On its final flight, VH-OEJ traced out a giant flying kangaroo over the Pacific Ocean on its flight path. I watched it being created live on flight tracking software, it was a very classy farewell gesture.
I worked as a mechanic for years on those QF B747 at LAX. Gone and retired like me. Sad, but it felt good putting in the hour to turn those aircraft around and are maintenance ready to go back to SYD or MEL. Retired with memories. Thanks QF.
I was privileged to be part of the team in 2001-2002 who manufactured the first 747 ER tanks at Marshall Aviation Cambridge England under licence for Boeing. His Majesty Prince Philip also paid us a visit during the production phase of the second tank.
I had the privilege of flying a midnight flight on a 747-400ER from MEL to HKG in 2010. Had a deep sleep after the meal. The journey was smooth and enjoyable, both the departure and arrival time were spot on as scheduled. Well done Qantas!
I worked on the 747-400ER when it was produced. I worked in the interior fitment and the interior was also changed from the standard 747-400 using modified 777-200 parts. It was really hard to tell the difference but the stow bins, seats, in flight entertainment, and the passenger service units were the 777 parts. Actually the interior was a orphan as it was for only the 6 units built for Qantas.
@@dustinpatrickpeters8824 That was what Boeing was hoping for when they built the 747-400ER but no other airline decided to buy that particular model and ultimately 747-8I was the replacement. The thing was what actually killed all the models of the 747 is it is a 4 engine aircraft when the market moved on to the 2 engine design.
What I know the regular 747-400 it become with 777 interior aka Boeing signature interior ,I think after 400er launched until the last 747-400 passenger build + the upgraded lcd displays in the cockpit
@@dustinpatrickpeters8824 The 777-300 ER killed the 747-400 due to the efficiency of the engines and the absence of the 747's excessive fuselage weight which is a result of the 747 having been designed with the intention to be converted to freighters after the SST went into service and replaced them. Also the 777 uses far more advanced laminar flow aerodynamics and saves even more weight with its smaller vertical and horizontal stabilizer (which are also super light composite). I love the 747-400. If I had 300 million dollars I would ask Boeing to please build me a 747-400 as the very last 747 off the line. :)
Ironically........... as I'm told Qantas was the only airline invited to be part of the design/discussion of the B777, that went on to be the one of that group of invitees not to buy it.
qantas was always one of my favorite carriers. great safety record, clean paintjobs, good history and appreciative of where they are. in their last (or one of their last) 747 flights, they flew in the shape of the old kangaroo logo as a final sendoff. outstanding. i would like to fly on one someday but i've got no plans to visit the land down under anytime soon.
I flew on one. LAX to MEL. The weird thing was my final destination was Sydney. So we landed in Melbourne, the plane emptied, we sat around for an hour, then boarded the plane again with an all new crew and most of the plane was empty at that point. We then flew the ~1 hour flight to Sydney. It was really weird.
Only a Sydney sider would say that was weird, Melbournians have had to put up with the one hour hop for most Qantas destinations for decades. A more extreme situation is for Melbourne originating passengers going to Johannesburg, they have to fly to Sydney first and then get flown directly over the top of their own city on the way to Johannesburg!
Those type of flights used to be popular a while ago. If u want to fill a plane from MEL and SYD to LAX or vice versa, then you can fly it as a triangular route. Its more efficient to fly SYD-LAX-MEL-SYD then it is to fly MEL-SYD-LAX-SYD-MEL. Thats the logic behind it. Whether it was more cost effective or not in practice... I don't know...There aren't many of these type of flights left flown by scheduled airlines. The only one I can think of is pre-covid PIA's ISB-OSL-CPH-ISB. Or maybe it was LHE... Can't remember
I flew back from that part of the world a few times in the early 90s and everyone stopped In Hawaii to refuel which worked out for me because I’d take some time off and then fly directly to Alaska.
@@Chris_at_Home that stop in Hawaii was a nuisance for us Aussies. We had to clear customs in the middle of the night (with baggage I recall) the reboard for the onward "domestic" leg on the same plane. US customs and immigration wasn't all that efficient back then.
I knew about this plane. It was great! I love the747-400ER. So sad to see more 747s being retired. Sadly I never got to fly on one and now I never will! Love the QANTAS 747 it just looked so cool! 🤘🥂
This was my favourite aircraft, I was devastated when qantas retired the 400-ER variant. It was going to happen eventually but still sad to see her go, may the queen of the sky’s always be remembered as the 1st wide-body aircraft
I crew on every B747 Qantas fklew, except the 400 as I had retired by the time they were introduce. It was a beautiful a/c to work on & a shame they are all now gone, but I still have 20+ years of memories.
Hello from Toronto. Several years ago I boarded a 747 at LAX to fly to AUK. I was fortunate enough to be upgraded to first class and we took off for New Zealand. In the middle of the night the captain announced that we would be unable to land in Auckland due to bad weather and would be diverting to Fiji. We landed there at 5 AM but were unable to leave the aircraft because insufficient airport staff at that hour. At 7:30 AM, it was announced we could takeoff because the weather had improved in Auckland. Two hours from landing there, they announced the weather had deteriorated again and we would be landing in Sydney instead. After landing in Sydney, the purser announced that in over 25 years of flying he had never experienced a flight quite like that one. 22 hours after boarding in Los Angeles, I deplaned in Sydney. A flight I’ll never forget.
