Qantas B747 jumbo jet last flight out of Sydney

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Qantas is marking the end of an era today (July 22) with the departure of the Australian national carrier’s last Boeing 747 jumbo jet.

 

The airline brought forward the scheduled retirement of its B747 fleet by six months after the Covid-19 pandemic decimated the demand for international air travel globally.

 

The final 747-400 in the fleet, which was delivered in 2003, departed Sydney at 2pm (local time) as flight number QF7474. The carrier says “weather permitting” it will do a flyby of Sydney Harbour, CBD and northern and eastern suburbs beaches as well as a low level overfly of HARS Museum (Albion Park) where it will dip the wings in a final farewell to Qantas’ first 747-400, VH-OJA, which is preserved there.

 

The “Queen of The Skies” aircraft will then be flown to Los Angeles with a full cargo hold of freight before its final sector to the Mojave Desert.

 

 

https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2020/07/22/qantas-flies-b747-jumbo-jet-one-last-time-over-sydney/

Below was a radar snapshot of her final flight path. (For real!) 

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Edited July 22, 2020 by Maʹher-shalʹal-hash-baz
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[Qapla]

I remember when Boeing came out with the 747 - amazing something that large and heavy can fly

[New World Explorer]

I had a lot of flights on Boeing 747 jumbo jet.

Last one to San Francisco last year, don't miss them too much, 

I find them very noisy and lacking a lot of technology present in newer version like Airbus A380.

In fact Airbus 380 is my favourite aircraft. (I think they stopped producing them in favour of smaller planes?) 

 

Very safe plane though (B 747)

I remember flying once from London to Perth and having all 3 seats empty, that was fun!

 

[Qapla]

Sometimes it can make a person wonder ... which sort of thing is more amazing:

• Planes like the 747 and A380 weighing 750,000 - 1,265,000 pounds can actually fly ... especially long distance
• A ship made from steel and weighing 600,000 tons can float
• A capsule the size of the one that went to the moon could actually fit 3 people safely for that trip
• A nuclear submarine can submerge and stay down there for 5 years without surfacing if needed

 

Anyway, back to the thread. There may be more airlines reducing their stock of extra-large craft with the changes C-19 has brought to the industry

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Australia has parked all her A380's till 2023. Don't know if they will fly around here again.

Melbourne says goodbye to the Qantas A380 for a while - Breakfast - ABC

Radiohttps://www.abc.net.au/radio/melbourne/programs/breakfast/steve-creedy/12479774


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[Sheep]

It looks like the end of an era. I loved the 747, in all its forms from the 100 series to the 400, and now with the 747-8. But when I first saw one in the early 70s, I thought the same as John:

 

19 hours ago, Qapla said:

I remember when Boeing came out with the 747 - amazing something that large and heavy can fly

I thought it would never get off the ground either. It's just too fat! But lo and behold, it was airborne!

 

19 hours ago, New World Explorer said:

I had a lot of flights on Boeing 747 jumbo jet.

Last one to San Francisco last year, don't miss them too much, 

I find them very noisy and lacking a lot of technology present in newer version like Airbus A380.

In fact Airbus 380 is my favourite aircraft. (I think they stopped producing them in favour of smaller planes?)

You're right. After so long in the air, you'd expect the 747 to be out-of-date with the times. So it was noisy, and very fuel-hungry. It did it's job though, and was a hit during its time. As for the newcomer A380, it is indeed going out of production by 2021:

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/airbus-a380-stop-production-plane-suberjumbo-flights-emirates-a8778581.html

[Doug]

On 7/23/2020 at 10:53 AM, Maʹher-shalʹal-hash-baz said:

Australia has parked all her A380's till 2023. 
 

An item in the news said the FAA issued an emergency order to inspect all 737's due to a couple of instances of engine shut down mid-flight.

 

The story speculated the problem may be associated with the planes being parked during the last few months.

