Farewell to the wonderful 747

[thaibeachlovers]

Saw a doco on the BBC this morning. Apparently most of the passenger 747s are being flown to the US desert to be broken up. Not wanted anymore- too big, too many engines. Some will become freighters.

 

I'm sure most of us traveled to LOS on one at some stage. I did for over 10 years on THAI.

 

Goodbye to the wonderful plane that has flown for 50 years. Born in the time of great and marvelous technological advances ( 1960s ) and died because of corona.

[lust]

I’ll be sure to light a candle for them tonight..

[metisdead]

My dad was in the US Air Force and stationed at Rhein Main Air Force Base, that was on the other side of the Frankfurt International Airport in Germany.  We went on the airbase ring road and watched the first flight arrival of the 747 which was flown by PanAm.  Definitely impressive back then. 

[Silencer]

If you have a plot of land...and access to electricity....it would make a fun home (for a large family), restaurant, bar, meeting hall. Hopefully some will be turned into something interesting.

[thaibeachlovers]

36 minutes ago, Silencer said:

If you have a plot of land...and access to electricity....it would make a fun home (for a large family), restaurant, bar, meeting hall. Hopefully some will be turned into something interesting.

Yes, a company is doing just that. One can buy a cockpit and pretend to be a pilot, or buy the upstairs lounge etc.

[Oliver Holzerfilled]

39 minutes ago, Silencer said:

If you have a plot of land...and access to electricity....it would make a fun home (for a large family), restaurant, bar, meeting hall. Hopefully some will be turned into something interesting.

There is one made into a hotel at Schiphol airport.

[pgrahmm]

When they first rolled out Pan Am parked one next to/overlooking hwy 101 at SFO to display & giving tours.....

It looked enormous, hard to imagine it could actually fly.....

It's served well, a proud bird....

I think the 380's are out of production now, so goodbye to the jumbos.....

[thaibeachlovers]

4 minutes ago, pgrahmm said:

When they first rolled out Pan Am parked one next to/overlooking hwy 101 at SFO to display & giving tours.....

It looked enormous, hard to imagine it could actually fly.....

It's served well, a proud bird....

I think the 380's are out of production now, so goodbye to the jumbos.....

They were built for a different world that has probably vanished as the pre industrial revolution society vanished.

[Moonlover]

46 minutes ago, Oliver Holzerfilled said:

There is one made into a hotel at Schiphol airport.

Not a hotel actually and it's not at Schiphol. It's been moved to the Corendon Hotel about 12kls from the airport. They plan to turn it into an aviation theme park experience. It sounds like a very interesting project. See the link below for an interesting read.

 

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/corendon-boeing-747-has-landed-in-hotel-garden-871754040.html

[transam]

2 hours ago, Oliver Holzerfilled said:

There is one made into a hotel at Schiphol airport.

There is one parked up in Ubon at, I think, a University on the Ubon town ring road....

[billd766]

At least if you turn it into a house there will be plenty of toilets and kitchens available.

[xtrnuno41]

6 hours ago, Silencer said:

If you have a plot of land...and access to electricity....it would make a fun home (for a large family), restaurant, bar, meeting hall. Hopefully some will be turned into something interesting.

Maybe have a cruise ship then lots of things are done then, lots of rooms, big kitchens and so on.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/cruise-ship-demolition-photos-aliaga-turkey/index.html

 

[Burma Bill]

For nostalgic reference, photo of one of the last two BA 747-400's taking off from London Heathrow yesterday for Cotswold Airport (formerly RAF Kemble) to join others. St. Athan (MOD) in the Vale of Glamorgan is another "parking area". My memories are flights with BA to Hong Kong, THAI to Bangkok and EVA AIR, also to Bangkok.

 

This is Cotswold Airport:-

[Skeptic7]

Was in the aviation industry for 35 years and the B747 was, indeed., my very favorite. Especially the 747-400...although the -100 & -200 were were sweet predecessors. ????

[GinBoy2]

Sad to see them go, but it's always good to recognize when it's time to hang up the shingle.

 

I have many happy memories of flying on 747's of various configurations and airlines, never disappointed.

 

Good thing they were conceived at the right time, hence their longevity.

 

But things have changed, the economics, the desire for point-point and it's time to move on.

 

The poor A380, as beautiful a piece of engineering as it is, was just a couple of decades too late, and will sadly see its fate in the scrapyards along with the passenger 747s, way too soon.

 

So as much as it's sad to see the Jumbo and the super Jumbo go, the ETOPS twin jets are the industries immediate future

[Aussiepeter]

My favourite aircraft too. Flew to LOS umpteen times over thirty years in 747's with Alitalia, Thai and even BA once. I was lucky enough to be the bod in charge of taking Australia's last 60 WW1 Gallipoli Veterans back to Turkey for Anzac Day 1990, in a QANTAS B747 when I was still in the military. One of the perks was that the Captain let me sit in the "jump" seat just behind him on take-off from Sydney. Absolute thrill. Never be allowed to do that these days. Several years ago I got a load of spare 747 windows and other aircraft bits 'dirt cheap' at an auction as one 'lot'. Still have about a dozen windows but so far, I've never really worked out what they could be re-purposed for. We have re-purposed a Lockheed Tristar seat tray though - it is in our bathroom. Always gets comments. 

