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Final QANTAS B-747 flight


Wumm

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Sounds like this situation is causing a lot of airlines to come to the same conclusion. Days of the 'jumbos', 747 and A-380 seem done. As Jeff says it's a real shame as it's such an iconic shape.

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Since being a kid, I always loved the 707 best, with the 747 at second place. It will be a big loss to be not able to spot Jumbo's in the air.
The 707 brought me to try to get a job as an flight engineer with Lufthansa, but they didn't accept me and I had to work earthbound for my whole live :D.

Cheers Rob

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I've always been a Douglas travellerm, and I had a lump in my throat when Northwest finally stopped their DC-10 service, and it was the same when Air Canada stopped flying the DC-8s.  I've travelled many hundreds of thousands of miles in those aircraft, and even a couple trips with Air Canada onboard their glorious L-1011s.   What an amazing aircraft that Tristar was, with the DC-10 a close second.  The "stretch 8" was like riding around in a mailing tube, but totally competent and worthy as one of the best early jets of all time.

I've never even so much as stepped onboard a 747, although they were everywhere when I was travelling for work. Never in a million years did I ever think I'd see the day where the 747 would be out of passenger service. They were the ubiquitous large people movers. The success of the 747 killed off the L-1011, hurt the DC-10, and caused the end to the A380 as well. 

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Yesterday I read, that British Airways is phasing out their 747' as well.
One comforting thought might be, that the 747 will be in service somewhere, when the dreadful A380 is on the scrapyard.

Cheers Rob

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14 hours ago, GazzaS said:

Well...  I tell ya...  I hate the 737.  Little mf'n tin can. 

Locally Pacific Western used to fly the 737-200 out of YCG , and the mountains are very close, so it was to the very far end of the runway, throttles though the gate, and at rotation nearly straight up.............. it was a thrilling ride, lots of noise and lots of smoke, just the way it should be !

pwa 737.jpg

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On 7/18/2020 at 10:27 AM, Jeff said:

Locally Pacific Western used to fly the 737-200 out of YCG , and the mountains are very close, so it was to the very far end of the runway, throttles though the gate, and at rotation nearly straight up.............. it was a thrilling ride, lots of noise and lots of smoke, just the way it should be !

pwa 737.jpg

I remember those when I was flying.  They were everywhere. YTH, YYQ, everywhere. I logged a few miles in the back as self loading freight, too.  They were mighty loud when sitting in the bac third of the cabin, but in front of the wings, they gave you that oh so sweet twin turbine whine that would make any cold heart beat hard and fast.   And yeah, they’d climb out like Apollo 11....

Back when a 737 was a 737, not like today’s universal tin can.

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2 minutes ago, Clunkmeister said:

I remember those when I was flying.  They were everywhere. YTH, YYQ, everywhere. I logged a few miles in the back as self loading freight, too.  They were mighty loud when sitting in the bac third of the cabin, but in front of the wings, they gave you that oh so sweet twin turbine whine that would make any cold heart beat hard and fast.   And yeah, they’d climb out like Apollo 11....

Like the proverbial 'Home Sick Angel"...............

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6 minutes ago, Jeff said:

Like the proverbial 'Home Sick Angel"...............

I remember Boeing’s three holer as well. Air Canada flew the heck out of them, but my favorite scheme?

 

4004C64D-1D05-4B08-BA1A-F80B1B5DCC3F.jpeg

OK, a better pic...

B13DE825-1FF6-4788-90F1-8FC03539DB02.jpeg

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10 hours ago, Clunkmeister said:

I remember Boeing’s three holer as well. Air Canada flew the heck out of them, but my favorite scheme?

 

4004C64D-1D05-4B08-BA1A-F80B1B5DCC3F.jpeg

OK, a better pic...

B13DE825-1FF6-4788-90F1-8FC03539DB02.jpeg

CP Airlines? Don't think I ever flew on their planes. Did fly with Canadian a couple times. 

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Although,......... THIS was THE Premier ride ever...... fillet Mignon served on Royal Dalton China and the BEST service EVER, and sucked up into the Air Canada vortex, never to rise again.....and he named them with the names of  Canadian Aviation pioneers... I flew on Doc Oaks, Romeo Vachon, Wop May, and Phil Garrett......  man those were the GOOD old days...  Max knew where it was at , customer service was top priority..... very fond memory's of days past....

wardair.jpg

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11 hours ago, Jeff said:

Although,......... THIS was THE Premier ride ever...... fillet Mignon served on Royal Dalton China and the BEST service EVER, and sucked up into the Air Canada vortex, never to rise again.....and he named them with the names of  Canadian Aviation pioneers... I flew on Doc Oaks, Romeo Vachon, Wop May, and Phil Garrett......  man those were the GOOD old days...  Max knew where it was at , customer service was top priority..... very fond memory's of days past....

wardair.jpg

I spent some premium time on Wardair’s DC-10s. I agree, it was the absolute best service I’ve ever received on any airline, anywhere, anytime. 

But if I had to go widebody, I always tried to book a DC-10. I loved that big ol’ bird that got such an undeserved bad rap.  They were big, smooth, quiet, and reliable.    They had everything the 747 had, except the upper deck.

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3 hours ago, Jeff said:

I never did the DC 10 but sure did the 747..... I recall rotation out of YVR, and it went up at a great rate and set you back in the seat  rather nicely with all that thrust ............

I had flown the DC-10 fsairly locally. Caribbean mostly, but to Germany as well. I did some research and found out that their DC-10s were the -30 series and were put in service for the long, long, LONG intercontinental flights.  They served the Company extremely well through the years.

Like other airlines in the world, a new guy comes and brings in new blood, he suddenly drastically expands, places a multitude of new orders, and before you know it, they go broke.  But Canadian Airlines paid way too much for the Wardair name, and that spelled their doom.

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Yeah, I will never forget Lufthansa 747 that spit me out at the Vancouver Airport almost two decades ago, Those were the times , when they use to serve a real food without extra cost and passengers didn't have to pay for blankets and headphones. People use to be polite and respect each other while on board. oh, and people use to clap upon successful landing, especially in crosswind or rain.

We are getting older :)

DSC05093.jpg

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31 minutes ago, Clunkmeister said:

I had flown the DC-10 fsairly locally. Caribbean mostly, but to Germany as well. I did some research and found out that their DC-10s were the -30 series and were put in service for the long, long, LONG intercontinental flights.  They served the Company extremely well through the years.

Like other airlines in the world, a new guy comes and brings in new blood, he suddenly drastically expands, places a multitude of new orders, and before you know it, they go broke.  But Canadian Airlines paid way too much for the Wardair name, and that spelled their doom.

And like all the rest got swallowed up by Air Canada...............

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