United Airlines 747 Sendoff

[y_p_w]

Nice blast from the (recent) past. I read about this on the last day.

United sends Boeing 747 into the sunset at SFO

Today United Airlines sent its Boeing 747 Queen Of the Skies into the sunset on a special...

www.sfgate.com

Departing SFO:

During the flight:

I like how they slapped some decal to sort of make it look like the 60s livery. And they put a gigantic lei on it when it got to Honolulu.

Also - this same plane did a last hurrah with a couple of demos during the San Francisco Fleet Week airshow.

 

[Astro14]

I wish I had been able to be part of the send off, or at least get my family on one before the retirement. It was a pilot's airplane. Fast, good handling, stable and it changed the world of aviation, the range, speed, and dramatically lower cost per seat mile greatly opened up international travel.

 

[GON]

Flew a handful of times on 747s, including a UA 747 from ORD to NRT on the upper deck. It was pretty tight in business class up there. I also did customs inspections on plenty of UA 747 chartered by the military landing at Pope AFB (now Pope AAF). I had to search under every seat, everywhere. Amazed what I would find, to include on the upper deck a barrel from a machine gun. Glad I found that, because once this 747 went back to commercial scheduled service, it probably would of been a major perceived concern. And the Soldier who was responsible for it was super happy... as his life would of been miserable for a missing sensitive item upon return from a 12 month combat tour. Time to party, instead be on lock down for him and his unit.

Most memorable 747 flight was on a KLM. It was a combo 747, half freight, half passengers. I had the very last row seat in coach. Right behind my seat was a thin wall. Behind the wall.... , the main deck cargo area... loaded with horses. I heard horses making noises for the ten hour flight. How weird was that....

 

[4WD]

I wish I had been able to be part of the send off, or at least get my family on one before the retirement. It was a pilot's airplane. Fast, good handling, stable and it changed the world of aviation, the range, speed, and dramatically lower cost per seat mile greatly opened up international travel.

We had to bus over for a connecting A321NEO and rode right past 5 of the 800i’s … much of the bus was still pointing, smiling, and talking about these awesome sky queens …
(love ‘em - just booked two more fights on the 800i)

 

[4WD]

Flew a handful of times on 747s, including a UA 747 from ORD to NRT on the upper deck. It was pretty tight in business class up there. I also did customs inspections on plenty of UA 747 chartered by the military landing at Pope AFB (now Pope AAF). I had to search under every seat, everywhere. Amazed what I would find, to include on the upper deck a barrel from a machine gun. Glad I found that, because once this 747 went back to commercial scheduled service, it probably would of been a major perceived concern. And the Soldier who was responsible for it was super happy... as his life would of been miserable for a missing sensitive item upon return from a 12 month combat tour. Time to party, instead be on lock down for him and his unit.

Most memorable 747 flight was on a KLM. It was a combo 747, half freight, half passengers. I had the very last row seat in coach. Right behind my seat was a thin wall. Behind the wall.... , the main deck cargo area... loaded with horses. I heard horses making noises for the ten hour flight. How weird was that....

Used to fly the KLM combi out of Houston … yeah, it was always interesting what came along.
Never completed the Delftware set … kept forgetting and getting the same ones, LoL

 

[y_p_w]

I've been on several 747 flights over the years. Definitely the 747-400 a few times, including Malaysian Airline System LAX-HNL and back, United PVG-SFO, and Air New Zealand LAX-AUK and back, although that was primarily a trip to Australia where we flew on smaller aircraft for the connecting flights. To Honolulu was courtesy of an airline employee's buddy pass, as a favor to a travel agent relative of mine. Got to ride business class in the front (not upstairs) on the way over, but I couldn't get that on the way back. Interesting seeing all the planes at Hickam including an F-15 and C-5.

I think I flew on a 747-100 in the 70s, but I'm too young to remember it. But I do remember a few trips on a 747SP. Those were funky. I think they were the first that could make it from the west coast to Asia or Australia without refueling in Hawaii or Alaska (obviously just for Asia).

 

[PimTac]

Last week as I started my morning walk I heard a unique sound and looked up. It was a 747 and appeared to be a Qantas one at that. Qantas doesn’t fly up this way so I was curious as to where it was headed. The following morning I saw another Qantas 744. The Roo was distinct.

My guess is that they are bought by someone. Conversion?

 

[y_p_w]

Last week as I started my morning walk I heard a unique sound and looked up. It was a 747 and appeared to be a Qantas one at that. Qantas doesn’t fly up this way so I was curious as to where it was headed. The following morning I saw another Qantas 744. The Roo was distinct.

My guess is that they are bought by someone. Conversion?

Planespotters lists 10 of their 747-400s as stored and one as preserved. Where did you see it? It looks like most of them are stored in boneyards in Southern California (San Bernardino, Victorville, Mojave) and one is stored in Sydney.

