfurt, Germany from Seattle, Washington and return. The safety record of the Boeing 747 has been superb.
Alas, I do not expect Boeing to develop and manufacture such a reliable, safe aircraft again. Still, thank you for the Boeing 747.
1
I think the Boeing 777 would qualify as reliable and safe airliner.
1
Boeing's problem:
Excerpt from the NY Times' article on Kobe Steel:
Now, Kobe Steel has acknowledged falsifying data about the quality of aluminum and copper it sold, setting off a scandal that is reverberating through Japan and beyond, and casting a new shadow over the country’s reputation for precision manufacturing, a mainstay of its economy.
Companies ranging from the automakers Toyota Motor and Honda Motor to aircraft companies like Boeing and Mitsubishi Heavy Industry said they were investigating the use of rolled aluminum and other materials from Kobe in their products. They also said they were trying to determine if substandard materials had been used in their products, and if so, whether they presented safety hazards. [end of the excerpt]
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/business/kobe-steel-japan.html?rref=c... .
1
In my early days of taking airplanes, in the early 1970s, my father, an aerospace engineer, was always excited for me. He loved air travel, airplanes, all things airborne.
But later in his career, when he had to deal with new hires, he'd come home worried. The new guys didn't, he said, have the same work ethic. Their designs weren't as neat as they should have been. Why not?
I still flew, but he wasn't as enthusiastic in the 1990s as he'd been in the 1970s.
I don't know about Americans' work ethic, though I have my doubts. But what about other countries and their desire to boost profits? Certainly nowadays, with our faulty Chinese rivets (used also on bridges) and, it seems, faulty Japanese steel, you have to wonder. Isn't it time for CEOs to take home fewer millions, pay a bit more, and build once again in America? When I was a kid, Long Island alone had three airplane factories. My dad was at Republic Aviation, later called Fairchild Republic.
Up front, the so-called Dreamliner doesn't hold a candle to the majestic 747.
I'm not sure what year marked my intro to the 747 but my first impressive memory was in 1977, a return flight from Munich to Kennedy. I was on a ski tour from New Orleans to Kitzbuhel, Austria (I happen to be in Vienna right now!).
One of my fellow travellers (who was in the next year to become my husband) had organized "awards" for all of us. We were all seated in coach but he managed to gain access to the "bubble" for our awards ceremony. In those days it was still used as a bar area, not filled with sleeping business class patrons.
After we received our "awards", our "leader" who had become known as a BSer got his: a box of Mozart cherry candies wrapped in foil with the master's portrait on each; BUT the jokesters had replaced the candy with turds from the horses along the streets of Kitsbuhel!!!
Now my second husband to-be, took me to from Kennedy (I still can't believe the TWA terminal is gone) to Malpensa in first class. While we weren't in the bubble, it was most memorable because we were on our way to Florence to become engaged.
Then--the extravaganza in 1996. A Delta/Air New Zealand combo--we were in the 1st glass bubble every leg--to Raratonga, Auckland, Fiji & back to LAX.
For 2 legs we were the only ones in the bubble. We had 2 attendees & access to the cockpit (remember, this was pre-9/11.
With that trip, I was spoiled rotten. Lately we've enjoyed the bubble on BA
The Best and Shining example of American ingenuity, can-do spirit and Cuztspah.....Boeing 747. Proud to be American.
3
Thank you very much for writing this. Your passion for your profession is contagious and inspiring.
7
Demise of the 747? You do know there a brand new ones flying around don't you? The 747-8 series.
He alludes to that in the article.
4
No USofA passenger airline will be flying the aircraft. That is the demise.
4
I remember flying on a 747 for the first time from Vancouver to Hawaii in the late 70s, when I was about eight. A kind stewardess noticed the drawing of a 747 I was working on and invited me up to meet the pilots. I can still remember the long trip from the rear of the plane, up the spiral staircase past First Class to the cockpit, where I was awed by what seemed to be a thousand gauges and a wall of white clouds beyond the windscreen. The pilots and the flight engineer humored me and asked how high I thought we were. Like probably most boys at that age, I was an aviation fanatic and knew what an altimeter looked like. They were all very impressed when I answered correctly. A special memory from a different era.
37
last time i was in frankfurt there was an airbus 380 parked next to a lufthansa 747 that i had just flown in on. the airbus dwarfed the 747.
remarkably big aircraft.
