The final 747-8 LN1574 exits from Bldg 40-21 - the birthplace of every jumbo since 1968. End of an era. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Final Boeing 747 rollout for ‘Queen of the Skies’ https://www.seattletimes.com/business/final-747-rollout-for-queen-of-the-skies/ .
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Yep I was just going to post this. The end of an era. I remember when they first flew how excited the world was about aviation and jet travel. Now, its all body and bag searching and cattle packing. The future was bright then... where did we go wrong? My first real job out of college was working in Everett in the 747 factory. What a treat. I could see them test flying the planes including Air Force One. My first 747 flight was 1980: LA to Narita on Pan Am flight 1. In those days the pilot came out with a map, taped it to the side of the lav, and drew a line of our flight route. Then he marked off the hours with a pen so we could follow long about where we were at any given time. One small TV hung from the ceiling for each class of coach or business or even firsts class. They all ran poor quality VHS movies and we all wore those old fashioned air tubes to listen in. Later in the early 90's they passed out portable DVD players to everyone in business and above with 20 DVD's you could select to watch. 3 million miles I have flown in 747's. I flew on every model including an SP and the last 747-8 on Lufthansa Hong Kong to Frankfurt. LA/ Narita. SFO / Hong Kong. SFO Sydney. SFO / London. SFO / Paris CDG. SFO / Frankfurt. Hong Kong / Frankfurt. Hong Kong / London. I also did around the world on Pan Am flight 1 and some Alitalia (also 747). LA to Taipei. Taipei to Hong Kong. Hong Kong to Bombay. Bombay to Rome. Rome to London. London to NY JFK. JFK to LA. Over the years the 747 was updated but the character of the plane never changed. Now I like the Dreamliner and its quiet, smooth ride and much better creature comfort. But somehow the 747 is still my favorite.
Final destination, Atlas Air cargo . Image Unavailable, Please Login . Image Unavailable, Please Login .
One of the things I did at Boeing was graphic design for the 747's. Its pretty limited what you can do and I was a junior person so they gave me the assignment on a Cargo plane for UTA airlines. I never heard of them but what the heck. Its a cargo plane so they gave me the proper template to work with. No windows so its easier. I guess it was so easy they figured I couldn't screw it up. So the Marketing team gave me the logos and idea and I had to do the final placement on the plane. Then someone in marketing showed it to the client and if they approved, it went to the engineers. It took me less than a 1/2 day. No computer back then. I just pasted the graphics on a 747 rendering with rubber cement. A few months go by and I get a phone call (actually my boss did because we didn't have phones on our desks). He says I need to go over the paint shack. The plane I was involved with is being painted and the President of the company of UTA wants to talk to me. I'm like... OK. Now what did I do? The paint shack is on the opposite side of the highway so hop on the Boeing shuttle (more like a golf cart) to cross over to where the plane is. Its really cold that morning so we are all bundled up. The door to the paint shack is open and I see this all white 747 with my graphics on it and a huge UTA logo on nose of the plane. I'm like: Wow it looks pretty good! They drop me off with 4 people standing underneath it looking at the plane. I have no idea what's going on but I am really nervous. I'm only 21 at the time and barely out of school. They introduce me to the President of UTA. He's French. Speaks no English. The Boeing Marketing guy interprets for us. They ask me a question. So the question was -- why does the U look lower than the T and the A in their logo? From standing on the ground the U really looks a lot lower. From the side view it looks normal but even still the U is lower. Now, I used their logo. I didn't modify it but I knew the answer from school. Letters that are rounded on the bottom (like a U or a lower case "a") are a little lower than the rest of the alphabet because if they were on the same line, they would look higher. Its a visual trick but on this curved nose of the plane its overly exaggerated. So I gave them the answer and they were happy. I'm like --- WHEW! Can you imagine what would have happened if I said "I don't know"? Now they are all happy so I ask the President of UTA what this plane is going to do. He explains to me that the only use of this plane will be to fly car parts from Libya to France to build Citroens. But that was not the only 747 I worked on that I actually saw. I worked on the 747 SP for the King of Saudi Arabia. Its still flying. Every once in a while it would show up at LAX. It flew for the first time about 6 months after I left.
I'm lucky enough to live close to the final approach of the Tullamarine in Melbourne ,still as a 64 year old can hear the cargo 747s approaching from miles away and still go outside and watch them flyover . The thing about the cargo 747s as an observer is ...the pilots chuck 'em around more and throttle them up and down on approach more than passenger aircraft . Look forward to this and the other 3 new Atlas Air 747-8s flying over in the coming years /decades . Queen of the sky.
A good friend of mine was the first PIC of that plane. Had lots of pix of him, the royal family, and dozens of wives/sons/daughters/cousins/hangers-on onboard and various airports, mostly Europe and the South Pacific. Best pic was the king in the left seat airborne somewhere!