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I hope you don't mind if I take liberties on this thread, but...

 

I have decided not to fly on any 737's this year. 

Or 747's or A380's - or ANY OTHER AIRCRAFT.

(See pic for real reason!)

[Doug]

On 7/23/2020 at 10:53 AM, Maʹher-shalʹal-hash-baz said:

Australia has parked all her A380's till 2023. 
 

 "The FAA today issued an emergency airworthiness directive for around 2000 Boeing 737 aircraft which have not flown for seven days.

 

Corrosion to the air check valves getting stuck open.

[Sheep]

On 7/25/2020 at 8:44 PM, Doug said:

An item in the news said the FAA issued an emergency order to inspect all 737's due to a couple of instances of engine shut down mid-flight.

 

The story speculated the problem may be associated with the planes being parked during the last few months.

 

On 7/25/2020 at 8:54 PM, Doug said:

 "The FAA today issued an emergency airworthiness directive for around 2000 Boeing 737 aircraft which have not flown for seven days.

 

Corrosion to the air check valves getting stuck open.

I'm not surprised. The 737, like the 747, was good for its day. But it's time for an overhaul! It's been around since April of 1967,  just a year and a half before the 747 started flying. I think the problems with the infamous 737-MAX were because of the overall 737 design. The 737 always sat close to the ground, a lot closer than its competitor the more recent Airbus A320. That didn't matter with the first two generations of the 737 since the engines were skinny and they had no trouble fitting under the wings. But all the later generations used fatter engines. And rather than modify the 737 with its design or just start over with a new plane, they made modifications to the fatter engines to force them to fit under the 737's wings. (Those modified engines were not round anymore, but had the bottom flattened to allow more room.) Then those MAX engines were the last straw; they were even fatter and heavier! So once again, rather than start over with a new plane, they kept the overall 737 design (closer to the ground), and mounted those MAX engines further forward on the wings to allow enough clearance. That is what necessitated the additional software that was supposed to compensate for the extra weight. (Long story.) Of course, that software is what caused the crashes and suspension of the 737-MAX.

 

Of course, making those 737s sit on the tarmac all this time didn't help.

 

Yup. Long overdue for a new plane.

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Here is me at the Australian launch of the first ever laptop, the DG-One (by Data General). They launched it in a Jumbo 747 with a handful of high profile businesses and distributors invited. We flew a pattern around Melbourne for about an hour.

They had all the aerials up in the 747 cabin to to see if the laptops would interfere with the instrumentation.

According to the Pilot, they also tested the Jumbo 747 'new' computerised automatic landing Pilot. I am happy to report we landed without a hitch...

At the time, I was in sales for one of the Data General suppliers. At the time, I sold the most DG-1's in all of  the Oz distributors! I think I got a tie pin.

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Twitter user Sam Chui managed to shoot footage of the final landing of Qantas’ last 747 at the weekend.

The aviation blogger was on the ground at the Mojave Air and Space Port to record the moment VH-OEJ landed at 11:50am (AEST) on Saturday morning, after a short flight from LAX.

"There she is! Video shows very last 747 landing in Mojave – Australian Aviation"
https://australianaviation.com.au/2020/07/there-she-is-video-shows-very-last-747-landing-in-mojave/



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Edited July 31, 2020 by Maʹher-shalʹal-hash-baz
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[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

Looks like it's the end of all 747's:

The Boeing 747 is an iconic jumbo jet that revolutionized air travel and tourism, allowing affordable flights for millions of people eager to see the world.

But the fuel-guzzling, four-engine plane's days are numbered now, as Boeing said Wednesday it will phase out production of it and stop in 2022. In the end, the 747 simply cannot compete with today's more efficient, two-engine jetliners.

"After a historic run, it's game over for pioneering Boeing 747" https://techxplore.com/news/2020-07-historic-game-boeing.amp


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Edited July 31, 2020 by Maʹher-shalʹal-hash-baz
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