1
Did you ever see the original B747 proposals? Full double decks, but high wing. Why? It was based on the Boeing military C-X proposal that resulted in the C-5. The airlines rejected high wing as bad for ditching. Then came mid-wing. Only 75% of the passengers would drown. Then came low wing. The full upper deck was rejected due to the steepness of the escape slides and the limitations of escape slide technologies at the time. There was a early 747 crash landing at SFO where the aircraft tilted back on its tail and the slides got blown around in the wind. With today's technology Boeing would probably do something similar to the A380.
4
My father was one of the engineers who worked on the F-105 -- a plane he adored -- and later did jobs on other airplanes including the A-10 and the (sadly, never completed) SST. When I was a tiny child, we'd go plane-spotting at Floyd Bennett Field. "What's that one?" he'd ask. "A Super Saber," I'd say. "Right you are. And that one?" "A Cougar jet!"
He loved the 747. So did I. We'd watch it lumber by in slow motion over our heads at Breezy Point, filling the sky or, on summer days in the backyard, have to stop talking as it flew above our house in Brooklyn.
I miss the Concorde too. Now, that had a royal roar as it came in.
5
In 1971 at 16, I was bound for a summer in Israel from JFK on El Al. Like many of the passengers, I assumed we'd fly on a 707. I'll never forget the spaciousness and the bright colors as we boarded the 747, and will never forget the pride in the flight attendant's voice when she announced, "Welcome aboard El Al Israel Airlines NEW 7-4-7 chumbo chet."
7
I remember the thrill of boarding 747s as a child. Remember the TWA version with the piano bar lounge in the rear?!
5
What a ride.
3
Thank you, Mr. Vanhoenacker, for this wonderful ode to an iconic airplane. I often travelled to London on business in the 1980's, and frequently flew on 747's. On one of those trips, I gave a flight attendant my pilot's license as she served drinks and asked her if she'd mind taking it up to the cockpit when we'd leveled off at cruising altitude and asking the flight crew if they would be kind enough to let me have a look around. She came back in a few minutes, handed me back my license and said "the Captain tells me there really isn't much going on up there en route." Feelingly slightly disappointed, I started to thank her for inquiring when she continued, "but he said that he'd be delighted to have you come up and sit in the jump seat on our approach to Heathrow." Watching the crew manage the descent and landing at Heathrow from that vantage point is still one of the greatest experiences in my 40 years of flying. As we flared in the landing and the tires of the main gear met the runway, we in the cockpit were still at the height of a three-story building, some 50 feet in the air. It seemed to take forever for the nose to slowly drift down and the nosewheel touch. Mr. Vanhoenacker has certainly captured the 747 from all angles in this essay, its ability to inspire awe in pilots and non-pilots alike and its economic, historical and cultural significance.
59
Confort. Safety. Freedom!
2
PanAm used upper-deck seating for its Business Class passengers, and a flew up there many times. Climbing the spiral staircase when boarding, or mid-flight after a stretch-my-legs saunter around the cabin, it was impossible not to muse that this was an experience that couldn't be shared with passengers on any other airplane.
2
The various pictures shown of the interior, flight attendants/crew and service provided back in the day is a wonderful reminder of how elegant, classy and top shelf it was to fly in that area. I still recall the hats, gloves, the heels, and sophisticated uniforms the PAM stewardess used to wear. They were breath taking to watch. The standards were so high (no pun intended) and every member of the crew were flawless. It was in deed a different era back in.
But I must say, the only airline my husband and I travel is British Airways. Gosh, we love that airline. Every single flight has been flown smoothly, thanks to the remarkable pilots and aircraft, the attendants cannot be more helpful, happy, and professional. And the food - WOW - it seems that we are always being served something during our 8 hour flight. One time, my husband became extremely ill while we were over Canadian airspace. It would be another 6 hours before we landed, and I was extremely worried about him. Three attendants kept coming by, checking on us, offering everything they could to help him. Those folks made me cry because of the compassion and concern they showed.
Captain Vanhoenacker - I can truly appreciate and understand your love of flying and being a pilot at British Airways. Thank you for this wonderful article. You help lessen my anxiety of flying - which will never completely disappear.
14
Apologies for the error - I meant to write "Pan Am stewardesses."
