In 1986 Vancouver EXPO 86 had the Best Air show at Abbotsford . In the early 70s Abbotsford was Ranked 3rd Behind Paris and . I think it was Payne Field . For Airshows Worldwide . I watched the Concord , Antonov , All The F Series , Russian Fighter That Danced like Nadia in 76 , Great Teams From Europe and South America . The Steam Engine EXPO that they Held Before the Fair Officially Opened Was Awesome !
This aeroplane had sat idle for many years, taped up, with nobody entering it. I contacted the museums curator almost 20 years ago and asked if there were any photos of the interior, because I hadn't been able to find any. He opened the old girl up after many years and took dozens of photos and sent them to me on a CD. Felt very privileged, and the condition now, to what it was, is amazing. Great video Paul.
The 747 has a special place in my heart, because it was the first plane I ever flew on when I visited the US as a kid in the 90's, even getting a pre 9/11 visit to the cockpit to talk to the pilots while we were over Hudson Bay. Such a well designed plane and a workhorse.
This brings back memories. I worked these 742s and 744s as flight attendant for many years. Started in 1993 and retired 2018. All those looking nightflights back from SE Asia and all the trans- Atlantic and trans-Siberia flights, flying over the Gobi desert, Afghanistan. What a time I had! And swoosh - and it is all in the past. I haven’t seen an aircraft from inside since my last trip to Mauritius Christmas 2018. And I don’t miss it at all. I appreciate so much my own bed every night now, no hotel room somewhere around the world, no packing a suitcase, or putting the washing machine on after a trip. I simply enjoy the calmness and silence from my back terrace, looking into the woods, with my two dogs next to me! Utter bliss! But I am so grateful for all the flights these birds brought me safely to all the destinations and back! Thank you for your videos. Aviation is and always will be a fascinating area!
I worked on the 747 (and all the other 7's, but the 747 will always be my favorite) as a Flight Controls engineer for over 20 years. Actually got to go aboard RA001 one time when I was working on mods for it to do the 777 engine tests. Awesome video, brought a tear to my eye. Long Live the Queen of the Skies!
Former Boeing Everett here... we changed aviation history with our 47 Jumbo aka Queen of the Skies. So many 47's are still in perfect condition and with proper maintenance, fly another 20 plus years.
I slipped and fell down the spiral staircase once, let me say that once you get started you don't stop until you hit the bottom LOL. I blame alcohol. a childhood friends mom and dad were on the Pan Am/KLM crash in Tenerife. They were both Doctors from Seattle on a trip, She was able to get out an overwing exit but an explosion pulled him back into the plane where he perished. She jumped off the wing and broke her ankles. I was never allowed to bring it up around her, she was an absolute mess from watching her husband get killed and all those bodies. He told me that she once said she saw a man or woman while on her way to the wing exit still sitting in their seat without their head which had been decapitated by a piece of metal flying through the cabin. Total nightmare.
I am family of the KLM captain. I won’t elaborate much, but this was an disaster from the get go, starting with a terrorist bomb in a flower shop at Gren Canaria. Then bad communication during thick fog, then a captain running out of his on-duty hours, and the rest is history. 😔😪
@@westerlywinds5684you were really related to captain zan vanten? wowzers. any insight into what kind of guy he was in life? was he indeed the star captain of the airline
Former Boeing Everett here... been through 747 builds from pile of parts to final certification. I spent my last 2 years as a Certified Lean Manufacturing Coach. Went around country helping other plants improve processes and reduce defects. Even went to St Louis to lean out manufacturing on F/A 18 Super Hornets. That simple 2 seat, 1 window, 2 engine, no bathrooms or kitchens or in flight entertainment... was taking 5 times as long to build as a 747 with 400 seats, 200 windows, 8 toilets, 2 kitchens and a flight deck bigger than 1/2 F/A 18. We reduced build time drastically.
In the fall of '97 or early '98 shortly after I started on the 747-400 wingline they were increasing the rate from 5 per month to 6 per month! It was nuts.
I remember when we could finish a 47 in final assembly in 1 week. Got sent to St Louis to shorten build time on F/A-18 Super Hornets. It was taking close to 1 year to build a dinky jet with 2 seats and 1 window. @@StratMatt777Some really amazing people worked for Boeing and we were all lucky to be part of it.
@@BarbaraLevine-gc8dmYes, Before NASA it was NACA - The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was formed on March 3, 1915, with a charter to “supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight, with a view to their practical solution.” With luminaries like Orville Wright as members, the group was on the cutting edge of technology in the early decades of flight, before eventually being absorbed by NASA in 1958.
@@BarbaraLevine-gc8dm I'm not Paul, but I have a bunch of footage of that NASA 737-100 and this 747 and also the 787 that I shot at the Museum in 2016. I narrated it at the time I recorded it, explaining everything about the engines and flight controls and all the parts of the airplane as I filmed. The intent was to upload it as a TH-cam video but I never got around to it. It sounds like you'd like to see my video of NASA 515....? I'll take a look and see if I made any serious verbal mistakes or if I can just upload it as is.
I worked as an American Airlines gate agent at ORD for several years, both dispatching and meeting flights and from late '74 until early '75, I flew on both the 747 and DC-10 as an inflight passenger service director. By far, the '47 was both my and the public's [at least with those I recall interacting with] favorite airplane. On several landings I experienced, I didn't even feel like we were on the ground. They were like riding on a pillow of air. Truly, Boeing at its greatest and long before the suits and stockholders put profit above safety and comfort. No wonder Airbus does so well. They built on Boeing's standards of construction, while Boeing ignored the wisdom of its own employees. American industry still doesn't seem to get it.
I’m glad they restored that plane. That’s one thing I do miss about being on the ramp. Seeing the 747s at work, along with other cool airplanes, witnessing them in their element.
It was the best plane ever. Spacious, extremely comfortable and smooth flying. Turbulance for the Boing 747 was just a joke. In 1984 I flew direct from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Los Angeles, USA in one of these beauties from Aerolineas Argentina. It was a dream flight!
