Orlando Airport closes at 5 PM tomorrow; Delta sending it's retired 747 back for one more evacuation

[brooklynite]

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. I'm kind of sad that they retired the Whales.

They're fuel hogs but really great airplanes.

[Major Nikon]

2. They are still making the 3rd generation versions

I'm not sure if any US operators are still using the passenger version of any of the variants, but there's still some of them out there and probably will continue to be for many years. I saw a few of them on the ramp at the airport in Beijing a few years ago.

I saw one parked by the international terminal at DFW not long ago while an A380 taxied by it and was amazed at how small the 747 looked in comparison.

[Pachamama]

3. I thought it was the 747-400's they were retiring but Boeing was still producing the 747-8

I fly the 747-8's quite often with Lufthansa....they are really nice, particularly in the upper deck which for business class has more room than the previous model. And the 747-8's are more fuel efficient....

Yes, they are great planes. My favorite. 787 is ok and has some nice features, especially with the windows and cabin pressurization, you really feel less jet lag and feel more rested. The Airbus 380-800 is nice, fly it with Lufthansa also, but nothing compares to the 747....

[George II]

4. The first time I flew a 747 (30 years ago?) was a non-stop from JFK to LAX. I was just in front...

....of the wing with a window seat. I couldn't believe how much the engines "moved" and how much the wings flexed.

Aircraft are like electronics and cell phones. You think you've been on the best ever, until that next one is released.

[raven mad]

5. My first time was in 1970.

I had flown down to Orlando. Mom to Baltimore. I was almost 16.

We drove from Maryland, where I had joined mom and my aunts and cousins, to New York. Then, Pan Am had a 747 that went New York to Fairbanks (my home) and on to Tokyo.

INCREDIBLE flight.

[George II]

8. My longest flight was on one of those stubby long range 747s from JFK to Tokyo - 16 hours!!!

[raven mad]

9. LOL! If there was a brief Fairbanks, AK layover, it was basically the same flight.

I remember being awed. I'd been flying commercially since the ripe age of 4 (by myself, even)! And that plane was flat beautiful; the service was incredible, and as it was the very first time I'd ever even been near New York.............

Well, 16.................. LOL!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. Northwest Airlines started buying 747s in about 1970.

When the first one was delivered I went with some friends to the airport (MSP) to watch it take off because we didn't believe anything that big could fly. MSP used to have an area along the southwest side of 30L where you could sit and watch airplanes (or make out in your car), so we went there and waited around until the thing took off, and to our great amazement it seemed to fly quite well. The coolest thing is how the wings visibly flex upward from the force of the lift the wings generate.

[George II]

7. That wing flexing can be unnerving if you don't understand why it's happening.....

....and the engine mounts are designed to have a little "pivot" to them. If they were rigid there was a better chance of damage during turbulence.

What was really bizarre was watching the wind during a rough flight - the wings are flexing and the two engines seeming to be flopping in different directions. But those design engineers really knew what they were doing.

PS, we used to go "fool around" across Flushing Bay from LaGuardia!!