I first flew on one of these as a teenager in 1970 when my parents took us to Japan (from New York). It must've been a dress rehearsal, because halfway through the trip, they ran out of everything to drink except for little cans of guava juice, a terrific laxative. It wasn't very long before each of the rest rooms had 10-15 passengers waiting in line. I recall finding this amusing, but my parents didn't see the humor. Then, we landed at Andrews Air Force Base (Guam) for refueling. If I recall correctly, Hawaii wasn't ready to service this beast of an airplane. Passengers were lined up in the shade with a bunch of armed military guys awkwardly roasting in the sun and keeping us from wandering around and sightseeing. None of us were dressed for the tropics, so everyone was dripping sweat, and the plane smelled like a locker room after we boarded again. It didn't matter to me, though. It was still an amazing machine and a cool experience.
9
I was lucky enough to walk through the first one as it was being built in Everett. I was simply awestruck at the size of it. I had flown on 707s and DC-8s, but this was something different altogether. Amazing aircraft!
3
I will miss the quiet upper deck....I'd rather fly business class upstairs than first on 747. And, of course, I'd rather be on a 747 than on any other commercial plane.
I'm sorry to have experienced the demise of the great service that used to accompany air travel but going on board the 747 always felt elegant. I'll miss the Queen when they retire her.
5
Let's not forget the engines, the P & W JT9D. Airplanes are simply a way to move the engines from one place to another in the air.
12
Where is the "LOL" icon? Great comment.
1
Nice bit of nostalgia from a pilot’s point of view about the 747, truly a grand airplane. And I am certain that another pilot could wax eloquent about the successor Dreamliner 787 in an accompanying article. However, from a passenger point of view, what struck me was the accompanying photograph of a meal being served in “economy class” back in the day. I remember one of those “economy” meals on my first cross country flight as a young man 40 years ago or so. It was a piping hot small steak dinner, served on china with silverware. Note, too, in the photograph that you can actually see that the seats were much wider with more legroom. I recall, after finishing my meal, sitting back with my legs crossed sipping coffee while gazing down on the farm land of the Midwest. Yes, legs crossed in “economy class“ — and I am 6‘2“. While we can admire the engineering feats of aircraft in the half-century or so since those days, we can only grieve the passing of the days when airlines treated human beings with dignity, comfort and respect.
108
I was a Pan Am F/A and I’m sorry to burst bubbles, but the photograph is not correct. That is the first cart in a First Class service. Not economy. Thus the wider seats and caviar.
17
Thanks, Mr. Elliot, that is what I suspected.
1
If the caption on the photograph is wrong, note that the photograph, and presumably information about it, was provided by the PanAm historical foundation. But it really doesn’t matter. In economy class back then I was able to cross my legs and I did get the steak dinner on china with silverware.
2
The glory days of air travel.
9
My first international flight was on a 747. In coach the seats were so wide I could not reach both armrests simultaneously. After a tasty dinner of coq au vin I curled my legs up into the seat and dozed. No TSA, no long lines,no fights for overhead bin space, smiling stewardesses, Those were the days!
36
June 1984: An Iceland Air 747 en route to Luxembourg via Reykjavik. Three stareyed teenagers on a high school European trip were invited one by one to stand behind the captain in the cockpit for a half hour or so each as we made our way across the North Atlantic.
Wow!
3
I will miss the 747.
The first time I saw one was at Vancouver airport with my parents in the 1970s. I was a teenager. They were called jumbo jets and were a big attraction. A crowd gathered around the window at Vancouver airport that looked out onto the tarmac. All eyes were fixated on the Air Canada 747 that was parked just beyond us.
As an adult, for two decades, my work required me to fly around the world. Much of my long-haul flying was done on the upper deck of a 747 in seat 13K. This was in the 80s 90s and early 2000's before the seat that converts into a bed with standard issue in business class. People say they hate flying but I always felt comfortable and safe on the upper deck of the 747. I would prop my feet up on my carry-on, cushioned with extra pillows (that were free back then), and have a long sleep or wake up in the middle of the night and snack on an ice cream bar or ramen noodles while we as the pilot flew us to New York or Hong Kong. Sometimes I would go downstairs and walk the entire length of the airplane just to stretch my legs ,always amazed at how long the aisles were.
The Queen will be missed.
31
The upper deck of a 747 is still the best real estate in the sky. I'll miss the Queen as well.
25
Nice, but I still believe the 727, which looks like a pigeon coming in to land, beats the behemoth.
At the tender age of 7, on the tarmac of Istambul airport, I remember seeing a 747 from below, its huge engines and vast expanse, "that's a 747", Pops says in the background.
The impression defies words, and I doubt I would have become a scientist were it not for that early morning.
6
I'm grateful that the 747 served me so well for the zillion miles I spent inside its body.