747-ER and A-380 it's my favorite ones I have flown with both nice and practical and spacious . I don't know why I like them maybe just because I'm aircraft mechanic and their easy to service them. Enjoy you're flight there are very safe!!!
I’ve flew on the Qantas 747-400ER last year in February from Sydney to Melbourne, I loved it. My only time I went on the 747 in my life. My first time and last on a Qantas 747
Many happy memories on the QF 747-400ER. A 6 month work trip to LHR via HKG was aboard one, then I remember the sheer joy of boarding one 6 months later to come home. I upgraded to business and scored a seat upstairs. One of the best flights I can remember. My last flight on one was from Tokyo Haneda to SYD in 2019. I picked that flight especially because I had a feeling it would be the last opportunity to fly on a QF 747. And sadly it was
In the 1970's I flew a DC9 to Amsterdam from Melbourne. We went Melbourne - Sydney - Singapore - Bangkok - Karachi - Beirut - Athens - Zurich - Amsterdam 39 hours in total. Thank you Boeing for producing an aircraft capable of long haul.
The 747 was the best aircraft I have ever flown in with its warm roomy cabin, comfortable flight and smooth landings. My best memory was my second trip to Las Vegas and having a cigarette at the rear of the plane excitingly discussing the hotels and sights. We were adjacent to the stewards and they gave us drinks whilst the crowd grew to almost twenty of us, it was magic.
I flew once from LAX to Sydney and back from Auckland. I have always loved 747s from Qantas and British Air. I even remember domestic 747 flights from SEA.
I haven't flown any but have seen a Boeing 747-200 belonging to the then Cameroon Airlines before it crashed at Charles de Gaulle airport. It's a massive beauty
Always wanted to fly in a 'Jumbo' when I was a kid. Was lucky to tick that box in 2018 when I flew in the Qantas VH-OEJ from Sydney to Hawaii and then in VH-OEE on the return flight before they retired.
My last two 747 flights were in the upper business class of Wunala (VH-OEJ) from Brisbane to LA and back. Knowing Qantas was going to retire them I saw this as one last opportunity to fly in the upper deck. Given that it's narrower upstairs it gave the sensation you were in an executive jet.
I never got to fly in any of the Qantas 747’s let alone the 747-400ER’s but was involved in their maintenance and modification programs at Avalon airport so I got to know them very well, there is a very brief shot in this video at 2:15 of a Qantas aircraft being pushed out of hangar 4 at Avalon airport.
I flew on OEE Nullarbor and OEG Parkes between BNE-LAX-JFK, and return JFK-DFW-BNE in 2012. What a special plane, sad to see them all retire. Nothing else has quite the same presence on the tarmac or in the sky.
I flew Sydney to Dallas with QANTAS. The 747-400 could do this because of the prevailing tailwinds. However the return flight was generally always Dallas-Brisbane-Sydney because you are then flying into the wind and going direct to Sydney was just out of reach. However I was told that if the prevailing winds were kind, the captain could en-route make the call to go directly to Sydney.
I think I've been on all 6 at one point or another. Qantas retired them a few months ahead of plans due to Covid. They had been planned to go at the end of last year as new 787-9s arrived to replace them. QF7/8 operated as SYD-DFW-BNE-SYD. Non stop to Dallas, stopped in Brisbane on the way back due to the wind. The stop in BNE was dropped when the route changed from 747-400ER to A380.
Thanks for a great video, with all the details. I had a feeling that Qantas had a special 747, but was not quite sure about which ones they were. Are they also the ones with "Longreach" written on the fuselage?
Flew on one from DFW to Brisbane, was a looooong flight !! Reasonably comfy, but still noisy, compare that to the comfort and quietness of the A380, I will take the A380 any day of the week !!
I have a friend who flew frequently between Australia and Hong Kong, before COVID. I will send him a link to this video. He was born in 2000. A history lesson. Lol
I flew on two of the farewell flights from Sydney and Canberra. Have uploaded the videos here. I actually preferred the interior fit of the non ERs with RR engines.
They were not made just for Qantas, it’s just that no other airline ordered the passenger version. A number of 747-400ERF’s were made for cargo operators.
I have seen the 747s on two occasions, 1st in Wollongong, Australia the Qantas' 747 VH-OJA at the HARS museum, and second the only time I have flown on a 747 was VH-OEJ on July 13, 2020 scenic flight from Sydney to Sydney taking around an hour. 747s were out of my time, as I just came to flying just when 747s were retiring, my aircraft of choice is Airbus A380s
I flew a Qantas 747 non-stop from Melbourne to LA on July 10, 2002...four months before they began operating the 747-400ER. I recall the pilot saying it was the plane's third flight (in revenue service?) and the interior was brand new, including the first seatback IFE I ever saw, but since they hadn't taken delivery of any 747s for a while, I assume that was the third flight after a mid-life overhaul. Anyways, the video says the -400ER made Melbourne-LA route feasible, but I definitely flew that route in July 2002, months before they took delivery of any -400ERs. My trip to Australia began near Cairns. The journey to OZ included a flight LAX-SYD then a 747 that departed from the international terminal to Cairns (continuing to Osaka). I didn't go through customs/ immigration in Sydney, but in Cairns which was strange. Those were the only three 747 flights I ever took that I remember and remember quite fondly (I don't recall LA-LHR on a United 747 when I was 5 years old).
