Tag Archives: 747

Is There a Plane in There?

Sometimes you find yourself right in the middle of a storm of epic proportions. I was at O’Hare getting a few shots of the aircraft operating on the southerly runways. I later found out this spot is one that the local businesses do not like you using so I won’t be heading back here again. At the time, I had no idea that was the case and no one come out while I was there although the storm might have been a factor!

A 747 freighter was lining up to depart and I was ready to get some shots just as the rain arrived. It absolutely hammered down. I got very wet very quickly and, since I was now already wet, I figured I would try and get a shot anyway. This is the result. Somewhere in that murk was a 747 – I think!

Centurion Freighter

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I was in the vicinity of SeaTac when I saw on Flightaware that a freighter operated by Centurion Cargo was inbound. This was not an operator I had seen much of and, since I had a few minutes before I was heading to my next appointment, i thought I would try to catch it. Getting arrivals at SeaTac in the afternoon when they are coming from the north restricts the options for shooting. however, there was a place I had been before for departures that I thought I would try.

I got there with a few minutes to spare so was able to get an idea of what was possible with some other arrivals. The location was not ideal with a lot of trees in the vicinity which, even though it was winter, tended to obscure things a bit. There was a view through the trees up the approach and then along a road as they passed by. Neither was very good. I got a British Airways 777 which gave me a clue as to where the Centurion jet would appear and how much free space there would be. Not much as it turned out. However, I did get a brief view which will have to do for now.

Goodbye Another 747 Fleet

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A while back I wrote a post about the retirement by JAL of their Boeing 747 fleet. At one time they had been the largest operator of the type. Well, it has happened again. Another large operator of the 747 is retiring its final passenger example. Singapore Airlines is saying goodbye to the Queen of the Skies.

Unlike JAL that is in financial difficulties and is rationalizing its fleet, Singapore is doing very well. It is just moving on. It has a growing fleet of A380s and a substantial fleet of 777s so the 747 is no longer suitable for its needs. Sad to say but it is actually just a bit old these days. The freighter version is going to live on with Singapore so it won’t be impossible to see the type in Singapore colors but it will only be the Mega Ark aircraft from now on.

All of this makes me feel a bit old. I was studying aeronautics when the 747-400 was going through its certification program. My college days are a long time ago so the fact the 747-400 is now considered pretty old is hardly surprising. That doesn’t make me feel any better about it. The unique shape of the 747 is very appealing to me even now. With the never ending stream of 767s, 777s and A330s, a 747 showing up is always a welcome surprise. I guess it is going to become a rarer one in the coming years! Enjoy them while you can. At least the 747-8 will be around for a while but they don’t appear to be selling in quite the same number so we shall have to see how easy they will be to see.

Victorville Flyby

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A while back, I found myself in Southern California with my buddy Pete. Pete is a pilot with about 15,000 hours on multiple types but he always wants to try out something new. He was renting a Cessna 172 for the day and getting checked out at a couple of interesting fields – Catalina Island and Big Bear. I was along for the ride.

He asked if there was anything I wanted to do while we were out and I wanted to take a look at Victorville. Victorville is the old George AFB and is now a place where a lot of airliners come for storage and often to be broken for spares. I had seen a few pictures of the place and wanted to see what was there to be seen. Pete had an added interest as there were some British Airways 747s parked up there – the type he currently flies for his day job!

I had been in the back for the first two legs of our trip a we had an instructor along checking Pete out. For this leg, I took the right seat to be well positioned for the photos and also to get a bit of time in myself. I had no idea how enthusiastic Victorville would be about passing light aircraft coming to take a look. However, when we called up the tower, they were very happy for us to make a pass. When we told them what we wanted, they even allowed us to break off from a low approach and turn north to pass the collection of stored airliners.

There was quite a selection of aircraft on the ground. Some of them were obviously temporary residents but a few looked like they were only going to be leaving in bits some day. Rather sad but it happens to us all eventually. Anyway, a fun distraction on our route (a great trip as a whole by the way but maybe I will save that for another time) and some interesting things to see.

As an aside, Pete was back here before too long to pick up one of the BA jets to return it to service.

Bye Bye JAL 747s

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When I was a small kid, I had a book called Pictorial History of Aircraft. This was the 1970s and so the Boeing 747 was still a relatively new kid on the block. It certainly wasn’t the times of the 400 series being knocked out at the rate of one a week. The pictures in this book showed Japan Air Lines (JAL) as an operator of both passenger and freighter versions of the jet.

As time passed by, JAL grew its fleet substantially and was for a long time the largest operator of 747s in the world. Therefore, it is hard to come to terms with the fact that the poor financial state of JAL combined with the introduction of more efficient big twins has meant the 747 has gone from JAL’s passenger operations. It is odd to know I won’t see one again (except perhaps at a storage yard). Every once in a while the airline industry has a big change – the end of Pan Am is one that springs to mind. For me, this is one of those moments.

Anyway, they are gone but I have a few shots of them to remember them by. I wonder what will be next to go?!