3
I'm a 'spotter' and photographer of airplanes and by far the 747's generate the most excitement among the spotter crowd. I see the BA 747 fly into KDFW daily and it never disappoints. Good article. Capt.
1
That photo of meal service in the mid-70s .... wow! I had to look twice, sure it was taken in business class. Look at those seats! Look at the arm rests between them! And the food - served on real plates!
Flying was truly better back then.
29
And nary a tank top nor flip flop in sight!
24
In 1970 my dad's ship was coming out of the shipyard in Long Beach and going to her new home port of Pearl Harbor. I'll never forget the day my he came home and told us that the navy was chartering a plane to move all the families over to Hawaii at once.
And then he unfolded a magazine picture of a 747. It was very dramatic, because the four of us kids had been begging him to take us to the airport just to see one. And now we were going to Hawaii on one! It was memorable, they zoned off a kids' area, but we got to go upstairs in the lounge and sit in the cockpit (before takeoff. It was not to be my only trip in one, but it was the most exciting. (It was a Braniff, a very groovy color scheme)
5
As a business traveler from the late 70's onward, I avoided the 747 as much as possible....perhaps the flip side of the sense of shear size and grandeur of which you speak. To me, boarding took huge amounts of time, deplaning was something you resigned yourself to because it took so long and the 3-4-3 seat layout upped the odds of an awful seat. 40% odds of a middle seat (compared to 33% on the DC10). Window seats were not desirable because any seat where you had to climb over two other people was a chore and you felt trapped. Add that 20% to the undesirable seating odds. On a DC10, with the 2-5-2 set up, only one seat in each row meant climbing over two other people, one out of nine seats. The 747 might have been a pilot's dream (I too learned to fly on a Cessna) but it was unfortunately a passenger's nightmare.
1
I remember when the 747's came out, but I must say I don't recall when I first flew on one. For me, a plane is always the vessel, literally and figuratively, to move me to some great moment in my life - a new job or adventure somewhere.
However I actually had an airliner epiphany when I first saw and flew on a A380 last year. I arrived at Dulles for an Emirates flight to Dubai, and when I got near my gate, I saw this enormous hulk, just about sticking it's nose into the terminal. I did a double take and looked for other aircraft nearby - sure enough - this plane dwarfed them all. When we boarded it was so huge, they used 2 gates - One for first class & business, and one for coach. Two boarding ramps for coach. I was blown away.
On my return from Dubai I upgraded to business class so I could get up on the upper deck. I was a giddy as kid, even though I have flown business or first class internationally many times. The climb up that stairway, the huge warren of cocoons for the 13+ hour flight, and the bar in the stern. I thought it was the coolest plane I'd ever been on.
While it wasn't the 747 that wowed me, I got that same wide-eyed thrill on the A380 after 50+ years of flying. I was thrilled that I was thrilled.
3
I too am an airline pilot, and I'll tell you that any time we're in the taxi queue waiting to depart, and a 7-4 is in view landing or taking off, even we workaday, seen-it-all-before types will stop what we're doing, cut the chatter, and just watch. Sure, the A380 and the 7-8 are amazing machines and are continuing to join people and ideas more economically, but they just don't have the same grace, either in the air or on the ground, as the 7-4. Long may she run.
38
Mr. Rettig - I don't know why, but I just love your post. The fact that "workaday, seen-it-all-before types will stop what we're doing, cut the chatter, and just watch" says something not only about the 747s but also about folks like you who still watch in quiet awe, amazement, and almost a pure reverence for the elegance and grace of these majestic machines. I see you guys as having a similar grace as these 747s. The only other time I have ever read or seen anyone admire "a machine" was whenever NASA would launch one of their spaceships. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and for putting a smile on my face.
1
There really is something majestic about the 747. It's one of the prettiest planes to ever fly. The skies will be a little bit less interesting when she is no longer seen up in the air.
5
Wonderful writing about about one of the greatest engineering achievements of the modern era. May the 747 fly forever.
4
It kind of lost it's good looks with the 400 and later passenger series' extended top deck hump... but as long as they are only gonna make the 8F freighter from here on out I have no complaints.
Two of my most memorable (in a good way) flights were on 747s -- and were not planned.
1) In 1990 I was booked on a connecting Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Hamburg. Passengers were directed to the tarmac to identify their baggage, and when I asked where I our plane was, a gate agent pointed to a shiny new 747-400 towering above us. It had just been delivered, and we were the first paying passengers. Lufthansa swapped out the smaller jet that we were initially booked on. I can't remember if the reason for this was to "break the plane in" or allow the mass of pilots -- who seemed to outnumber the passengers -- have a turn at the controls.