Login required | Planespotters.net

www.planespotters.net

 

[PimTac]

Planespotters lists 10 of their 747-400s as stored and one as preserved. Where did you see it? It looks like most of them are stored in boneyards in Southern California (San Bernardino, Victorville, Mojave) and one is stored in Sydney.

Login required | Planespotters.net

www.planespotters.net

This was over Tacoma like it was landing at SeaTac.

 

[y_p_w]

I wish I had been able to be part of the send off, or at least get my family on one before the retirement. It was a pilot's airplane. Fast, good handling, stable and it changed the world of aviation, the range, speed, and dramatically lower cost per seat mile greatly opened up international travel.

Just curious about what a modern airliner would do when flown like that at an airshow. I was reading some of the comments in a YouTube video of one of those Fleet Week demos, and some comments were that the pilots would be hearing the automated warnings saying "Terrain, terrain, pull up!"

I saw some scene from a movie that didn't make the final cut, and they showed one military transport pilot sleeping while the other is distracted and doesn't even notice the terrain warning until the other co-pilot woke up.

 

[y_p_w]

 

[Dave Hess]

This was over Tacoma like it was landing at SeaTac.

Does Boeing do conversion or is it done by a 3rd party company ?

 

[PimTac]

Does Boeing do conversion or is it done by a 3rd party company ?

Third party but Boeing probably has input on any modifications.

 

[Astro14]

Just curious about what a modern airliner would do when flown like that at an airshow. I was reading some of the comments in a YouTube video of one of those Fleet Week demos, and some comments were that the pilots would be hearing the automated warnings saying "Terrain, terrain, pull up!"

I saw some scene from a movie that didn't make the final cut, and they showed one military transport pilot sleeping while the other is distracted and doesn't even notice the terrain warning until the other co-pilot woke up.

I would have to try it out in the simulator - while we retired the 747-400 and the simulator bays now have 787 and 737 MAX in them - the Honeywell EGPWS* system is the same across airplane types. It would probably be giving the "Too low, terrain" warning.

The demo flights are flown by our engineering/test pilots. Regular line dogs like me don't get to do the fun stuff...

I will say that in the simulator, low altitude, high speed flight will trigger a warning, but that the rate of descent makes a difference. You can fly the 747, or 767, under the Golden Gate in the simulator and you will get all sorts of warnings. EGPWS is very unhappy with that particular set of parameters...

But our demo guys look to be about 300-500 feet in level flight, which may not trigger the system. I honestly don't know.

*Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System - uses Aircraft position, a worldwide terrain database, radar altimeter and flight parameters like rate of descent to provide warnings. It knows when you're near a runway and inhibits the terrain warnings while still allowing configuration warnings, like "too low, gear" if the gear isn't down and the airplane is below 800 feet RA (radio altitude).

 

[john_pifer]

I've been on several 747 flights over the years. Definitely the 747-400 a few times, including Malaysian Airline System LAX-HNL and back, United PVG-SFO, and Air New Zealand LAX-AUK and back, although that was primarily a trip to Australia where we flew on smaller aircraft for the connecting flights. To Honolulu was courtesy of an airline employee's buddy pass, as a favor to a travel agent relative of mine. Got to ride business class in the front (not upstairs) on the way over, but I couldn't get that on the way back. Interesting seeing all the planes at Hickam including an F-15 and C-5.

I think I flew on a 747-100 in the 70s, but I'm too young to remember it. But I do remember a few trips on a 747SP. Those were funky. I think they were the first that could make it from the west coast to Asia or Australia without refueling in Hawaii or Alaska (obviously just for Asia).

That older livery is so much better than their current one!

 

[wpod]

50 years is a long service life for a plane for a major airline and what a beautiful plane the 747 . The 777 is my other favorite.

 

[y_p_w]

50 years is a long service life for a plane for a major airline and what a beautiful plane the 747 . The 777 is my other favorite.

To be fair, it's not really the same aircraft. However, I'd note that the 747-400 was introduced more than 30 years ago.

 

[4WD]

We had to bus over for a connecting A321NEO and rode right past 5 of the 800i’s … much of the bus was still pointing, smiling, and talking about these awesome sky queens …
(love ‘em - just booked two more fights on the 800i)

A Queen just brought me home - had a bulkhead center aisle in business - wider than the A330 seats for sure

 

[edyvw]

A Queen just brought me home - had a bulkhead center aisle in business - wider than the A330 seats for sure

View attachment 70969

I think I am flying that exact route next week on 8'. Not sure yet.

 

[billt460]

Since this is about the 747, I never knew Kalitta Air, (Connie Kalitta from drag racing fame), operated their own machine and fabricating shop to service all of their aircraft. They have the capability to completely rebuild a 747 from the ground up... Engines and all. Amazing operation that employs well over 1,000 people. They even have the ability to train their own pilots.