747's no longer going to the bone yards!

Apparently, air cargo companies now realize there is a great need for the 747's destined to go to the bone yards! Any factory fresh models remaining at Boeing have been sold thru 2021. The 747's are now being called the "workhorses of the global shipping business!" Think of the dollars that some of these airlines have lost by not thinking ahead and only thinking about getting 'rid of them!

 

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I myself am happy there is still a need for these "bad boys!"

 

Rick

Hey! One of those would make a dandy motor home! Sign me up for one. :)

Shortsightedness seems to be rampant lately. Quick buck = Long problems -- Bob

Good news for the ones who want to keep flying the 747!!

That's good news for the 747's Rick. Thanks for sharing. Kenny

That's good news for the 747's Rick. Thanks for sharing. Kenny

 

Yes, Kenny, the article I read, the Global air cargo companies can't get enough of these. So sad that how many 747's already went to the bone yards?

Oh well, parts will still be needed to support those still out there!

 

Thanks Kenny! - Rick

 

http://www.ttnews.com/articles/boeing-jumbo-747s-get-extended-life-airfreight-haulers

I worked on the first Northwest Orient 747 Cargo nose loader that came in to EGCC Manchester, this is picture of at Manchester.

Notice the DanAir 1-11 in the background.

 

I worked on the first Northwest Orient 747 Cargo nose loader that came in to EGCC Manchester, this is picture of at Manchester.

Notice the DanAir 1-11 in the background.

 

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Yes, Col, the nose loaders are the first to be scooped up, but, it sounds like many companies will also settle for the aircraft that used to transport passengers!

Yes, it's true here! Living near the UPS "Worldport" I have neighbors who fly for UPS that say UPS is pretty much buying up every 747 they can find and afford.

 

BTW:The official 747 simulator is a blast to "fly!" I like it much better than the MD-11 simulator.

 

Michael

I remember the first flights of the 747, so very impressive, and it still is a fantastic bird. Good to know they're still popular! :cool::cool::cool:

My best 747 memories came in 1987. I flew round trip from Chicago to Tokyo in a 747, Business Class, upstairs. Perhaps a dozen of us were up there and the service and amenities couldn't have been better!

 

Sadly unless you're on one of those fancy Asian airlines, I doubt anyone gets great service today. I know it's certainly been lacking on my last several flights!! :mad::mad:

My memory of flying B747 was in 1974 PanAm flying from LAX to HNL first class. It was a Graduation present from my grandmother to me, included my mother to go there. My seat was the third window from the port side, the spiral staircase was amazing to go up to the bubble area and there was no one up there. The service was amazing too. Kenny

My memory of flying B747 was in 1974 PanAm flying from LAX to HNL first class. It was a Graduation present from my grandmother to me, included my mother to go there. My seat was the third window from the port side, the spiral staircase was amazing to go up to the bubble area and there was no one up there. The service was amazing too. Kenny

 

See how you guys are? You all appear to be younger than me, but still have had the opportunity to fly on one of these "bad boys!"

I have never had a chance to do so, always used to marvel at how big they are and they barely look like they would get off the ground!

 

Rick

Another airport story, this one is about a Qantas B747:

 

Going back a good few years, this Qantas was taxiing out and one of the marshallers noticed one of the rear passenger doors wasn't closed properly.

He was in radio contact with his base and told them, they then contacted ATC to stop the aircraft while they checked the door.

True enough it wasn't properly closed, they closed and it went on it's way, but there was more... The marshaller was later contacted by the Qantas station manager who gave him a free flight for him and his wife to Australia.

After that everyone was looking at aircraft taxiing out just in case lol.

 

Col.

Yes! a real huge plane! When I once boarded out through a staircase, and look behind, that was a very, very tall plane :):) That was the time when I flew back from the US to France. I was scheduled to take the same flight back that the one to, a flight with the Icelandic Airways, with a port call in Iceland from/to Luxemburg, Europe. But the return flight had been cancelled and they were obliged to put me unto a 747 direct to Paris (the guy of New York JFK customs even drove extra passengers to the plane, a VIP boarding :) ). Hence I spared the money :):) and flew aboard that legend :cool:

A 4 minute YouTube video, a boneyard out west in California. Checkout all the 747's sitting there as if they were about to all be lynched! Wonder if some of these will come out of the boneyard and put back into service? From a distance, some look to be in pretty good shape! - Rick

 

See how you guys are? You all appear to be younger than me, but still have had the opportunity to fly on one of these "bad boys!"