The plane was not on autopilot, as we flew relatively low over the German countryside, with a lot of banking and circling on a beautiful, crisp fall day, made even more enjoyable as I was upgraded to Business Class (my first time) and was given a gift bag commemorating the news that Lufthansa would soon be flying to Berlin after years of Allied occupation.
2. On a United flight from San Francisco to Chicago in '92 or '93, a 747 replaced the smaller jet that I was originally booked upon. As we made our descent close to ORD, an announcement was made that this was the retiring pilot's final flight of his career, and onboard was his wife, his ex-wife and her husband, his children and grandchildren. We circled Chicago while the flight crew told funny stories about the pilot's career -- and we all cheered when the plane landed.
26
Great tale.
My father was the 6th pilot at PanAm to fly the 747, eventually becoming a Senior Flight Instructor for the 747 in San Francisco. My brothers and I would visit Dad "at work" and were allowed inside the simulator many times. I was so proud of my Dad, a WWII fighter pilot with the Distinguished Flying Cross. Pilots today are so different than my Dad, and his fellow WWII cronies. The cockpit culture of today relies on a team, in my father's day, it was the Captain's world. As much as I loved my father, and knew him to be an impeccable pilot, I prefer today's cockpit culture. I just returned from Frankfurt last week on the 747-8, Business, in the upstairs cabin. As I climbed the stairs, I remembered that first time I walked into the 747 and just couldn't believe that darn thing could get off the ground! Once we were up, I glanced out the window and thought of my Dad. Oh how he would have loved to fly these new generation 747's.
44
My
My comment above: "A note to Mark:
Back in the day, circa 1982, I was on my first 747 flight on Pan Am's "circle the world" route, but only JFK-BKK. Coming back through Hong Kong we were delayed a day as the 747 was too heavy for taking off in the high Hong Kong temperatures. I was flying on a pass, bounced to lighten the load.
I enjoyed talking about this experience with my then Miami neighbor, a retired Pan Am pilot. He had the distinction of piloting both one of Pan Am's Boeing 314's (the Flying Boat) and one of their first 747's (~1970?).
I cannot even count the number of times the 747 has been a part of my life. From when that my parents took me to Kennedy Airport to see it for the first time in 1970 (Pan Am and TWA versions) to when I took my daughter home in a -400 from Europe. Goodbye Queen of the Skies, you will never be equaled and always missed.
3
Part of the beauty of the 747 is how it drove down ticket prices, enabling many who could never before afford to fly. It was the great equalizer.
2
I love the photo of the " Economy class meal service on a Pan Am 747 in the mid-70s." The seats are huge and all are happy unlike what would now be 4 seats in the row of two. Of course the fellow on the far right appears to have his cigarettes out ready for another smoke. Great article.
2
Tough it is. I was on one which blew up on take off from SFO in its early days, sometime in the '70's. The port inboard engine threw a turbine blade and started to burn. The crew, very cool, managed to get the fire out, circled around on the 3 remaining engines, and landed. We taxied to a remote part of the field while emergency trucks with screaming sirens chased us. We stayed on board until stairs were brought out and walked away.
Fuel was pouring onto the runway from rents in the wing tanks made by the engine debris. I walked over to where a puddle of fuel was forming to get a closer look at the wing damage. passengers were milling around all over the runway, nobody seemed to mind. I did take a couple of pictures, and I remember one of me pointing at the streams of fuel gushing from the wing. Of course I have no idea where that photo is now.
AA loaded us onto a 707 (Those were the days when planes were flying around only partially full, so we all fit) and provided free booze all the way to NY!
True story.
2
Mark, it is a gorgeous plane, the epitome of American quality and handicraft. The 747 is known as relentlessly strong and reliable in addition to being a thing of beauty --both to behold and to fly.
The constancy of the excellence of this aircraft contrasts unfavorably with the condition of the airline industry. While passenger safety remains superb, the experience of flying for all but the wealthiest of us has deteriorated so substantially that it has, sadly, lost all of its magic.
A shame.
18
I was an elementary school student in Seattle on the day the first 747 rolled out. The teacher brought a closed-circuit black-and-white TV on a cart into our room and class came to a halt as this unprecedented aircraft made its appearance. I believe all classrooms did this, at least at our school. It was a huge event in Seattle, where at the time the economy was almost completely dependent on Boeing.