When I was growing up in the 1960’s, I was fascinated with anything that flew. My parents and I always vacationed in our car, so I could only imagine what it was like to be a passenger on a plane. I knew all about the new 747 being developed by Boeing and thought nothing that large could ever fly. But fly it did, I was excited watching the stories on the news about it, and one Christmas got a battery operated 747 that was the best gift I got that year. In the spring of 1970, my folks said they had something for me to think about. My decision on the subject would be what the 3 of us would do. They told me they had been saving money for a big splurge. I had to decide on a new in ground pool installed in our yard, or flying to California and spending the summer with my mother’s sister and her family. I hadn’t seen my aunt and my 5 cousins since they moved to California a few years before. I immediately chose the trip. I couldn’t wait for the summer of 1971 to arrive. It seemed the date of our trip would never come. Almost immediately, I began pestering my dad if we could fly on a 747. He said he’d ask the travel agent when he and my mom went for their appointment to plan the trip. They came home with bad news. At that time, San Diego was too small for 747’s. But I was excited we’d be starting our trip on an American 707. We’d be stopping at O’Hare Airport for a short layover, then continue on. The day in June I thought would never arrive came so quickly, I now was nervous. We were leaving the last day of school, so I had a half day, and left at lunchtime. My mother was in the living room looking fidgety. All 500 pieces of our luggage was lined up. The three of us were waiting for my granpa to arrive from his job at Ford to pick us up and take us to Metro. I’d never been to an airport before, there were so many people, and being in Detroit, the main concourse looked like an auto showroom with every American manufacturer displaying their 1971 models. As we check in, my mom noticed the vinyl travel bags American was selling and got me one. Back then guests could go to the gate with passengers. My granpa saw us off, and we could see him waving from the observation deck. I didn’t know why, but my mom showed me where the barf bags were when we sat down. It was a little embarrassing. Soon enough we were taking off,.............. and I barfed, even more embarrassing. We landed in Chicago, the turnaround was quick. People deplaning, and others boarding to go to San Diego. I fell asleep and my mother was waking up to tell me we were almost there. I remember stepping onto the stairs in the dark and the heavy smell of jet fuel. My aunt and uncle were there to meet us, driving us to their home in Poway. It was a fun summer, we did everything from visiting Disneyland to spending a day in Tijuana. At the beginning of August my dad flew back to start work again. He worked at Ford and the plants were coming to life to start making the 1972 lineup. I was sad to see him go, we’d never really been apart. My cousins wondered why I was crying because they saw their dad only a few times a year. Since we were going back so late, my mother started school clothes shopping for me in California. The day before we left, my mother had us packed and ready to go. My folks had bought so much on the trip, she had to send things UPS. We woke up early, said goodbye to my aunt and my cousins, and my uncle packed us into his car to drive us to the airport. Of course he had a “short cut” that made us late for check in. We checked our luggage, we were told the flight was waiting for us. American had an American golf cart to speed us to the gate. As we arrived, they were pushing the stairs back to the plane. My mom was embarrassed and apologized to everyone. We couldn’t sit together. That was o.k. because the return trip was different. We flew on an American 727 to LAX, to change planes and fly on to DTW. The flight seemed like it was only 20 minutes. My mom found our departure gate, we went to the news stand for a paper and magazines. Our flight hadn’t arrived yet, then my mom told me dad had a surprise for me. We were flying home on a new 747. I think I was in shock. After my dad flew back home, he pulled some strings, and paid more, for this special surprise. As I looked out the window at the gate, the silver 747 was approaching. Now I really thought this thing will never fly. My mom asked if I was happy, I just shook my head as I continued staring at the plane. I have no idea how they boarded the plane so quickly. We got settled into our seats, my mom looked nervous and said she need a drink when we got “up there”. After we took off, I asked my mom to see if I could go upstairs. The stewardess said upper deck was for first class passengers only. I was disappointed but a few minutes later she came back with a “Richie Rich” comic book and plastic wings for me. I asked where the bathroom was and was told it was all the way at the rear of the plane. I climbed over my moms legs and walked back. I walked through a partition and suddenly I was in a cocktail lounge behind coach. There were club chairs and tables with mushroomed shaped, chrome table lamps, and a bar with a bartender filling drink orders. I practically ran back to get my mom. I told her what was in the back and she thought I was fibbing. I finally got her to follow me back and she couldn’t believe it either. I used the bathroom and when I came out of the bathroom, my mom was waving. She was at a seat with a new drink and a Coke for me. It was the best thing, having a Coke and looking out the windows at the Grand Canyon. When we arrived at DTW, my dad was at the gate, grinning from ear to ear. “well? well? well?” “How was it?” I told him it was the best part of trip. He looked at me and said I could have saved him a whole bunch of money. He was joking of course. I never got to fly in another 747, the closest I ever came was a DC 10. I’ll always think the 747 was nicer, and I still have the wings and the comic book.
The Museum of Flight in Seattle is a blast! You’re standing not too far from their DB Cooper exhibit and the 727. Their World War I and II exhibition halls upstairs are also incredible.
On a related note, will you swing by Tillamook, Oregon? Besides the Spruce Goose in the McMinnville based Evergreen Air and Space Museum, in Tillamook there’s an aviation museum in an old US Navy K-Ship Blimp Hangar off Hwy 101.
It truly warms my heart to see this aircraft fully restored! Legendary and deserving of it's place indoors to be enjoyed by and to awe everyone who visits.
I watched this very plane takeoff at Paine Field for the first time - I was 14 years old and remember how large it looked compared to every other plane I had seen it was amazing to see I’m glad it’s been restored
I flew on a Air NZ 100 variant (so I got told from another Air NZ pilot just recently) in 1988 and asked and got a glimpse up the cockpit, very rare and special, as a teen I knew then that this would soon be outlawed. It was night and all the lights on the instrument panel were lit up looking really special and complex. All 3 of them in there welcomed me, it was amazing, an experience I'll never forget. Was recently in Japan at Narita airport and saw the Aviation Museum there and the static displays of this very model, outside and the mock version inside also!!!
I worked that airplane in Experimental Flight Test and was one of the engine guys. I guarantee you that it never looked that good when we were using it. It had a lot of cool demonstration stuff in it. The whole cabin was a false floor that had miles of orange cable and pressure sensors going to the instrumentation racks. The number 2 engine strut was the most instermented in the world. Really a lot of fun.
Not sure that's quite true, although obviously the 747 did expand the market for air travel. For many people in Europe it was charter package holidays that finally made air travel affordable, and obviously more recently, the low cost airlines.
I had a chance to take a flight from New York to Copenhagen in 1977. My mom took my brother and myself on a trip to Europe. I was 15 and I was excited to get to be a passenger on the 747. What an awesome plane.
I worked on the 747 (and all the other 7's, but the 747 will always be my favorite) as a Flight Controls engineer for over 20 years. Actually got to go aboard RA001 one time when I was working on mods for it to do the 777 engine tests. Awesome video, brought a tear to my eye.
I’m glad she is preserved in a hanger. I will visit her one day. My brother is moving to Missouri so in the future we will visit this museum and this beautiful 747.
I went to Abbotsford Airport in 1969 to tour The First 747 . I also Travelled from Vancouver to Disneyland in the Spring of 1971 on the I 5 Hwy from Canada to California . You could see 747 Airliners Parked waiting for Final Touches before Delivery . I first had the Chance to Fly on One in 1980 . Sat in the Seats at the very Front going to Honolulu when I was 18 . Awesome Aircraft !