Qantas did fly those route but often with a lower number of passengers and cargo. The -400er allowed them to fill the plane and have the legs to go the distance. I remember flying to Auckland on an Air New Zealand 747-400 where even in economy the leg room was generous as they bought the plane for range and didn’t need the seats and needed more weight out of the plane so the spaced the seats out more. Once they got 777s that had the range the retired their 747s fairly rapidly.
Today on FlightRadar24 I spotted two passengers 747-400s in flight : the first one was a revenant, EI-XLF from Rossiya and another eastern european one who had been in the hands of 6 owners before its current one.
Flew "Sydney" from Sydney to Haneda on August 15, 2019. Flew to London on a JAL 777-300ER and flew home to Florida early September on a BA 744, not knowing that 6 months later BA would be grounding their entire 747 fleet because of Covid. Dam glad I flew those two 744 since they are gone, By the way I flew a Qantas Dreamliner "Great Barrier Reef" from San Francisco to Melbourne to start my trip.
Hi and many thanks for your videos!! I learn a lot from it! I was wondering, knowing your professionalism, your audience and the distress of these 217 pilot students who lost 99k€ with no training at all due to a school mismanagement which ended in a court-ordered liquidation two days ago, could you make a short video about it please 🙏 ? It's an ATO in the city of Agen France. Many thanks for them!
I loved the early 90s 747-400 drinking water and paper cup dispensers. Electric headphones were a huge improvement over the earlier tech’ rubber tube phones. No moving maps but I asked for and got latitude and longitude (crossing the date line in the middle of the night). Orange glow broken cumulus dawn over the Pacific was magic. I couldn’t believe the Aussie TV ‘comedy talent show’ clips. Pre-warning. Everything else Oz 100/100❤️
The standard 747-400 could fly across the Pacific. I flew to LA on United direct from Australia. The ER allowed direct to Dallas though. My last international flight before covid was business class on a Qantas 747-400ER from Haneda to Sydney.
I enjoyed decent breaks crossing the Pacific, non stop didn’t have any appeal. Asia wasn’t the same without the earlier Qantas 3 free flight legs allowing Bali and Hong Kong en route through Bangkok. I loved a Qantas 737 flight over the Mekong landing into Kai Tak. Qantas used to be top.
@@nicholasshu2752 Well it looked like a 737 when I got in and it still looked like a 737 when I got off. Full Qantas colours and Aussie cabin crew. I am perfectly familiar with the 737. The destination was very, very Hong Kongey.
One point - the 747ER did not 'open up' the nonstop Melbourne - Los Angeles route. I flew Melbourne - Los Angeles in the late '80s on a 747SP, which was a shortened body variant of the 747-100. It was the longest flight I've ever been on at about 14 hours in the air.
I'm a student pilot and recently flew to Grant County Int. Airport in Washington State. I could be wrong but I believe one of these jumbo jets is currently parked there with one of the engines missing.
flew them a few times between Sydney and Santiago de Chile and Los Angeles. Used to have to do a stop over in Honolulu in the old days and between Sydney and Santiago most planes stopped in Auckland to refuel except for Aerolineas Argentinas which used to do it in an A340 over the anctartic continent. Once a direct route from Qantas was introduced, i never flew LAN again. AA stopped flying to australia in the 2000's.
Actually Qantas had three CF6 powered non ER 747-400’s, these were VH OEB, VH OEC and VH OED. These were aircraft bought second hand to supplement the fleet. These aircraft had the nickname “ugly sisters” with Qantas staff.
My dream since a child was to fly in a 747! Only to be realized in my 50’s on my around the world trip! Qantas joined my trip leg from Johannesburg to Sydney and it was on a 747!! Don’t know if it was a 400ER series but was a dream come try on many ways!!!
Though the -438 with RB211 was aesthetically a beauty, the -438ER was the technical pinnacle of -400 development-I really miss seeing it passing my house at less than 2000’ on approach to YSSY or roaring out slightly higher in the other direction :-)
Heh, so I thought I was fairly familiar with 747 variants and have flown on the 400ER's many times but never actually knew there were only 6 made and Qantas was the exclusive operator. Learn something new every day.
Surprised that nobody spotted or mentioned that the interior of these plane were very similar to 777 interior (Interior designed armed for more round, curvature all around ceiling, overhead compartment, sidewall…etc…) to gain more “Interior Air Space”… These 747-400ERs were also an iconic/technologies of “Dimmable Window” and “LED” to the aircraft/Aviation generations. Where to see those designs on this aircraft? Well, Go to the 1st Class Lavatories of these aircrafts to check them out. These airplanes delivered from Boeing to QANTAS in year 2000-2001 and at that time QANTAS’s Ambassador was Mr. John Travolta. 20 years of services…Bravos to 747-400ERs.
You should have mentioned that, in addition to the 6 747-400ERs built as passenger aircraft for Qantas, 40 were built as pure freighters, known as the 747-400ERF.
Yes, i was aware about QANTAS and the -400ER. I just didn't know all of the details. The detail i knew was the cockpit had LCD screens instead of CRTs.
The LCD screens were a drop in replacement for the CRT displays and were not exclusive to the 400ER, they could go into the non ER’s as well. Because the IDS required the same software load when this was done then all six IDU’s had to be changed at the same time but apart from that both types could be used.