Funny...the only time I have flown on a 747 was to Fiji. Landed in the predawn hours. And yes, I turned around and took photos. Never did that before or since.
Thanks for the this piece.
1
The first and only time I rode on a 747 was when my family returned from dad's assignment in West Germany during the bad old days of the Cold War. We flew out of Frankfurt's Rhein Main Airport, a facility that was newly expanded and shared runways with the US Air Force Base on the opposite side of the runway, on January 1, 1975. We flew aboard Pan Am Flight 1, an around the world flight that I believe by that time was flown solely by the 747.
Our plane had flown the leg in from Bangkok, Thailand and disgorged at least one stunningly unformed member of the Thai military, who I believe reboarded to continue on to New York's Kennedy Airport, our destination.
The 747 was big and impressive and I regret only not being able to visit the upper deck from our steerage seats below.
Remarkably, it did not seem to ride as well as I did in my only other experience with jumbo size aircraft, a Space A flight flight a couple of years earlier in a USAF C-5. There, the only room in the C-5 set-up permanently for passengers was on the second deck behind the wing. There, you sat backward, in military plane tradition, and enjoyed the views out of the total of 4 tiny windows shared among the roughly 100 passengers that space accommodated.
The ride in the C-5 was like the Cadillac of the Skies. I still don't understand quite why the 747 didn't measure up in this respect.
The 747 has the C-5 beat, hands down though, on seeing out.
1
My dad (Julius Walters, a Pratt & Whitney rep) was on board the first 747 to cross the Atlantic, heading for the Paris Air Show. It was pretty much the peak of his career.
Less than a year later, he brought me to the Everett Assembly Building, where we boarded that same airplane – the one in your lead photo, with all the logos on tha nacelle.
Nearly all the passenger seats had been removed, and the main cabin was filled with racks of test instrumentation for flights out around Mount Rainier. Even then, I had a feeling like I was a witness at Kitty Hawk, and I’m still proud and fortunate to have experienced aviation history.
I’ve never seen any plane as beautiful as the 747.
43
My first 747 was Swissair to Geneva on Christmas Day. An empty plane and I did not appreciate the luxury. But I slept on the empty five across section. 1973.
But I had a much more memorable flight in 1981. JFK-LAX. It was Pan Am. I saw a pretty girl with yellow pants and a wonderful smile. Neither of us cared about the movie so we ran into each other at the galley; we weren't seated near each other. I asked if she would have dinner w me in LA. After assuring her that I was was not married she agreed. We had our first date with Julia and Paul Child at the next table.
We have been together ever since and have now been married over 30 years. We both will always have a special spot in our hearts for the 747. PB
73
"To Fly!" was the inaugural movie in the Air and Space Museum, one of the earliest IMAX theaters in the US. This 1976 movie, showcasing IMAX's amazingly capabilities, provides a 26 minute short film on the history of flight concluding with several shots of a 747 slipping in and out of clouds in brilliant sunlight. I always thought this film (which clearly took a lot of Boeing help) might be the most effective advertisement for the plane ever made. It got me to schedule a flight. Although it seemed to vanish from domestic US flights pretty early on in favor of three engine wide-bodies, I have always preferred the intimate 747 upstairs deck on transcontinental flights. It will be missed.
It will be a sad day when the last 747 is parked, but engineering capabilities and new materials that didn’t exist when 747 was designed have enabled 787 to change air travel. Point-to-point replaced hub-and-spoke. Two reliable engines have replaced four (reliable) engines to burn less fuel and make flying more affordable while airlines can be more profitable. Also sad is the fact that the experience is ultimately worse than the early days of 747 with tight seating, poor behavior by some passengers and some airline workers, crowded airports, and the need for security that adds time to the trip. A nice vacation doesn’t start until you get off the plane at your destination and ends before you board for your trip home. Too bad.
5
I also remember my first 747, an American Airlines red-eye from San Francisco to JFK on Christmas 1970. I was 6 years old, and thrilled beyond belief. Now almost 50 years later, I am a pilot flying all over the world, and I still love seeing those planes.
3
An incredible and beautiful melding of technology and style. Yes, the A380 has surpassed her in certain size parameters but to say the Airbus is ungainly and lacking in grace would be an understatement. To those who only know of the 747 in recent years when she has been decidedly showing her age with more seats crammed in that when she first flew (nine across versus the now standard 10, plus far less leg room, for example) the fault for that lies with her operators and consumers. When this plane debuted she was truly astounding. To this day there is something about watching her take off that always draws looks and fascination.