I flew into Boeing field years ago and was thrilled to see her on the ramp. I wasn’t aware of the inflight refuelling part of the development and evolution the 747… thanks so much for the informative video!
I worked this very plane as a air traffic controller @ Bangor ME in 1972. She had stopped to refuel and clear customs, up till then she was the largest plane I had seen. She was HUGE compared to the B727's, DC-9, DC8's and B707's that flew in to the airport on a regular bases!
When i was a kid, i remember seeing this plane on the news as it was making its first test flight. Nice to see it is still here and not awaiting to be scrapped some where is a storage desert.
N736PA was a substitute aircraft because N747PA had an engine issue, but N747PA is still the first commercial 747 to be built and delivered, and she is no longer existing, what a shame.
@@Kj_Gamer2614 I was on a cruise and a former 747pilot was doing a question n answer session and at the time airbus was getting ready to build the 380 to carry 500 pax,he said he flew the last flight out of DaNang when Vietnam war ended and there were 900 pax on the aircraft,seated,standing,laying on the floor and the QUEEN never struggled
Whats astonishing is this was around over 50 years ago and we're basically using the same tech. Idk have people gotten dumber or there's no motivation to innovate I guess
When we were told it's impossible, we knew it's the right way to be done. This is the famous quote for the Boeing 747 Joe Sutter said as he constructed and created the Boeing 747 - the most impressive, the most majestic and most iconic aircraft ever in the sky! Lovely greetings from Sarah Sutter
Awesome stuff Paul, it looks so good in its restored state. Having seen it a number of years ago before the restoration, it’s so good to see it just now!
At some point in 1969, if I'm recalling it correctly, my Navy ship put into Montego Bay, Jamaica, and I and some of my shipmates were strolling around town and wandered down a road that led to the airport. We were amazed to see a 747 parked there. There had been news stories about the soon-to-be-released 747 but at this point it wasn't in full production or in service with the airlines yet and few people had actually seen one. Apparently the prototype/prototypes were being operated on long distance test flights by Boeing crews and they had found their way to Jamaica. I remember being absolutely amazed at the sheer size of the thing compared to previous jet liners.
Nice tour Paul. I worked for Pan Am in the Jet Center at JFK overhauling landing gear in the heavy machine shop. Being there in the last 5 years they were operating, i saw many of the original 747-121's , like N747 PA Clipper Juan T Trippe ,N739 PA Clipper Maid Of The Seas and many more. In the final years these planes had over 75,000 Hrs. and 16,000 cycles on them. By the early 90's many were scrapped. I miss The Queen Of The Skies.Thanks for the memories. JIM.
My grandfather stood in that plane at some point before it was finished. He was a mechanical engineer at the time, and Boeing, and 3M both wanted to hire him. Part of his tour out at Boeing was to check out the new 747 before it was completed. He ended up choosing to work for 3M due to it being closer to home.
Long before 11 I got to walk a 747 from cargo to cockpit! Will never forget. I even got a first class ride on a red eye from Huston to Oakland. So few passengers the flight crew invited all to first class to save walking. Super sweet;
As always Paul wonderful tour of the Aircraft, 747 is still my favorite Aircraft! after seeing all those Airline logo's it's so sad to see how many Airlines have gone Away. When in Seattle the Museum and the Boeing Assembly Plants are a Must See!
One of the neat things about a 747 is that if you go back to the tail during cruise the whole tail makes a gentle rocking motion which is quite pleasant. On long flights when maintenance was onboard we would go sleep on the aft pressure bulkhead. With the interior in it the back of the airplane is still the most comfortable and quietest.
Wow! They did a brilliant job restoring it! Looks amazing! I wonder if it could still fly if it was fully restored? Thanks for the tour Paul, very cool! 😎
Agreed. Saw it in 95 at King County/Boeing Field with 777 engines on it and then again outside across the street in a state of disrepair and badly faded. So glad they finally restored it. If ever in Seattle go to Paine Field and see the Museum’s restoration hangar.
It would be a lot of work to restore it to flight readiness, almost a full rebuild. You’d have to replace miles of cables, hydraulics, stress bearing parts, etc. This museum piece is most likely just a cosmetic restoration not a full mechanical restoration.
@@Ojisan642 In this case, I honestly don’t think it would be that bad. Cosmetic restoration or not, it’s clearly in very good mechanical condition. The issues would be regulatory… the thing would indeed require probably a C check and complete recertification. I’m sure they still have all the maintenance records and repair / modification documentation though.
Wow I worked on that airplane when I worked for LTV in Texas,we built all from pressure bulkhead back,I worked in the vert stab,the very end,it was built laying down
I built over 1000 pressure domes with my crew for this beautiful machine. I also have experience on the upper and lower lobes, aft body, horizontals and vertical. I retired in July 0f 2021 after 35 years. The last dome, A/O 1574 went out in May of 2021. Had done many repairs in the "Big House", the plant in Everette. We were the first to replace "segments" on a damaged dome in factory for before the crash of Flight 123, the "old men" used to patch any damage. The Dome was a very meticulously built article(487) and the scrutiny was borderline crazy. QA was very strict and for quite some time we had x-rays and 100% dia-test hole checks ...... very tough to build. I am an old man now, and the 747 made me a fantastic living in retirement. I miss the work.... I miss the stress ..... and the men I worked with. Seeing the last Queen leave Everette made me cut some onions. She was my baby .... my life ..... for 35 years ....... Long live the Queen ...... Long live those who devoted their lives to her ..... for me it meant everything...... 🥰🥰🥰
I had to repair a pressure dome after a takeoff from Trinidad and a loose pallet went through the mopsill barrier, into the pressure dome and back out again. I got a ferry permit and the plane went to Mobile. And yes remember the faulty pressure dome repair on the Japanese airliner, so I watched the repair. A contract engineer was fired. Then I went to check the replacement of the dome section. Not per print. Scrap and start over. The Supervisor had a heart attack. We had to cut the fuel line to the APU and I designed a coupling along with a repair to the drain jacket and then a new mopstill barrier. Weeks of work and I was satisfied. I think the cost of the repair and the downtime of the plane which had just come out of Boeing Wichita was 2 million dollars.
@@johnfalkenstine8377 What a/c came out of Wichita ????? ....47, 67 ,57 ????? ..... what the hell is a "mopstill barrier " ????????? P/D repairs never take "weeks" ........ ?????????????????????
@@johnfalkenstine8377 And nothing you do is without an engineers blessing .... period ..... especially if it's a Boeing AOG repair .... and they are absolute assholes with respect to detail ........... down time for a 747 freighter can be as much as $750,000/day ........ give me an A/O # and I can tell you what parts were sent out for this repair ...... I mean it when I say every dome ever produced since April of 1986, I touched ......