I haven't been on one of the actual QFA B747s but while visiting Qantas I did try my hand on one of the B747 simulators. Unfortunately, I'm not a pilot and crashed trying to fly under the Sydney Harbor bridge. :-D
@@shahimagesyt All Boeing 747-438 in Qantas were equipped with Rolls-Royce RB211. The other 747-400 in Qantas with General Electric CF6-80 engines were second-handed from Malaysia Airlines as 747-4H6 and Asiana Airlines as 747-48E. All of them were retired in the early 2010s.
Wow.. one of those planes landed at my home town of Wollongong where the jombo was given to hars meseum... but if it ever went back into service.. i think they have a hard time taking off due to the short run way
@@spongebubatz Who said anything about being a joke to anybody? I forgot to say that they are the only B747's to be powered by GE. Stay safe and be healthy.
Yes, many 747-400ERFs were built with the majority still flying today! As you said Qantas was the only airline operating the ER in the passenger version and they were the only operator of the 6 only ERs
Wow. I'm surprised that Qantas was the only airline that brought the 747-400ER. With that extra range, I would have thought British airways, or Japan Airlines would have brought some too.
![[ENGSUB] UNPRODUCTIVE DAY ใช้ชีวิต (เปื่อยๆ) ด้วยกัน 1 วัน! | OUROAD CLOSEFRiEND SS2 EP.9](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/pyYKZ3kra9w/mqdefault.jpg)
On its final flight, VH-OEJ traced out a giant flying kangaroo over the Pacific Ocean on its flight path. I watched it being created live on flight tracking software, it was a very classy farewell gesture.
I worked as a mechanic for years on those QF B747 at LAX. Gone and retired like me. Sad, but it felt good putting in the hour to turn those aircraft around and are maintenance ready to go back to SYD or MEL. Retired with memories. Thanks QF.
thank you !!
Thank you for your efforts
I was privileged to be part of the team in 2001-2002 who manufactured the first 747 ER tanks at Marshall Aviation Cambridge England under licence for Boeing. His Majesty Prince Philip also paid us a visit during the production phase of the second tank.
*paid
@@afmo500 oops thanks! 🤭
Did you grovel at the feet of the self righteous as you were in the presence of the self entitled? Long may the Royals rot.
Something tells me that you may have worked at Marshalls.... ;)
@@jobloggs7767 LOL the Yanks like myself only visit England for the Royals. Be thankful for the tourist dollars.
It’s sad see to the Queen of the sky being retired, they were magnificent aircraft.
Boeing 747 greatest ever made.
I had the privilege of flying a midnight flight on a 747-400ER from MEL to HKG in 2010. Had a deep sleep after the meal. The journey was smooth and enjoyable, both the departure and arrival time were spot on as scheduled. Well done Qantas!
Very grateful to have flown on these beautiful Qantas 747’s!
Qantas is now over 100 YEARS OLD! Congrats! BY the time of editing this, it might be 101 years old 👀
It's been almost a year
@@jetgraphy read again ;-;
@@anxiies It was update soon after and i didn't see it.
@@anxiies Also i saw my mistake, but was too lazy to delete the comment
QANTAS was last year in November....the RAAF was 100 this year in March.
I flew on them a few times (SYD-LAX) and did not know they were special! 😊
They used the non ER version on that route also.
Done the BNE-DFW trip a few times on an ER, amazing planes!!! Have had the ER on the LAX-SYD route more than not too, love this jet!
I worked on the 747-400ER when it was produced. I worked in the interior fitment and the interior was also changed from the standard 747-400 using modified 777-200 parts. It was really hard to tell the difference but the stow bins, seats, in flight entertainment, and the passenger service units were the 777 parts. Actually the interior was a orphan as it was for only the 6 units built for Qantas.
Why can't they build more B747-400ER
@@dustinpatrickpeters8824 That was what Boeing was hoping for when they built the 747-400ER but no other airline decided to buy that particular model and ultimately 747-8I was the replacement. The thing was what actually killed all the models of the 747 is it is a 4 engine aircraft when the market moved on to the 2 engine design.
What I know the regular 747-400 it become with 777 interior aka Boeing signature interior ,I think after 400er launched until the last 747-400 passenger build + the upgraded lcd displays in the cockpit
@@dustinpatrickpeters8824 The 777-300 ER killed the 747-400 due to the efficiency of the engines and the absence of the 747's excessive fuselage weight which is a result of the 747 having been designed with the intention to be converted to freighters after the SST went into service and replaced them.
Also the 777 uses far more advanced laminar flow aerodynamics and saves even more weight with its smaller vertical and horizontal stabilizer (which are also super light composite).
I love the 747-400. If I had 300 million dollars I would ask Boeing to please build me a 747-400 as the very last 747 off the line. :)
Ironically........... as I'm told Qantas was the only airline invited to be part of the design/discussion of the B777, that went on to be the one of that group of invitees not to buy it.
qantas was always one of my favorite carriers. great safety record, clean paintjobs, good history and appreciative of where they are. in their last (or one of their last) 747 flights, they flew in the shape of the old kangaroo logo as a final sendoff. outstanding. i would like to fly on one someday but i've got no plans to visit the land down under anytime soon.
I’ve flown a few times, LAX - SYD and back. Loved the experience and will miss it for sure.
I flew on one. LAX to MEL. The weird thing was my final destination was Sydney. So we landed in Melbourne, the plane emptied, we sat around for an hour, then boarded the plane again with an all new crew and most of the plane was empty at that point. We then flew the ~1 hour flight to Sydney. It was really weird.