That 747 was the first to get rid of the spiral staircase to 1st class. The Saudi's didn't like the idea that someone could look up a dress of a flight attendant. After Boeing did the engineering and tooling, all the airlines adopted it. It also had an operating room. It was an SP so it could fly non-stop from Saudi Arabia to Cleveland -- where is heart doctor was.
I forgot to mention I also flew on the 747 Combi. I bet not many people in America have. Half passenger half cargo. EVA (Evergreen) airlines from Hong Kong to Taipei. Only 1 hour! Evergreen is a Taiwan based shipping company. It graduated from boats to air cargo then decided it could be a passenger airline.
Flew on a few South African Combi's. Then one went down due to cargo fire and they stopped flying as Combis. Like you have flown all the variants, except for me the -8. Was it the same or in some way a bit different as the other versions were to eachother?
The Dash 8 reminded me more of the A380. The interior was much more modern and the lavs much nicer. But then it was Lufthansa which usually configures its planes nicer than United. Much better overhead storage too and modern seats with TV screens.
Really disappointed we couldn’t come up with a special livery for this airplane. Slapping on a sticker just doesn’t do it. Image Unavailable, Please Login
For fans of the 747, the December issue of the British magazine Airliner World has a lovely 28-page tribute to the Jumbo that includes an annotated isometric cutaway drawing and a nice two-page spread showing some of the wild colors painted on 747s by Asian and Australian airlines. The magazine also comes with a 22" x 30" folded poster showing all the 747 variants and a timeline. Incidentally, sister magazine AIR International has a six-page article about the phaseout of the SOFIA aircraft modified from a 747SP. Both magazines are now on sale at Barnes & Noble stores in the U.S. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Did you ever see the Saudi King's 747-300? 3 story elevator (cargo hold, main deck, upper deck). Design by Syd Mead.
Sad.... I only ever flew a 747 to Taipei (Evergreen Air / EVA) but got to do that 17 times and loved it every time. I never got first class but was always in their next level down, Business Plus I think they called it, up in the nose in the huge seats. Such a wonderful plane and being way forward there was virtually ZERO engine noise. I used to tell people it's like sitting in your living room for 12 hours, then Voila! you're in another continent Such a great plane... but at least they sold a bazillion of them and they'll still be flying probably long after I'm gone Jedi
I worked on it. Designed some minor parts for it (I was on the bottom of the totem pole). I designed some of the details in the King's shower. Yes, it had a stand up shower in the bedroom suite in the nose of the plane. This plane had a medical operating room in it that I was told could do a heart transplant if needed. I saw it as a full sized mock up. Originally there was a plan for disco lounge that was supposed to be in the lower cargo area but it was too expensive and the ceiling too low. Also there was to be a stairway that came out of the cargo area and folded down. That also was cut I think for various reasons. I believe the cargo area remained in the final version. I asked once where they were supposed to store the luggage and I was told the King had a 707 follow the plane with the luggage for everyone on board. Its good to be the King. The interior had lots of gold plating everywhere. Also it had TV's (before flat screens) that rolled up into the ceilings. The most interesting thing (that at the time I had no understanding of) was that in the ceiling they had dials that always pointed to Mecca. The reason being they could pray at anytime in the correct direction. Some kind of magnetic compass mechanism. The cabinetry that was in the meeting room had small wood details that were inlaid. To do this, they brought over violin makers from Austria. The original spiral stairway was redesigned to be the straight stairways we have today. The Saudi's paid for the R and D and tooling. They didn't like that someone could look up at a female's dress going up the stairs. It was so popular that it became the new standard. The plane was built in Everett and flown to Renton to be fitted out. I walked through the interior construction once and watched the seats going in, inspected the cabinetry, etc. It might have been the only time I was in the Renton facility. It was many months away from its test flight when I left.
The -300 was done at Dee Howard in San Antonio. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
You can see the Mecca dial in the ceiling of these. A round dial with an arrow. Looks like a giant clock with one hand. The final product did not look like this but it was pretty similar. I think the window curtains did not pass FAA review so it had standard shades. The burlewood topped cadenzas had a gold trim border around the inlay if I remember. Super hard to do. A lot of changes were made for cost, weight, and engineering. But it looked a bit similar in tone I would say. That is the shower I worked on. Just the small details of the controls and faucets and how it integrates in the wall (and survives a 9 G pull!) Believe it or not, the Saudis were very cost conscious and always suggesting alternative cheaper ways to get what they wanted.
I read 747s and a380s are getting pulled out Of mothballs and put back into passenger service because of the surge in international travel and the delay in delivering new 777s
There was a German scientist with the name Hans Kleinwaechter who was involved in the V2 programme of the Nazis. He was a specialist in navigation systems for the rocket. After the war he helped the Egyptians with their rocket program to attack Israel. Sometime in those years he developed a compass always pointing to Mecca. He then started a company in Lörrach at the Swiss border marketing his Mecca compass and already in the 1970s developing Solar panel systems. There was an assasination attempt on his life sometime in 1963, most probaly by the Mossad. Maybe the compass system in the 747 was still based on his engineering.