I have never had a chance to do so, always used to marvel at how big they are and they barely look like they would get off the ground!

 

Rick

 

I can't speak for Kenny. But I'm in my 70's. That picture you see of me isn't real recent. :o:o

 

Michael

I can't speak for Kenny. But I'm in my 70's. That picture you see of me isn't real recent. :o:o

 

Michael

 

Michael- Based on what I read from Kenny, he may be the youngest of all of us. He said his grandmother gave him a trip for a graduation present, I assume that to be high school graduation? 1974. I just turned 70, graduated in 1966 so that means I am about 8 years older than Kenny. It doesn't matter, sounds like we have all had a pretty good life, and still doing so! A bunch of "wished we could do it again!" guys!

 

Rick

The nicest flight I can remember was on business travel from Washington, DC, to San Francisco in a 747 around 2004. For unknown reasons I was upgraded to first class, and got the very first seat in the nose section with nobody next to me. A lovely flight attendant met me at the entrance to take a cocktail order, which was followed again before dinner, which was served with a nice Italian wine.

 

But I am older than most (all?) of you - my first transatlantic flight was in 1959 on a DC-6 with IcelandAir from New York to Copenhagen, Denmark, with refueling stops in Gander, New Found Land, and Reykjavik, Iceland. At that time the Keflavik airport was a former US airbase without good passenger facilities, so they bussed us to a downtown restaurant for dinner, before continuing the flight. I think it took 10 hours altogether.

 

 

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Really good news for us enthusiasts, maybe a little less thrilling for those companies formed in the last 10 years to take the heavies apart and sell parts back to the airlines. As

I write, I would bet there are at least 10 of a mixture of 747's and other heavies sitting on a rented runway in Tupelo, MS (KTUP) in various stages of deconstrucion. Look on Google Earth and you can see 'em.

Really good news for us enthusiasts, maybe a little less thrilling for those companies formed in the last 10 years to take the heavies apart and sell parts back to the airlines. As

I write, I would bet there are at least 10 of a mixture of 747's and other heavies sitting on a rented runway in Tupelo, MS (KTUP) in various stages of deconstrucion. Look on Google Earth and you can see 'em.

 

Bush - Look at my post, 4 above here, a YouTube video of one boneyard, and this is only one boneyard of many!

 

Y'all? Sounds Florida or Georgia to me?

 

Rick

Bush - Look at my post, 4 above here, a YouTube video of one boneyard, and this is only one boneyard of many!

 

Y'all? Sounds Florida or Georgia to me?

 

Rick

 

Naw! Mississippi, Rick. Tupelo, you know, "The birthplace of Elvis"

 

Good article you linked to, though--don't know how I skipped right over it. :)

Yeah, Bush, if you go in on YouTube and enter either Aircraft graveyard or boneyard there are many videos of the many bone yards that exist. So sad to see! Nice to be able to let old worn out aircraft go to these bone yards, but I observed a very nice looking very flyable United 747, as it flew in to the boneyard site, taxi'd over to a point where they will probably start dismantling it for parts! That to me is such a waste, what the airlines get 20-30 cents on the dollar for scrape and the salvage yards make bookoo bucks reselling for parts. I just use that 20-30, just guessing, whatever it is, it can't be much to have all those aircraft just lying around!

 

Have a nice evening! Mississippi, huh? I surely missed that one! I remember waiting in line at the Army Reception center, Fort Jackson, Columbia, SC

Permanent staff soldiers going down the lines asking where each of us were from. If you were from a state south of the Mason Dixon line you had it made according to them. Guys from the NE (NY, NJ, CT, MA etc) got head shakes like "you don't know what you are in for!" Thank god, I felt right at home when I told them I was from Florida, and got their "Thumbs up" approval! Turned out, it wasn't any better for any one of us, depending on where we were from! It just put some of us "at ease" for the first day of a new experience!

 

Rick

good to see them being called back into service