Especially is Melbourne is located more west than Sydney
@@spongebubatz No, Melbourne is more west. Melbourne 144.96715 E Sydney 151.20695 E
@@johntyrrell3009 oh sorry, that’s what I wanted to say, otherwise it obviously wouldn’t make sense
Only a Sydney sider would say that was weird, Melbournians have had to put up with the one hour hop for most Qantas destinations for decades. A more extreme situation is for Melbourne originating passengers going to Johannesburg, they have to fly to Sydney first and then get flown directly over the top of their own city on the way to Johannesburg!
Those type of flights used to be popular a while ago. If u want to fill a plane from MEL and SYD to LAX or vice versa, then you can fly it as a triangular route. Its more efficient to fly SYD-LAX-MEL-SYD then it is to fly MEL-SYD-LAX-SYD-MEL. Thats the logic behind it. Whether it was more cost effective or not in practice... I don't know...There aren't many of these type of flights left flown by scheduled airlines. The only one I can think of is pre-covid PIA's ISB-OSL-CPH-ISB. Or maybe it was LHE... Can't remember
Flew an epic 15.5 hours from Vancouver to Sydney in their 747, fantastic experience, lovely staff.
When you’re halfway around the world from everywhere else, you need a plane with legs
LONG REACH... I flew on a couple of these birds
I flew back from that part of the world a few times in the early 90s and everyone stopped In Hawaii to refuel which worked out for me because I’d take some time off and then fly directly to Alaska.
@@Chris_at_Home that stop in Hawaii was a nuisance for us Aussies. We had to clear customs in the middle of the night (with baggage I recall) the reboard for the onward "domestic" leg on the same plane. US customs and immigration wasn't all that efficient back then.
We're not halfway round the world from Asia. ;)
@@johnpoindexter6594
LONGREACH is a town in outback QLD....one of the birthplaces of the airline.
Love the presentation of the keys to this beauty! They will get a load of use out of these birds for a long time.
I knew about this plane. It was great! I love the747-400ER. So sad to see more 747s being retired. Sadly I never got to fly on one and now I never will! Love the QANTAS 747 it just looked so cool! 🤘🥂
This was my favourite aircraft, I was devastated when qantas retired the 400-ER variant. It was going to happen eventually but still sad to see her go, may the queen of the sky’s always be remembered as the 1st wide-body aircraft
I crew on every B747 Qantas fklew, except the 400 as I had retired by the time they were introduce. It was a beautiful a/c to work on & a shame they are all now gone, but I still have 20+ years of memories.
Hello from Toronto. Several years ago I boarded a 747 at LAX to fly to AUK. I was fortunate enough to be upgraded to first class and we took off for New Zealand. In the middle of the night the captain announced that we would be unable to land in Auckland due to bad weather and would be diverting to Fiji. We landed there at 5 AM but were unable to leave the aircraft because insufficient airport staff at that hour. At 7:30 AM, it was announced we could takeoff because the weather had improved in Auckland. Two hours from landing there, they announced the weather had deteriorated again and we would be landing in Sydney instead. After landing in Sydney, the purser announced that in over 25 years of flying he had never experienced a flight quite like that one. 22 hours after boarding in Los Angeles, I deplaned in Sydney. A flight I’ll never forget.
Well I guess there is swimming.
At least you were in first class. Imagine how the coach passengers felt. 🤤
Very fond memories of the Longreach flying to the US from Australia, a trip I made many times.
747-ER and A-380 it's my favorite ones I have flown with both nice and practical and spacious . I don't know why I like them maybe just because I'm aircraft mechanic and their easy to service them. Enjoy you're flight there are very safe!!!
Thanks for adding the clip of OJA landing at HARS, iy is fantastic we have a 400 series for display in OZ
I’ve flew on the Qantas 747-400ER last year in February from Sydney to Melbourne, I loved it. My only time I went on the 747 in my life. My first time and last on a Qantas 747
Many happy memories on the QF 747-400ER. A 6 month work trip to LHR via HKG was aboard one, then I remember the sheer joy of boarding one 6 months later to come home. I upgraded to business and scored a seat upstairs. One of the best flights I can remember. My last flight on one was from Tokyo Haneda to SYD in 2019. I picked that flight especially because I had a feeling it would be the last opportunity to fly on a QF 747. And sadly it was
flew on those jets several times 2002-2004. long live the Queen.
Wow!! I never knew that.. and to think I thought I knew almost everything about the 747.. thank you for sharing this! Very interesting…
I was bound to be on a 747er sometime in my life. In fact, Qantas 747s were the most common plane I flew on!
In the 1970's I flew a DC9 to Amsterdam from Melbourne. We went Melbourne - Sydney - Singapore - Bangkok - Karachi - Beirut - Athens - Zurich - Amsterdam 39 hours in total. Thank you Boeing for producing an aircraft capable of long haul.
the DC9 and MD80 Series was a Douglas Aircraft, not Boeing
The 747 was the best aircraft I have ever flown in with its warm roomy cabin, comfortable flight and smooth landings. My best memory was my second trip to Las Vegas and having a cigarette at the rear of the plane excitingly discussing the hotels and sights. We were adjacent to the stewards and they gave us drinks whilst the crowd grew to almost twenty of us, it was magic.