My Dad worked on it as the first LTV rep to fly on it. He took my brother and I to watch the 2nd flight at Paine Field across the highway from the Everett plant.
I worked at Boeing doing wind tunnel testing on the 757 and 767. We used the 747 in this video as the full size flying test bed so we could extrapolate the tunnel data. We did "terrible" things to that '47 in the name of science - it was really scabbed together. Nobody went on a test without a parachute! Good to see she is now all polished up and pretty. She did her duty well.
In 1969 when I was 9 years old I lived in Roswell New Mexico. Outside of Roswell there is a airforce base which was no longer used by the airforce, Walker afb. Boeing use that base to do test flights for the 747 and that 747 was the one that was used for the test flights. I would get on my bike and ride to the base to see the 747 do touch and go.
The Sutter twist was what stopped the wing flutter. The uranium is for counter balance mostly on flight controls, seeing as they used it on the rudder surface as well. the twist is the most noticeable thing on the wing….
Hello Paul it’s Caleb (Caleb’s Aviation) first off love the video of the first ever Boeing 747! Also THANK YOU so very much for the get well video, my cousin sent it to me and I was overjoyed! Also I thought I’d leave this comment so I could thank you and I’ve also commented on other videos so you could make that connection, that the “Caleb” you sent the message to was me! Thanks again Paul!
Hi Paul, we returned from the Antarctic via BA to Santiago where an ancient Qantas B747 was waiting to fly us back to Aus. It's age was evident and by the time we returned home it was Feb, 2020 and I suspect the poor old bird might have been the first to be scrapped by Qantas. Very comfortable flight on the upper deck, but upon reflection give me an A 380 every time to cross the big pond. Thank you for this very detailed description of what was after all a fabulous craft which we were lucky to use many time to explore the world.
Yes the A380 is much more comfortable but not as special as the Queen of the Skies :) My QANTAS 747-400 detailed tour video may have been your actual aircraft (which I flew to JNB quite a few years ago)
I was a little boy living in Roswell New Mexico when the 747 was put into production. The closed Air Force base in Roswell had a 10,000’ runway and was chosen as the initial training airport for crews transitioning to the 747. It was amazing to see all the airline liveries doing touch and goes.
@@Jack_The_Ripper_Here lol… no one even paid that story any attention. We did love rocketry, space exploration etc. One of Roswells high school is named Goddard and there use to be a great planetarium… I think there may be an alien museum now.
I understood the fix for flutter was a twist in the wing that became known as the ‘Sutter twist’ after Joe Sutter. Will research this further… thanks for the info!
So they have all the logos of all the 747 commercial operators on that plane. Cool! I have a fond memory with the 747. I flew round trip from Seoul Gimpo airport to lax in business class upper deck on Asiana airlines in the mid 90’s when I was like 5 or 6. My dad my sister and I all went to go visit our mom who came to the states first to study abroad.
One of my bucket list items is to fly on a 747 before they are all retired from service. I've already started looking at flights to Germany on Lufthansa to check it off.
Hi Paul love your videos. Was lucky enough to see this 747 when I was in Seattle in 2013. And the day I was there I was able to get a look inside. It was before the restoration. Great to see the Air Lingus logo on there Im from Ireland and In the 90s I remember seeing them at Dublin Airport before they were sent for scrapping which was a real shame. They could have kept one for a Museum piece etc.
I saw it rotting outdoors back in 1994. Nice to see that they have decided to restore it and preserve it. It deserves nothing less!
I fully agree! I saw it rotting years ago and it was sad to see.
In 1986 Vancouver EXPO 86 had the Best Air show at Abbotsford . In the early 70s Abbotsford was Ranked 3rd Behind Paris and . I think it was Payne Field . For Airshows Worldwide . I watched the Concord , Antonov , All The F Series , Russian Fighter That Danced like Nadia in 76 , Great Teams From Europe and South America . The Steam Engine EXPO that they Held Before the Fair Officially Opened Was Awesome !
This aeroplane had sat idle for many years, taped up, with nobody entering it. I contacted the museums curator almost 20 years ago and asked if there were any photos of the interior, because I hadn't been able to find any. He opened the old girl up after many years and took dozens of photos and sent them to me on a CD. Felt very privileged, and the condition now, to what it was, is amazing. Great video Paul.
The 747 has a special place in my heart, because it was the first plane I ever flew on when I visited the US as a kid in the 90's, even getting a pre 9/11 visit to the cockpit to talk to the pilots while we were over Hudson Bay.
Such a well designed plane and a workhorse.
This brings back memories. I worked these 742s and 744s as flight attendant for many years. Started in 1993 and retired 2018. All those looking nightflights back from SE Asia and all the trans- Atlantic and trans-Siberia flights, flying over the Gobi desert, Afghanistan. What a time I had! And swoosh - and it is all in the past. I haven’t seen an aircraft from inside since my last trip to Mauritius Christmas 2018. And I don’t miss it at all.
I appreciate so much my own bed every night now, no hotel room somewhere around the world, no packing a suitcase, or putting the washing machine on after a trip.
I simply enjoy the calmness and silence from my back terrace, looking into the woods, with my two dogs next to me! Utter bliss!
But I am so grateful for all the flights these birds brought me safely to all the destinations and back!
Thank you for your videos. Aviation is and always will be a fascinating area!
I worked on the 747 (and all the other 7's, but the 747 will always be my favorite) as a Flight Controls engineer for over 20 years. Actually got to go aboard RA001 one time when I was working on mods for it to do the 777 engine tests. Awesome video, brought a tear to my eye.
Long Live the Queen of the Skies!
Glad it bought back nice memories :) Check out my qantas 747 tribute video - that’ll clear out the tear ducts 😭😭
Former Boeing Everett here... we changed aviation history with our 47 Jumbo aka Queen of the Skies. So many 47's are still in perfect condition and with proper maintenance, fly another 20 plus years.
🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢
I slipped and fell down the spiral staircase once, let me say that once you get started you don't stop until you hit the bottom LOL. I blame alcohol. a childhood friends mom and dad were on the Pan Am/KLM crash in Tenerife. They were both Doctors from Seattle on a trip, She was able to get out an overwing exit but an explosion pulled him back into the plane where he perished. She jumped off the wing and broke her ankles. I was never allowed to bring it up around her, she was an absolute mess from watching her husband get killed and all those bodies. He told me that she once said she saw a man or woman while on her way to the wing exit still sitting in their seat without their head which had been decapitated by a piece of metal flying through the cabin. Total nightmare.