The 747 has earned a place in the pantheon of great airliners with such stalwarts as the DC3, and will remain the Queen of the Skies.
1
How I loved flying on the 747 in the early 1970s. The coach class lounge was such a luxurious way to fly across the country for a young teacher on a budget. We'd wait until the seat belt sign turned off then bolted to the lounge to get a good seat on a couch for the rest of the flight. Such fond memories, and what a comparison to the cattle car analogy of flying today.
8
As newly married and "marooned" on Oahu during my stint in the Navy in the 1970's, my wife and I would gather at the Honolulu International Airport and gaze at the 747's as "wings to home" on the mainland. Beautiful, majestic aircraft. Thanks for the writing and insights about flying them.
2
My father, Larry Ackerson, was a pilot for KLM from 1946 to 1976. As his son, I had the great pleasure of flying nearly every commercial plane that KLM had in its fleet. Super Constelation, DC 7, DC 8, and then the first Boeing for the Dutch airline, the 747.
Some people are born with a silver spoon in their mouths, mine was an airplane. With all the perks of flying nearly for free, it was a great time in my life.
The 747 and the wonderful service the Dutch provided made flying from and to Schipol airport a continuing great experience. I miss both my father and the plane, I was a very lucky young man.
18
To this day, the sight of an airborne 747 coming in on approach to an international airport makes me stop in my tracks and just watch. This from a pilot who has flown more than 25 years and has seen plenty of airplanes! Simply a majestic bird.
22
Wonderful piece, I always loved the power of the plane at take off and the sheer grace of something that big with such beautiful lines gliding through the air. And the upper deck was a special treat.
2
Growing up, I flew on more 747s than I can remember. A 747 took my family from South Africa to the US when we emigrated, and then back and forth many times in the decades following as we went back to visit family and friends. My brother and I were always in love with them - we had little models and toy 747s, or would build them out of Lego (my brother was a master of that). Your piece so perfectly captures what enthralled those of us who love the plane. The grandeur, the proportions, and the design are so distinct in the sky and on the ground. The A380 may be newer and bigger, but it's just a giant bus - fun to sit in, but it has no grace against the sky. I'll never forget staring out a window by the wing of a 747 high over the Atlantic, in awe of those massive engines as daylight breaks over the horizon, or standing in the flight path by SFO as a 747 roars into the sky overhead. Truly an aircraft for the ages.
29
Thank you for this down the memory lane.
My own memory goes back to early 70’s when I started traveling for business and pleasure travel.
To lengthen its flying distance, a shortened so called 747 SP (Special Performance) was built. In early 80’s, on an inaugural flight of Braniff (then an upstart airline), my then wife, Cathy and I went non stop to Tokyo from Los Angeles. All leather decor and the whole plane what today is business class. We were may be 8-10 passengers together. I still remember those seats.
For business, we were then allowed to fly First - 7474’s were the best. With a lounge, upstairs seats turning into beds, it was just heavenly. I flew SAS 747 to Copenhagen from L.A. on my way to Kuwait (yes). I flew Thai Airways 747’s to Bangkok; with very few in the First upstairs - service was just phenomenal. Another memorable flight was a PanAm 747 to Moscow from NYC - when it was still the Soviet Union. Another story in itself.
However, now I do not really care for 747’s as 777’s and 787’s (especially its windows) and equivalent Airbus’s are so much more comfortable. The double decker 380’s is an amazing plane but with limited airlines.
I'm 67. I can't remember the first 747 I saw, but I can tell you this: Anytime I am driving past an airport and a 747 is approaching, it is very hard for me to keep from watching it defy gravity as it slowly and gracefully touches down. All other passenger jets look pretty much the same, but the 747 is (was?) one of a kind. I'll miss them
17
Driving west on the Belt Parkway, if you're lucky you can see it approach right over your head, a slow-motion behemoth. Very beautiful. After my aerospace-engineer father died, the sight of that beloved plane, so close above me, it seemed, would for at least a couple of years bring tears to my eyes.
I remember the first time I flew to Europe on Pan Am 747 (first class no less) as a boy with my parents. A magnificent, and elegant plane, only made better by the memories that carry on all these decades later.
Minus my parents, of course. What disappointments they turned out to be!
1
The thing that strikes me most in this article is the photograph of spacious seats and restaurant-like meal service in what the caption says is "economy class meal service in the mid-70s."