I flew once from LAX to Sydney and back from Auckland. I have always loved 747s from Qantas and British Air. I even remember domestic 747 flights from SEA.
I haven't flown any but have seen a Boeing 747-200 belonging to the then Cameroon Airlines before it crashed at Charles de Gaulle airport. It's a massive beauty
I was lucky enough to visit the 747 factory when these beauties were coming down the line.
I flew from Santiago SCL to SYD and back in that amazing plane. I hardly felt the 14 hours. It was so smooth
Flew them often. Love the 747.
I flew 3 times on a Qantas 744 in 1996: FRA-BKK-SIN, SIN-MEL and BKK-FRA. I only remember that there were still smoking seats in the back. 😁
Yes I did. My last flight with Qantas was on a VH-OEE from Sydney to Santiago
I flew on VH-OEH "Hervey Bay" from LAX to MEL in September 2015. Nice aircraft.
Always wanted to fly in a 'Jumbo' when I was a kid. Was lucky to tick that box in 2018 when I flew in the Qantas VH-OEJ from Sydney to Hawaii and then in VH-OEE on the return flight before they retired.
I was able to see one Qantas 747-400ER Before they were retired, and I did get to see them when I went to the Mojave Boneyard.
My last two 747 flights were in the upper business class of Wunala (VH-OEJ) from Brisbane to LA and back. Knowing Qantas was going to retire them I saw this as one last opportunity to fly in the upper deck. Given that it's narrower upstairs it gave the sensation you were in an executive jet.
I flew business class upper deck in 2013 SYD - DFW. I agree - it feels like a private jet up there 👍
I never got to fly in any of the Qantas 747’s let alone the 747-400ER’s but was involved in their maintenance and modification programs at Avalon airport so I got to know them very well, there is a very brief shot in this video at 2:15 of a Qantas aircraft being pushed out of hangar 4 at Avalon airport.
I flew on OEE Nullarbor and OEG Parkes between BNE-LAX-JFK, and return JFK-DFW-BNE in 2012. What a special plane, sad to see them all retire. Nothing else has quite the same presence on the tarmac or in the sky.
Awesome and Nice video
I was privileged to be invited on the Test flights out / onto Wellington in the early eighties on board the 747 SP a tremendous experience
I flew Sydney to Dallas with QANTAS. The 747-400 could do this because of the prevailing tailwinds. However the return flight was generally always Dallas-Brisbane-Sydney because you are then flying into the wind and going direct to Sydney was just out of reach. However I was told that if the prevailing winds were kind, the captain could en-route make the call to go directly to Sydney.
Missed working on them as Intl QF crew they were indeed special 🥰
I think I've been on all 6 at one point or another.
Qantas retired them a few months ahead of plans due to Covid. They had been planned to go at the end of last year as new 787-9s arrived to replace them.
QF7/8 operated as SYD-DFW-BNE-SYD. Non stop to Dallas, stopped in Brisbane on the way back due to the wind. The stop in BNE was dropped when the route changed from 747-400ER to A380.
Thanks for a great video, with all the details. I had a feeling that Qantas had a special 747, but was not quite sure about which ones they were. Are they also the ones with "Longreach" written on the fuselage?
Yeah, was *Longreach* special or were all -400s longreach? Is it also a town in Australia?
All 747s had the name Longreach! You can tell the ERs from the other 747-400s apart by looking at the engines! GE on the ERs, RR on the normal 747s!
@@spongebubatz All 747s? Even the -300s and the SPs?
Flew on one from DFW to Brisbane, was a looooong flight !! Reasonably comfy, but still noisy, compare that to the comfort and quietness of the A380, I will take the A380 any day of the week !!
wow I had a chance to enjoy the Big bird in 2006. LA to Auckland and Sydney to LA. Cheers!
Looking very nice.
Queen of the skies
You forgot to mention that the QANTAS 747-400ERs differed from the non ER 400 in that they came with GE CF6-80C2 engines instead of the RR RB211.
I have a friend who flew frequently between Australia and Hong Kong, before COVID.
I will send him a link to this video. He was born in 2000. A history lesson. Lol
I flew on two of the farewell flights from Sydney and Canberra. Have uploaded the videos here. I actually preferred the interior fit of the non ERs with RR engines.
That time when a world-renowned aircraft manufacturer makes a plane especially for you.
To be fair Boeing also developed the 747-400ERF which probably had the same modifications, but Qantas was the only customer of the passenger variant
Forgot about that. But one could argue that the -ERF is a completely different aircraft and goes through a separate certification process.
They were not made just for Qantas, it’s just that no other airline ordered the passenger version. A number of 747-400ERF’s were made for cargo operators.
I have seen the 747s on two occasions, 1st in Wollongong, Australia the Qantas' 747 VH-OJA at the HARS museum, and second the only time I have flown on a 747 was VH-OEJ on July 13, 2020 scenic flight from Sydney to Sydney taking around an hour. 747s were out of my time, as I just came to flying just when 747s were retiring, my aircraft of choice is Airbus A380s
I flew a Qantas 747 non-stop from Melbourne to LA on July 10, 2002...four months before they began operating the 747-400ER. I recall the pilot saying it was the plane's third flight (in revenue service?) and the interior was brand new, including the first seatback IFE I ever saw, but since they hadn't taken delivery of any 747s for a while, I assume that was the third flight after a mid-life overhaul. Anyways, the video says the -400ER made Melbourne-LA route feasible, but I definitely flew that route in July 2002, months before they took delivery of any -400ERs.
