Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/07/24/qantas-last-jumbo-jet-draws.html
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Pretty sure that airlines around the world are still flying B747 freighters, and will be for some years to come. The original design of the A380 makes it unsuitable for freight, in comparison to other Airbus aircraft, so the Boeing jumbo lives on.
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It beats penises, I suppose.
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many years ago we had a classmate whose dad worked for an airline and our class got a detailed tour of a 747. this is when they were still fairly new, and my little mind was just blown at the beauty and majesty of that jet. i still get a little thrill whenever i see one on approach to jfk. only flew on the 747 once, when i was about 18. never forgot that feeling. sad to see the end of the jumbo jet.
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That’d make a nice element for an SF story: To get the attention of an alien supercomputer, you have to draw a glyph in your vehicle. Of course, be careful to draw the correct glyph.
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Shows more maneuverability than I usually imagine a 747 having.
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Given that UPS took delivery of 747-8Fs last year and still has some on the construction backlog, I expect it is correct the freighters will be flying for a bunch more years.
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“Enlarge your flight”
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Maybe the Mojave Air & Space Port or Southern California Logistics Airport.
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I can’t help but think that if we ever do give rise of Skynet, those are essentially buffets.
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Well played, Quantas!
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I thought all the jumbo graveyards were in Africa?
Did you come here to die? Nah, we come here yesterdie.
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So the take away here is the Australians now have to swim off of their continental island? Is that even possible?
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Thats a large area shown, easily bigger than greater Sydney. Look at the little manoeuvers it flew after takeoff.
edit: just found a post on pprune about this. They flew the kangaroo pattern at 19000 feet, so they could make some tight turns with flaps out. At a higher altitude they would have had to make wider turns, with less detail for the kangaroo shape.
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They’re taking the example of their neighboring Kiwis, which as we all know are flightless.
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Last I checked, Lufthansa and Air China were still flying the 747 on passenger flights to SFO. I think at least Air China is using the relatively recent 747-8 variant, so I expect they’ll be flying for a while yet.
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Yeah though Australian load factors are such that international passenger traffic is entirely carried by twin engined aircraft now, so this is likely the last time we will see a passenger carrying 747.
edit: maybe the gulf airlines will come back with an A380 eventually but its years away I think.
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A number of airlines still have 747 airframes that haven’t been retired, but they haven’t really been flying since March. The exceptions seem to be Air China and Rossiya which have been flying some 747s domestically, and Lufthansa’s D-ABYU which has been active and as I type this is in the air flying from Mexico City to Frankfurt as flight LH 499. Since Lufthansa has 19 747-8s with an average fleet age of about 7 years I’d bet they’ll be flying years after COVID.
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Tee hee!
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