Oof
Good Bless her. Ooof thats horrible
I hope she was able to find some peace
I am family of the KLM captain. I won’t elaborate much, but this was an disaster from the get go, starting with a terrorist bomb in a flower shop at Gren Canaria. Then bad communication during thick fog, then a captain running out of his on-duty hours, and the rest is history. 😔😪
@@westerlywinds5684you were really related to captain zan vanten? wowzers. any insight into what kind of guy he was in life? was he indeed the star captain of the airline
Former Boeing Everett here... been through 747 builds from pile of parts to final certification. I spent my last 2 years as a Certified Lean Manufacturing Coach. Went around country helping other plants improve processes and reduce defects. Even went to St Louis to lean out manufacturing on F/A 18 Super Hornets. That simple 2 seat, 1 window, 2 engine, no bathrooms or kitchens or in flight entertainment... was taking 5 times as long to build as a 747 with 400 seats, 200 windows, 8 toilets, 2 kitchens and a flight deck bigger than 1/2 F/A 18. We reduced build time drastically.
In the fall of '97 or early '98 shortly after I started on the 747-400 wingline they were increasing the rate from 5 per month to 6 per month!
It was nuts.
I remember when we could finish a 47 in final assembly in 1 week. Got sent to St Louis to shorten build time on F/A-18 Super Hornets. It was taking close to 1 year to build a dinky jet with 2 seats and 1 window. @@StratMatt777Some really amazing people worked for Boeing and we were all lucky to be part of it.
At 5:34 did anyone notice nasa 515
@@BarbaraLevine-gc8dmYes, Before NASA it was NACA - The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was formed on March 3, 1915, with a charter to “supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight, with a view to their practical solution.” With luminaries like Orville Wright as members, the group was on the cutting edge of technology in the early decades of flight, before eventually being absorbed by NASA in 1958.
@@BarbaraLevine-gc8dm I'm not Paul, but I have a bunch of footage of that NASA 737-100 and this 747 and also the 787 that I shot at the Museum in 2016. I narrated it at the time I recorded it, explaining everything about the engines and flight controls and all the parts of the airplane as I filmed.
The intent was to upload it as a TH-cam video but I never got around to it.
It sounds like you'd like to see my video of NASA 515....?
I'll take a look and see if I made any serious verbal mistakes or if I can just upload it as is.
I worked as an American Airlines gate agent at ORD for several years, both dispatching and meeting flights and from late '74 until early '75, I flew on both the 747 and DC-10 as an inflight passenger service director. By far, the '47 was both my and the public's [at least with those I recall interacting with] favorite airplane. On several landings I experienced, I didn't even feel like we were on the ground. They were like riding on a pillow of air. Truly, Boeing at its greatest and long before the suits and stockholders put profit above safety and comfort. No wonder Airbus does so well. They built on Boeing's standards of construction, while Boeing ignored the wisdom of its own employees. American industry still doesn't seem to get it.
The lines of this plane are classic. Boeing has a history of making some of the handsomest passenger planes ever.
I’m glad they restored that plane. That’s one thing I do miss about being on the ramp. Seeing the 747s at work, along with other cool airplanes, witnessing them in their element.
Undoubtedly, it is a legend and an unforgettable aircraft in aviation history.
It was the best plane ever. Spacious, extremely comfortable and smooth flying. Turbulance for the Boing 747 was just a joke.
In 1984 I flew direct from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Los Angeles, USA in one of these beauties from Aerolineas Argentina. It was a dream flight!
When I was growing up in the 1960’s, I was fascinated with anything that flew. My parents and I always vacationed in our car, so I could only imagine what it was like to be a passenger on a plane. I knew all about the new 747 being developed by Boeing and thought nothing that large could ever fly. But fly it did, I was excited watching the stories on the news about it, and one Christmas got a battery operated 747 that was the best gift I got that year.
In the spring of 1970, my folks said they had something for me to think about. My decision on the subject would be what the 3 of us would do. They told me they had been saving money for a big splurge. I had to decide on a new in ground pool installed in our yard, or flying to California and spending the summer with my mother’s sister and her family. I hadn’t seen my aunt and my 5 cousins since they moved to California a few years before. I immediately chose the trip. I couldn’t wait for the summer of 1971 to arrive.
It seemed the date of our trip would never come. Almost immediately, I began pestering my dad if we could fly on a 747. He said he’d ask the travel agent when he and my mom went for their appointment to plan the trip. They came home with bad news. At that time, San Diego was too small for 747’s. But I was excited we’d be starting our trip on an American 707. We’d be stopping at O’Hare Airport for a short layover, then continue on.
The day in June I thought would never arrive came so quickly, I now was nervous. We were leaving the last day of school, so I had a half day, and left at lunchtime. My mother was in the living room looking fidgety. All 500 pieces of our luggage was lined up. The three of us were waiting for my granpa to arrive from his job at Ford to pick us up and take us to Metro.
I’d never been to an airport before, there were so many people, and being in Detroit, the main concourse looked like an auto showroom with every American manufacturer displaying their 1971 models. As we check in, my mom noticed the vinyl travel bags American was selling and got me one. Back then guests could go to the gate with passengers. My granpa saw us off, and we could see him waving from the observation deck.
I didn’t know why, but my mom showed me where the barf bags were when we sat down. It was a little embarrassing. Soon enough we were taking off,.............. and I barfed, even more embarrassing. We landed in Chicago, the turnaround was quick. People deplaning, and others boarding to go to San Diego. I fell asleep and my mother was waking up to tell me we were almost there. I remember stepping onto the stairs in the dark and the heavy smell of jet fuel. My aunt and uncle were there to meet us, driving us to their home in Poway.
It was a fun summer, we did everything from visiting Disneyland to spending a day in Tijuana. At the beginning of August my dad flew back to start work again. He worked at Ford and the plants were coming to life to start making the 1972 lineup. I was sad to see him go, we’d never really been apart. My cousins wondered why I was crying because they saw their dad only a few times a year.
Since we were going back so late, my mother started school clothes shopping for me in California. The day before we left, my mother had us packed and ready to go. My folks had bought so much on the trip, she had to send things UPS. We woke up early, said goodbye to my aunt and my cousins, and my uncle packed us into his car to drive us to the airport. Of course he had a “short cut” that made us late for check in. We checked our luggage, we were told the flight was waiting for us. American had an American golf cart to speed us to the gate. As we arrived, they were pushing the stairs back to the plane. My mom was embarrassed and apologized to everyone. We couldn’t sit together. That was o.k. because the return trip was different. We flew on an American 727 to LAX, to change planes and fly on to DTW. The flight seemed like it was only 20 minutes.
My mom found our departure gate, we went to the news stand for a paper and magazines. Our flight hadn’t arrived yet, then my mom told me dad had a surprise for me. We were flying home on a new 747. I think I was in shock. After my dad flew back home, he pulled some strings, and paid more, for this special surprise. As I looked out the window at the gate, the silver 747 was approaching. Now I really thought this thing will never fly. My mom asked if I was happy, I just shook my head as I continued staring at the plane. I have no idea how they boarded the plane so quickly.