My trip to Australia began near Cairns. The journey to OZ included a flight LAX-SYD then a 747 that departed from the international terminal to Cairns (continuing to Osaka). I didn't go through customs/ immigration in Sydney, but in Cairns which was strange. Those were the only three 747 flights I ever took that I remember and remember quite fondly (I don't recall LA-LHR on a United 747 when I was 5 years old).
Qantas did fly those route but often with a lower number of passengers and cargo. The -400er allowed them to fill the plane and have the legs to go the distance. I remember flying to Auckland on an Air New Zealand 747-400 where even in economy the leg room was generous as they bought the plane for range and didn’t need the seats and needed more weight out of the plane so the spaced the seats out more. Once they got 777s that had the range the retired their 747s fairly rapidly.
Today on FlightRadar24 I spotted two passengers 747-400s in flight : the first one was a revenant, EI-XLF from Rossiya and another eastern european one who had been in the hands of 6 owners before its current one.
Flew "Sydney" from Sydney to Haneda on August 15, 2019. Flew to London on a JAL 777-300ER and flew home to Florida early September on a BA 744, not knowing that 6 months later BA would be grounding their entire 747 fleet because of Covid. Dam glad I flew those two 744 since they are gone, By the way I flew a Qantas Dreamliner "Great Barrier Reef" from San Francisco to Melbourne to start my trip.
Hi and many thanks for your videos!! I learn a lot from it!
I was wondering, knowing your professionalism, your audience and the distress of these 217 pilot students who lost 99k€ with no training at all due to a school mismanagement which ended in a court-ordered liquidation two days ago, could you make a short video about it please 🙏 ?
It's an ATO in the city of Agen France.
Many thanks for them!
I was lucky to see VH-OEE in Santiago in 2019, it was my only encounter with a Qantas 747 and even an ER
I loved the early 90s 747-400 drinking water and paper cup dispensers. Electric headphones were a huge improvement over the earlier tech’ rubber tube phones. No moving maps but I asked for and got latitude and longitude (crossing the date line in the middle of the night). Orange glow broken cumulus dawn over the Pacific was magic.
I couldn’t believe the Aussie TV ‘comedy talent show’ clips. Pre-warning. Everything else Oz 100/100❤️
The standard 747-400 could fly across the Pacific. I flew to LA on United direct from Australia. The ER allowed direct to Dallas though. My last international flight before covid was business class on a Qantas 747-400ER from Haneda to Sydney.
I enjoyed decent breaks crossing the Pacific, non stop didn’t have any appeal. Asia wasn’t the same without the earlier Qantas 3 free flight legs allowing Bali and Hong Kong en route through Bangkok. I loved a Qantas 737 flight over the Mekong landing into Kai Tak. Qantas used to be top.
@@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935 737 to kaitak, i dont think so
@@nicholasshu2752 Well it looked like a 737 when I got in and it still looked like a 737 when I got off. Full Qantas colours and Aussie cabin crew. I am perfectly familiar with the 737. The destination was very, very Hong Kongey.
One point - the 747ER did not 'open up' the nonstop Melbourne - Los Angeles route. I flew Melbourne - Los Angeles in the late '80s on a 747SP, which was a shortened body variant of the 747-100. It was the longest flight I've ever been on at about 14 hours in the air.
I'm a student pilot and recently flew to Grant County Int. Airport in Washington State. I could be wrong but I believe one of these jumbo jets is currently parked there with one of the engines missing.
flew them a few times between Sydney and Santiago de Chile and Los Angeles. Used to have to do a stop over in Honolulu in the old days and between Sydney and Santiago most planes stopped in Auckland to refuel except for Aerolineas Argentinas which used to do it in an A340 over the anctartic continent. Once a direct route from Qantas was introduced, i never flew LAN again. AA stopped flying to australia in the 2000's.
Yes I could tell the difference Mate. The -400ER’s had GE CF6-80 Engines, hence different engine nacelles.
Actually Qantas had three CF6 powered non ER 747-400’s, these were VH OEB, VH OEC and VH OED. These were aircraft bought second hand to supplement the fleet. These aircraft had the nickname “ugly sisters” with Qantas staff.
My dream since a child was to fly in a 747! Only to be realized in my 50’s on my around the world trip! Qantas joined my trip leg from Johannesburg to Sydney and it was on a 747!!
Don’t know if it was a 400ER series but was a dream come try on many ways!!!
Though the -438 with RB211 was aesthetically a beauty, the -438ER was the technical pinnacle of -400 development-I really miss seeing it passing my house at less than 2000’ on approach to YSSY or roaring out slightly higher in the other direction :-)
Heh, so I thought I was fairly familiar with 747 variants and have flown on the 400ER's many times but never actually knew there were only 6 made and Qantas was the exclusive operator. Learn something new every day.
Boeing made tons of the 747-400ER. Most were the ERF freighter variant. Qantas took the only 6 passenger versions.