Just a few years later, the Airline Deregulation Act brought us lower flight fares at the cost of reduced services and cattle-car conditions, ushering in the age of discount airlines, baggage fees, and snacks for sale. Unlike the break-up of the Bell System telecommunications monopoly in the early 1980s, deregulation of the airlines brought us precious little in the way of innovation, either in technology or in customer services.
25
Deregulation brought far lower fares (in today’s dollars) than pre-deregulation.
True, conditions are worse, but flying had previously been the domain of the upper class and middle-upper-class, the only people who could afford it. Now it’s available to a far larger swath of citizens. And I think that’s good.
I’ve got some great memories:
As a child, I toured the brand new Pan Am 747 at JFK. Loved the upstairs lounge.
My first transatlantic flight was on a TWA 747,
3 times to Sydney, Australia,
And last month from Frankfurt to San Francisco on United upper deck business class. It was the smoothest landing!
2
She remains a magnificent sight, a distinctive beauty. Unique aircraft design is one of the many lost joys of modern aviation. It was fun to look at all the beautiful types when I was young. Now, I defy anyone other than a true connoisseur to identify whether an aircraft is an A320 a B-737 from a distance.
3
Thank you for this wonderful essay Mr. Vanhoenaker! While so many other aircraft types are ignominiously sent to the desert for scrap, the 747 is one that I will definitely miss flying. Before a recent departure, I had the chance to sit in the towering cockpit on the upper deck and talk with the pilots about their experiences. One had started as a flight engineer on the 747-200 and had spent his entire 40 year career flying the 747. Not being able to fly the aircraft was to him like losing a close friend or family member.
The 747's legacy is even more impressive in light of the fact that it was only meant as a bridge to supersonic passenger aircraft. The "queen of the skies" democrai
1
I remember watching one of the earliest 747s doing approaches to the airport in Montery, CA, when I was a kid. It was fantastic to watch something that big fly. Later, when I would walk under 747s and 777s on my way to work at Boeing, it was just as fantastic. It often made me think of that opening scene in the first Star Wars movie, when the space battle cruiser keeps passing overhead, and passing, and passing.
2
Marvelous, evocative essay! Great blend of nostalgia, biography, history, and design.
Well done!
7
I was 11 years old when I took my first commercial flight, Boston to New York. It was a gift from my uncle to accompany him to visit the 1964 Worlds Fair. I vividly remember walking up to this giant machine and hearing the roar of those bigger than life propellers. My uncle who traveled often, told me that there were airplanes that did not have propellers and were far more quite called jets. Well, I remember feeling very grateful that I was on a machine that had some sort of semblance of something that created wind just like birds needed to fly.
I remember exhibits like RCA color T.V. pavilion, a demonstration of a Jet Pack and the one showing a Picture Phone. I thought well, maybe he is telling the truth about a aircraft with nothing visibly creating the air and wind needed to fly.
My next flight was in 1971, A Pan American flight, the aircraft a 747. I was in awe for it was huge, so streamline, spacious inside and, no propellers,(admittedly,I did hold my breath a bit). I remember the take off experiencing a bit of a roar and what seemed to be a Nano second, I was viewing the ground from a afar and voila' into the clouds. I marveled at such an invention and even more, those gentlemen in a Pan American uniform up front driving this wonder of a machine called a jet!
Mr. Vanhoenacker
I thank you for sharing your story. I thank you for your years of on-going dedication learning your craft. I thank you for your years of service safely transporting so many of us.
38
As I am old enough to have been at Paine field for the first flight of a 747 and flown as a passenger during the days you had real china and real silverware to eat your real meal, today's air travel is but a pale and insubstantial comparison to yesteryear. Add to that the onerous security procedures which make me feel no more secure, and taking a flight these days is no better than a Greyhound with wings, prodded and poked like cattle by an unfeeling and unhappy airline staff.
90
I remember seeing my first 747, probably 1970-ish when I was a small kid in the backseat of my parents' car on the M4 heading to London; it was a Pan Am 100 seemingly floating on its final approach into Heathrow. One of those impressions you never forget. When the family moved to the US in the early 80's it was on a Pan Am 747, LHR to JFK; if memory serves it was the hot-rod, short fuselage SP version, but that may be wishful thinking. We got to sit in Business class, but two rows ahead of us in First class sat Richie Blackmore, rock god. I still look at 747's with total wonder and think about the stories those now parked and awaiting their demise in the Western US graveyards could tell.
2
A friend of mine, a 747 pilot in retirement, stated that his job was reduced to "driving a big bus in the sky". He took early retirement from American.