We got settled into our seats, my mom looked nervous and said she need a drink when we got “up there”. After we took off, I asked my mom to see if I could go upstairs. The stewardess said upper deck was for first class passengers only. I was disappointed but a few minutes later she came back with a “Richie Rich” comic book and plastic wings for me. I asked where the bathroom was and was told it was all the way at the rear of the plane. I climbed over my moms legs and walked back. I walked through a partition and suddenly I was in a cocktail lounge behind coach. There were club chairs and tables with mushroomed shaped, chrome table lamps, and a bar with a bartender filling drink orders. I practically ran back to get my mom. I told her what was in the back and she thought I was fibbing. I finally got her to follow me back and she couldn’t believe it either. I used the bathroom and when I came out of the bathroom, my mom was waving. She was at a seat with a new drink and a Coke for me. It was the best thing, having a Coke and looking out the windows at the Grand Canyon. When we arrived at DTW, my dad was at the gate, grinning from ear to ear. “well? well? well?” “How was it?” I told him it was the best part of trip. He looked at me and said I could have saved him a whole bunch of money. He was joking of course. I never got to fly in another 747, the closest I ever came was a DC 10. I’ll always think the 747 was nicer, and I still have the wings and the comic book.
The Museum of Flight in Seattle is a blast! You’re standing not too far from their DB Cooper exhibit and the 727.
Their World War I and II exhibition halls upstairs are also incredible.
On a related note, will you swing by Tillamook, Oregon? Besides the Spruce Goose in the McMinnville based Evergreen Air and Space Museum, in Tillamook there’s an aviation museum in an old US Navy K-Ship Blimp Hangar off Hwy 101.
Not to mention the Concorde and the SR 71 Blackbird! Oh, and JFK’s Air Force One
It truly warms my heart to see this aircraft fully restored! Legendary and deserving of it's place indoors to be enjoyed by and to awe everyone who visits.
I watched this very plane takeoff at Paine Field for the first time - I was 14 years old and remember how large it looked compared to every other plane I had seen it was amazing to see I’m glad it’s been restored
My dad worked on the Boeing plant in Everett so I got to go see the first flight in February of 1969. A memory I’ll never forget!
I flew on a Air NZ 100 variant (so I got told from another Air NZ pilot just recently) in 1988 and asked and got a glimpse up the cockpit, very rare and special, as a teen I knew then that this would soon be outlawed. It was night and all the lights on the instrument panel were lit up looking really special and complex. All 3 of them in there welcomed me, it was amazing, an experience I'll never forget. Was recently in Japan at Narita airport and saw the Aviation Museum there and the static displays of this very model, outside and the mock version inside also!!!
I worked that airplane in Experimental Flight Test and was one of the engine guys. I guarantee you that it never looked that good when we were using it. It had a lot of cool demonstration stuff in it. The whole cabin was a false floor that had miles of orange cable and pressure sensors going to the instrumentation racks. The number 2 engine strut was the most instermented in the world. Really a lot of fun.
Thanks for the great tour Paul the 747 made flying accessible to almost anyone.
Not sure that's quite true, although obviously the 747 did expand the market for air travel. For many people in Europe it was charter package holidays that finally made air travel affordable, and obviously more recently, the low cost airlines.
@@afinecity1830 Fair enough the 707 also lowered the cost of flying as well as other factors but the 747 di certainly help a lot
I had a chance to take a flight from New York to Copenhagen in 1977. My mom took my brother and myself on a trip to Europe. I was 15 and I was excited to get to be a passenger on the 747. What an awesome plane.
I worked on the 747 (and all the other 7's, but the 747 will always be my favorite) as a Flight Controls engineer for over 20 years. Actually got to go aboard RA001 one time when I was working on mods for it to do the 777 engine tests. Awesome video, brought a tear to my eye.
It's in remarkable condition considering its age. That bed upstairs is a tad weird.
Yeah it looks awesome. I think they just recently restored it too.
Austin Powers did own one. Built in bed was a selling point...
That was used for the captains to " interview " flight attendants 😉
Thanks Paul. I saw RA001 at the Museum of Flight many years ago, but she was outside and not preserved and on display yet. Nice to get the tour
I’m glad she is preserved in a hanger. I will visit her one day. My brother is moving to Missouri so in the future we will visit this museum and this beautiful 747.
I went to Abbotsford Airport in 1969 to tour The First 747 . I also Travelled from Vancouver to Disneyland in the Spring of 1971 on the I 5 Hwy from Canada to California . You could see 747 Airliners Parked waiting for Final Touches before Delivery . I first had the Chance to Fly on One in 1980 . Sat in the Seats at the very Front going to Honolulu when I was 18 . Awesome Aircraft !
Great video. The fact that they designed it as a freighter first really paid off. Those aircraft will be flying for decades more.
I flew into Boeing field years ago and was thrilled to see her on the ramp. I wasn’t aware of the inflight refuelling part of the development and evolution the 747… thanks so much for the informative video!
You're welcome
The only KC747 customer was Iran. They still use their one aircraft.
Man seeing it empty like that really gives you an idea of the size, basically a flying warehouse.
I worked this very plane as a air traffic controller @ Bangor ME in 1972. She had stopped to refuel and clear customs, up till then she was the largest plane I had seen. She was HUGE compared to the B727's, DC-9, DC8's and B707's that flew in to the airport on a regular bases!
When i was a kid, i remember seeing this plane on the news as it was making its first test flight. Nice to see it is still here and not awaiting to be scrapped some where is a storage desert.
Great insight as always mate, anything related to a 747 lies at the heart of all aviation enthusiasts, job well done!
Oh wow I didn’t know the first 747 from Pan-am was also the one involved with the tragic accident. Great video as always
The first 747 for pan am did not crash but the first 747 flying commercially for pan am crashed(n747pa vs n736pa)
N736PA was a substitute aircraft because N747PA had an engine issue, but N747PA is still the first commercial 747 to be built and delivered, and she is no longer existing, what a shame.
Crazy that the most tragic accident in aviation history didn’t even occur in the air, but on a runway. Communication really is key.
@@user-e-idk that’s what I meant, the first commercially flying 747
@@Kj_Gamer2614
I was on a cruise and a former 747pilot was doing a question n answer session and at the time airbus was getting ready to build the 380 to carry 500 pax,he said he flew the last flight out of DaNang when Vietnam war ended and there were 900 pax on the aircraft,seated,standing,laying on the floor and the QUEEN never struggled
Isn't it just absolutely mind blowing how far humans have come to be able to build something like this? Just insane to me.
I fully agree. It's incredible how far we have come in the last 100ish years
Whats astonishing is this was around over 50 years ago and we're basically using the same tech. Idk have people gotten dumber or there's no motivation to innovate I guess
@@scholaroftheworldalternatehist
remember the concorde?
it was too expensive and dangerous.