Surprised that nobody spotted or mentioned that the interior of these plane were very similar to 777 interior (Interior designed armed for more round, curvature all around ceiling, overhead compartment, sidewall…etc…) to gain more “Interior Air Space”… These 747-400ERs were also an iconic/technologies of “Dimmable Window” and “LED” to the aircraft/Aviation generations. Where to see those designs on this aircraft? Well, Go to the 1st Class Lavatories of these aircrafts to check them out. These airplanes delivered from Boeing to QANTAS in year 2000-2001 and at that time QANTAS’s Ambassador was Mr. John Travolta. 20 years of services…Bravos to 747-400ERs.
I am wondering what type of plane Qantas will use when they re-open the Sydney / Johannesburg route ? Hope its the A380 .
I wish those Quantas 747-400ER are still available for sale. I guess I need to find out if some of them are still intact.
i knew this existed from flightradar, but never knew only for qantas
Can you put the imperial measurements on screen also. Us guys in UK don’t understand Km
Sorry mate, the Empire is finished.
@@WiFiWombat well it’s not lol we use Miles in the UK dude
You should have mentioned that, in addition to the 6 747-400ERs built as passenger aircraft for Qantas, 40 were built as pure freighters, known as the 747-400ERF.
A good video, however a lot of the footage used is VH-OJA (not a 400-ER) landing at the HARS Museum in Wollongong a few years ago.
The whole video consists of a mix of ERs and non-ERs
Basically because Australia is REALLY far away 😱
Yes, i was aware about QANTAS and the -400ER. I just didn't know all of the details. The detail i knew was the cockpit had LCD screens instead of CRTs.
The LCD screens were a drop in replacement for the CRT displays and were not exclusive to the 400ER, they could go into the non ER’s as well. Because the IDS required the same software load when this was done then all six IDU’s had to be changed at the same time but apart from that both types could be used.
@@johnyoung1128 interesting
I haven't been on one of the actual QFA B747s but while visiting Qantas I did try my hand on one of the B747 simulators.
Unfortunately, I'm not a pilot and crashed trying to fly under the Sydney Harbor bridge. :-D
2. So that's why they called those 4 CF-6-80 Engine aircraft in the Qantas Fleet : The Boeing 747-400ER
Well CF6-80s are on the other 747s as well. Its not necessarily called the 747-400ER just because of its engines
@@shahimagesyt But for Qantas it is as the other 747-438 of Qantas equipped with Rolls-Royce RB211 engines
@@boeinkarlee5743 no there are a few standard 744s with CF6 engine. But yes, QFA did have RB211s on some of their 744s.
@@shahimagesyt All Boeing 747-438 in Qantas were equipped with Rolls-Royce RB211. The other 747-400 in Qantas with General Electric CF6-80 engines were second-handed from Malaysia Airlines as 747-4H6 and Asiana Airlines as 747-48E. All of them were retired in the early 2010s.
@@boeinkarlee5743 oh yeah right the -438 only. I just checked and you are correct
I last flew a qantas boeing 747 400er in October 2019
Let's popularize the B747-400ER same as the -8 version
Wow.. one of those planes landed at my home town of Wollongong where the jombo was given to hars meseum... but if it ever went back into service.. i think they have a hard time taking off due to the short run way
The video forgets to mention that the 747-400ER had CFM engines and not the Rolls Royce engines Qantas normally goes for!
*CF-6
@@mborder8428 correct! My mistake.
Are these B747-400ER just stored or were scrapped?
They were stored in Mohave, I don’t whether they’re still in one piece
OMG I've just realized I flew the 747 named "Sidney" from Santiago to Sydney! It was very nice!
Nobody has ever flown on a plane named 'Sidney" 🙄
@@applausenu the Qantas Boeing 747-438ER VH-OEF is named "Sydney"
I flew Qantas down under in 96.LAX-AKL was a 747-400 and was SYD-LAX,not certain if they were of the 400 ER
variety.
Wouldn't have been an ER in 96, they weren't in service until 2001
I flew LAX to Brisbane many years ago and did the final joy flight on Wunala Dreaming for it retirement
The B747-400ER's were the only GE powered aircraft in the history of Qantas. Amazing airline.
A330s: Are we a joke to you?
@@spongebubatz Who said anything about being a joke to anybody? I forgot to say that they are the only B747's to be powered by GE. Stay safe and be healthy.
Please cover the case study of some famous air disasters. We will greatfull to hear from you.😇😇
There are other channels that focus on that, and to be fair air disasters are not exactly "simple flying" and do not match the tone of the channel.
I know Qantas was the only airline to fly the passenger version of the -400ER, but aren’t there -400ER freighters? KE Cargo, e.g.?
Yes, many 747-400ERFs were built with the majority still flying today! As you said Qantas was the only airline operating the ER in the passenger version and they were the only operator of the 6 only ERs
KLM has operated 747-400 ERF form 2003-2020 it is the full cargo version of 747-400ER.
They are still active :D
Wow. I'm surprised that Qantas was the only airline that brought the 747-400ER. With that extra range, I would have thought British airways, or Japan Airlines would have brought some too.
I like the 767-400ER cabin it looks just like the 777s one and with it having those CF6 engines rather than Qantas normal 747-400 with RB211 engines
747-400 Extended Range?
Happy birthday 🎉 QUANTAS . maybe even 101.
💯 Years of serving Australia 🦘🌏 keep going
They were unique in the passenger role, but there were 40 of the -400ERF freighter model with all the same upgrades.
Exactly, otherwise I doubt that just building 6 aircraft would’ve been profitable for Boeing
QANTAS is now Boeing 747 400ER jumbo jet latest 1980er earlier