 

[GinBoy2]

4 minutes ago, Aussiepeter said:

My favourite aircraft too. Flew to LOS umpteen times over thirty years in 747's with Alitalia, Thai and even BA once. I was lucky enough to be the bod in charge of taking Australia's last 60 WW1 Gallipoli Veterans back to Turkey for Anzac Day 1990, in a QANTAS B747 when I was still in the military. One of the perks was that the Captain let me sit in the "jump" seat just behind him on take-off from Sydney. Absolute thrill. Never be allowed to do that these days. Several years ago I got a load of spare 747 windows and other aircraft bits 'dirt cheap' at an auction as one 'lot'. Still have about a dozen windows but so far, I've never really worked out what they could be re-purposed for. We have re-purposed a Lockheed Tristar seat tray though - it is in our bathroom. Always gets comments. 

 

Earlier this year I was at a Delta training class in Atlanta and i went to the museum, which has an attached store where you can buy a bunch of random stuff, from seats, tray tables, to the old pneumatic headsets.

 

I fully expect a bunch of ex-747 stuff will be on the market shortly

  

[473geo]

Yes fond memories of thundering down the LHR runway in a Thai Airways jumbo, quite an exciting start to a holiday, A380 didn't quite convey the same effect of raw power, although clearly must have been the case.

 

[GinBoy2]

30 minutes ago, 473geo said:

Yes fond memories of thundering down the LHR runway in a Thai Airways jumbo, quite an exciting start to a holiday, A380 didn't quite convey the same effect of raw power, although clearly must have been the case.

 

I always came away with the same feeling with the A380 versus the 747.

 

The 747 was exciting, the A380, while quiet, fairly comfortable felt more like a retirement home

 

The 747 compared to the A380 was noisy. But that was part of the charm.

 

You could argue that Concorde should have been an abject failure because it was an incredibly noisy, cramped aircraft, but it was loved by those who could afford it

Edited October 10, 2020 by GinBoy2

[holy cow cm]

My all time favorite airplane. So sad to see it go. I just mentioned this to my family at  the dinner table the other day. I would love to make one into a home. BKK has that remnant of one on Ramkamhaeng road.

[Oliver Holzerfilled]

6 hours ago, Moonlover said:

Not a hotel actually and it's not at Schiphol. It's been moved to the Corendon Hotel about 12kls from the airport. They plan to turn it into an aviation theme park experience. It sounds like a very interesting project. See the link below for an interesting read.

 

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/corendon-boeing-747-has-landed-in-hotel-garden-871754040.html

You are correct.  Getting my cities crossed.  It's Jumbostay hotel at Arlanda 

https://www.jumbostay.com/

Flown in a KLM 747 a few times from Schiphol.

[bert bloggs]

so very many happy hours spent on them with Eva and Emirates, glad i was able to afford it and do it ,especially being bumped up to business class quite a few times.

[MarkyM3]

A beautiful aircraft and truly iconic but I never had a massive fondness for it as a passenger. Noisy and sideways movement was pronounced at back of aircraft.

 

Flew several times on EVA and TG 747s from LHR to BKK (TG aircraft were clapped out) but much prefer the 777/787/A350 comfort.

 

Also really liked the A380 flying experience though it's fugly and was 10+ years too late and has no cargo conversion.

Edited October 10, 2020 by MarkyM3

[Moonlover]

45 minutes ago, Oliver Holzerfilled said:

You are correct.  Getting my cities crossed.  It's Jumbostay hotel at Arlanda 

https://www.jumbostay.com/

Flown in a KLM 747 a few times from Schiphol.

Yes, I found that one later myself. Here's another unusual use for a retired Jumbo. This was featured in a BBC series on spectacular homes.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/747_Wing_House

[tifino]

there is a decent planespotting channel over on Facebook. 

I've ben watching as each dwindling numbers of 747s lifted off to the nether lives end... 

 

last two BA 747s leaving...

 

this was their latest general video 

 

 

 

a good sub channel

 Big Jet TV

 

this is the library archive of a;ll the 747 final departures from Heathrow... 

 

Edited October 10, 2020 by tifino

[billd766]

3 hours ago, xtrnuno41 said:

Maybe have a cruise ship then lots of things are done then, lots of rooms, big kitchens and so on.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/cruise-ship-demolition-photos-aliaga-turkey/index.html

 

A good idea but as we live nearly 400 km from the sea I don't think I could get a cruise ship anchored in the local klong, especially as the klong dries out in the dry season. In addition I am not sure if I can find a trailer big enough to tow a 60,000 ton ship behind my pickup truck.

[GreasyFingers]

There were two at Phitsanulok airport but I think there is only one there now. Externally they were in poor condition but maybe they are restoring the interior.

[impulse]

Is this one still there?

 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/airplane-graveyard-in-bangkok

 

[The Theory]

It always brings "Executive Decision" movie to my mind. ✈️

[The Theory]

17 minutes ago, impulse said:

Is this one still there?

 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/airplane-graveyard-in-bangkok

 

charging an entry fee to tourists curious to visit the planes. The fee is not fixed and varies over time and reports range from 100 to 800 baht per person.   ????????????????????  to look at leftover bones of dead aircraft !!!