@@scholaroftheworldalternatehistWhat do you propose as tech advancement. We need to let the Boeing Engineers know!!
The new 747-8’s are much quieter and haul more cargo and are more fuel efficient than the -4. I see many of them every night at World port.
When we were told it's impossible, we knew it's the right way to be done. This is the famous quote for the Boeing 747 Joe Sutter said as he constructed and created the Boeing 747 - the most impressive, the most majestic and most iconic aircraft ever in the sky! Lovely greetings from Sarah Sutter
Always will be my favorite aircraft.
Yet another fantastic tour! Thx for sharing the opportunity to almost be there with you!
Awesome stuff Paul, it looks so good in its restored state. Having seen it a number of years ago before the restoration, it’s so good to see it just now!
I can somewhat remember watching the PW engines rolling out of Middletown CT when the 747 was being manufactered. It was pretty cool
The skies are just not the same without the Queen of the skies! Thanks so much for sharing- your trip to the USA was beyond incredible! 👍
Glad you enjoyed it!
Proud to have been a Boeing employee for 20 years. I lost count of all of the 747 landing gear doors I made over the years.
Another awesome documentary you have made. Thank you very much, Paul, for sharing your wonderful video with us.
At some point in 1969, if I'm recalling it correctly, my Navy ship put into Montego Bay, Jamaica, and I and some of my shipmates were strolling around town and wandered down a road that led to the airport. We were amazed to see a 747 parked there. There had been news stories about the soon-to-be-released 747 but at this point it wasn't in full production or in service with the airlines yet and few people had actually seen one. Apparently the prototype/prototypes were being operated on long distance test flights by Boeing crews and they had found their way to Jamaica. I remember being absolutely amazed at the sheer size of the thing compared to previous jet liners.
Excellent presentation. I've flown all over the planet on the 747. She's a quite a gal. Long Live the Queen of the skies!
I’m glad this is being kept safe at a museum
Nice tour Paul. I worked for Pan Am in the Jet Center at JFK overhauling landing gear in the heavy machine shop. Being there in the last 5 years they were operating, i saw many of the original 747-121's , like N747 PA Clipper Juan T Trippe ,N739 PA Clipper Maid Of The Seas and many more. In the final years these planes had over 75,000 Hrs. and 16,000 cycles on them. By the early 90's many were scrapped. I miss The Queen Of The Skies.Thanks for the memories. JIM.
Love it Paul, as I've said before, any video about a 747 is a great video!!
Glad you enjoyed it
My grandfather stood in that plane at some point before it was finished. He was a mechanical engineer at the time, and Boeing, and 3M both wanted to hire him. Part of his tour out at Boeing was to check out the new 747 before it was completed. He ended up choosing to work for 3M due to it being closer to home.
What a beautiful aircraft! It's great that it's now stored inside! I didn't know about the in air refuelling modification!
Thanks for watching!
your knowledge of planes is quite remarkable
Long before 11 I got to walk a 747 from cargo to cockpit! Will never forget. I even got a first class ride on a red eye from Huston to Oakland. So few passengers the flight crew invited all to first class to save walking. Super sweet;
So neat to see this aircraft. Also wonderful that finally it’s been preserved as it deserves 👍🏼
Couldn't agree more!
As always Paul wonderful tour of the Aircraft, 747 is still my favorite Aircraft! after seeing all those Airline logo's it's so sad to see how many Airlines have gone Away. When in Seattle the Museum and the Boeing Assembly Plants are a Must See!
A very interesting tour of the the first Boeing 747-100 prototype. Thank you very much for sharing this video.
Glad you enjoyed it!
The 747 was a magnificent plane...looked amazing..
Brilliant walk through as always, I've learnt so much from your tours, so many details. Thankyou.
My pleasure!
One of the neat things about a 747 is that if you go back to the tail during cruise the whole tail makes a gentle rocking motion which is quite pleasant. On long flights when maintenance was onboard we would go sleep on the aft pressure bulkhead. With the interior in it the back of the airplane is still the most comfortable and quietest.
Great video Paul, what a beautiful piece of kit!
Seattle! Awesome to see you in my neck of the woods! Great video as always
Wow! They did a brilliant job restoring it! Looks amazing! I wonder if it could still fly if it was fully restored? Thanks for the tour Paul, very cool! 😎
Agreed. Saw it in 95 at King County/Boeing Field with 777 engines on it and then again outside across the street in a state of disrepair and badly faded. So glad they finally restored it. If ever in Seattle go to Paine Field and see the Museum’s restoration hangar.
If it was fully restored, I believe by definition it would be able to fly.
It would be a lot of work to restore it to flight readiness, almost a full rebuild. You’d have to replace miles of cables, hydraulics, stress bearing parts, etc.
This museum piece is most likely just a cosmetic restoration not a full mechanical restoration.
@@Ojisan642 In this case, I honestly don’t think it would be that bad. Cosmetic restoration or not, it’s clearly in very good mechanical condition.
The issues would be regulatory… the thing would indeed require probably a C check and complete recertification. I’m sure they still have all the maintenance records and repair / modification documentation though.
Wow I worked on that airplane when I worked for LTV in Texas,we built all from pressure bulkhead back,I worked in the vert stab,the very end,it was built laying down
Thank you for sharing your tour here. I do miss flying the 747-400s.
My pleasure!
@@PaulStewartAviation It has been a few years since seeing Seattle and walking to different museums there.
I built over 1000 pressure domes with my crew for this beautiful machine. I also have experience on the upper and lower lobes, aft body, horizontals and vertical. I retired in July 0f 2021 after 35 years. The last dome, A/O 1574 went out in May of 2021. Had done many repairs in the "Big House", the plant in Everette. We were the first to replace "segments" on a damaged dome in factory for before the crash of Flight 123, the "old men" used to patch any damage. The Dome was a very meticulously built article(487) and the scrutiny was borderline crazy. QA was very strict and for quite some time we had x-rays and 100% dia-test hole checks ...... very tough to build. I am an old man now, and the 747 made me a fantastic living in retirement. I miss the work.... I miss the stress ..... and the men I worked with. Seeing the last Queen leave Everette made me cut some onions. She was my baby .... my life ..... for 35 years ....... Long live the Queen ...... Long live those who devoted their lives to her ..... for me it meant everything...... 🥰🥰🥰
I had to repair a pressure dome after a takeoff from Trinidad and a loose pallet went through the mopsill barrier, into the pressure dome and back out again. I got a ferry permit and the plane went to Mobile. And yes remember the faulty pressure dome repair on the Japanese airliner, so I watched the repair. A contract engineer was fired. Then I went to check the replacement of the dome section. Not per print. Scrap and start over. The Supervisor had a heart attack. We had to cut the fuel line to the APU and I designed a coupling along with a repair to the drain jacket and then a new mopstill barrier. Weeks of work and I was satisfied. I think the cost of the repair and the downtime of the plane which had just come out of Boeing Wichita was 2 million dollars.
@@johnfalkenstine8377 What a/c came out of Wichita ????? ....47, 67 ,57 ????? ..... what the hell is a "mopstill barrier " ????????? P/D repairs never take "weeks" ........ ?????????????????????
@@johnfalkenstine8377 And nothing you do is without an engineers blessing .... period ..... especially if it's a Boeing AOG repair .... and they are absolute assholes with respect to detail ........... down time for a 747 freighter can be as much as $750,000/day ........ give me an A/O # and I can tell you what parts were sent out for this repair ...... I mean it when I say every dome ever produced since April of 1986, I touched ......
My Dad worked on it as the first LTV rep to fly on it. He took my brother and I to watch the 2nd flight at Paine Field across the highway from the Everett plant.
I've been there several times. If your ever in Seattle it's a must stop.
wuaoo:La Reyna de los cielos?inigualable💪 Boeing 747 Bendiciones🙏 desde🇩🇴
cool
This is truly a remarkable machine.
I see the Aer Lingus logo on the display of customers on the side of the plane. Great to see it finally restored. Regards from Ireland
Galleys are very comfortable. Thanks. Hostess was very Nice. It was a good trip. Thanks
Super cool! I never knew the 747 was up for consideration as a refueler. Great vid, thanks for sharing :)
Какой шикарный музей! И все экспонаты просто в великолепном состоянии 👍
I worked at Boeing doing wind tunnel testing on the 757 and 767. We used the 747 in this video as the full size flying test bed so we could extrapolate the tunnel data. We did "terrible" things to that '47 in the name of science - it was really scabbed together. Nobody went on a test without a parachute! Good to see she is now all polished up and pretty. She did her duty well.
Beautiful and iconic plane, I flew on it several times, impossible not to be fond of it...!
I live in Washington and love visiting there. There are so many cool aircraft to visit and crawl inside of. If you get the chance to visit you should.
I’m so glad they finally covered her up! When I was there last , she was out side looking a bit sad
Do they still have a concord there ?
I was on this exact plane last year. Quite amazing being in the first one
In 1969 when I was 9 years old I lived in Roswell New Mexico. Outside of Roswell there is a airforce base which was no longer used by the airforce, Walker afb. Boeing use that base to do test flights for the 747 and that 747 was the one that was used for the test flights. I would get on my bike and ride to the base to see the 747 do touch and go.
Good one Paul. My son in law works in the tower at Payne Field in Everett, where they build the big ones. Very proud of him. Thanks for the post.
Paine Field
The Sutter twist was what stopped the wing flutter. The uranium is for counter balance mostly on flight controls, seeing as they used it on the rudder surface as well. the twist is the most noticeable thing on the wing….
Hello Paul it’s Caleb (Caleb’s Aviation) first off love the video of the first ever Boeing 747! Also THANK YOU so very much for the get well video, my cousin sent it to me and I was overjoyed! Also I thought I’d leave this comment so I could thank you and I’ve also commented on other videos so you could make that connection, that the “Caleb” you sent the message to was me!
Thanks again Paul!
Cheers Caleb 😊
@@PaulStewartAviation Thanks Again!
I've enjoyed my visits to the Museum of Flight, I lived in the Seattle area for about 5 years but now living back in Melbourne.
It's a fantastic place, isn't it?! Bit cold, though haha
Hi Paul, we returned from the Antarctic via BA to Santiago where an ancient Qantas B747 was waiting to fly us back to Aus. It's age was evident and by the time we returned home it was Feb, 2020 and I suspect the poor old bird might have been the first to be scrapped by Qantas. Very comfortable flight on the upper deck, but upon reflection give me an A 380 every time to cross the big pond. Thank you for this very detailed description of what was after all a fabulous craft which we were lucky to use many time to explore the world.
Yes the A380 is much more comfortable but not as special as the Queen of the Skies :) My QANTAS 747-400 detailed tour video may have been your actual aircraft (which I flew to JNB quite a few years ago)
Just a small correction, 747-100's began with just a 322t MTOW with -3A engines topping out to 340t with later -7A/7F/7J engines.
I was a little boy living in Roswell New Mexico when the 747 was put into production. The closed Air Force base in Roswell had a 10,000’ runway and was chosen as the initial training airport for crews transitioning to the 747. It was amazing to see all the airline liveries doing touch and goes.
Whatever you say Alien.
@@Jack_The_Ripper_Here lol… no one even paid that story any attention. We did love rocketry, space exploration etc. One of Roswells high school is named Goddard and there use to be a great planetarium… I think there may be an alien museum now.
This MUST rank as one of the top 10 all time planes, if not higher. The 707 for sure, The Wrights.....
Got my RM Williams on time for a Paul vid …Interesting to see the JAL logo up there too with JAL 123 being of the 747s biggest disasters
Excellent video. I never knew about the 'anti-flutter' weights and that they were
'depleted uranium'.
I understood the fix for flutter was a twist in the wing that became known as the ‘Sutter twist’ after Joe Sutter. Will research this further… thanks for the info!
I remember seeing the warnings on the wings about the uranium. Fortunately, they were replaced with weights made of tungsten.
You brilliantly brought history into sharp focus for modern eyes, excellent photography and good narrative. Outstanding presentation!
I very clearly remember the first time I saw a 747 at New York's JFK Airport. It was stunningly HUGE!
So they have all the logos of all the 747 commercial operators on that plane. Cool! I have a fond memory with the 747. I flew round trip from Seoul Gimpo airport to lax in business class upper deck on Asiana airlines in the mid 90’s when I was like 5 or 6. My dad my sister and I all went to go visit our mom who came to the states first to study abroad.
flew on one in the mid 70's amazing plane.
One of my bucket list items is to fly on a 747 before they are all retired from service. I've already started looking at flights to Germany on Lufthansa to check it off.
Great video mate, still my favorite plane. Still such a beautiful craft
I had the honor to help detail many of those planes in 2016
Hi Paul love your videos. Was lucky enough to see this 747 when I was in Seattle in 2013. And the day I was there I was able to get a look inside. It was before the restoration. Great to see the Air Lingus logo on there Im from Ireland and In the 90s I remember seeing them at Dublin Airport before they were sent for scrapping which was a real shame. They could have kept one for a Museum piece etc.
Absolutely majestic bird....
Another GREAT SHOW 👍, THAT landing gear is awesome.
The 747 was derived from the aircraft proposed for the USAF Cargo aircraft, in which the Lockheed C-5 won the competition.
Great video on the awesome 747
Cracking report on the prototype.
Thanks
Fascinating, thanks for posting Paul! 👍