Tag Archives: 747

As usual Liz Matzelle has produced a wonderful video capsule of the entire day of the first flight of the Boeing 747-8F freighter. Thanks Liz.

Boeing 501 Heavy Experimental, the ATC call sign of the first flight of the 747-8F lifted off runway 34L of Paine Field in Everett, Washington, USA, at 12:39pm PST (20:39 GMT). Smooth and silent. Congratulations Team Boeing. For live video of the landing, visit the Boeing 747-8 first flight site. Follow the flight live, here. Update 1 N747EX lifts off …

The newest iteration of the venerable “Queen of the skies” the Boeing 747-8 freighter is expected to take its first flight into the skies over Washington state, USA, later today, just one day short of forty-one years ago, February 9, 1969, of the first flight of RA001, the very first Boeing 747. Symbolically, Boeing is expected to use the very …

2010 is the 40th anniversary of the commencement of commercial operations of the venerable Boeing 747 ‘jumbo jet’. On this anniversary Flightglobal has put together an excellent historical perspective on the Boeing 747 which is well worth a read. Also do take the time to read Bangalore Aviation’s historical perspective on the 40 year old rivalry between Boeing and Airbus …

Today seems to be a day for Boeing 747 images. Boeing moved the first 747-8 Freighter out of the paint hangar in Everett, USA, sporting a special “light” livery, which is white with blue accents. Click on image for high resolution view. Image courtesy Boeing It features an oversized “8” on the background of the tail as well as “747-8” …

One of the better pictures I have taken. This Saudi Arabian Boeing 747-168 HZ-AID lifts off in the late evening carrying pilgrims for the Haj. Click on the image for a larger view and to see the minute details like the thrust of the jets. As usual comments and feedback is always welcome.

Late yesterday, Boeing towed the first 747-8 Freighter out of the factory in Everett, Washington state, USA. The airplane, ultimately destined for Cargolux, will be painted and begin preparations for flight test. The 747-8 Freighter is latest avatar of the venerable 747 Jumbo Jet. It is 250 feet, 2 inches (76.3 m) long, which is 18 feet and 4 inches …

The last month of airplane has been eventful to say the least. This week we feature unusual or rare aircraft and events from Bangalore. Memories of Air India always invoke visions of The Maharajah, and no aircraft in the Air India fleet symbolises it better than the Boeing 747. Air India was one of the earliest adopters of the Jumbo …

I am travelling to Thailand and Malaysia this week. Some night time long exposure images for your enjoyment. Last week we had Air France’s Airbus A330-203 F-GZCM baking in the sun due to a flight delay , here we have it’s sister F-GZCD getting ready to depart Bangalore for Paris Charles De Gaulle at it’s regularly scheduled time around 01:30. …

Television news media coverage of aircraft incidents and accidents in India is normally incomplete and poor at best, liberally dosed with sensationalism that would make a Bollywood scriptwriter proud. The recent fuel leak and fire incident involving Air India Boeing 747-437 VT-ESM at Mumbai airport brought out the worst of India’s still nascent private television news channels. The real version …

A Saudi Arabian Boeing 747-300 registration HZ-AIT performing flight SV-744 from Jeddah via Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Mumbai, India, burst the number 2 and 3 tyres of the left hand main gear while landing on runway 27 at 18:24 (12:54Z) in heavy monsoon rains. Since the aircraft was heavily loaded, it was stopped on taxiway N8 and passengers were disembarked …

Forty years ago as the 1969 Paris Air Show unfolded, the world was abuzz over the Boeing 747 and the BAC-Aerospatiale Concorde both whom had just made their first flights just a few months before. At the same time, European aerospace companies were finalising a consortium to wrest back dominance of the United States in the commercial aviation market. Within …

Singapore Airlines (SIA) confirmed to AFP that it will take delivery of five Airbus A380 super jumbos as planned this year taking its A380 fleet to 11. SIA CEO Chew Choon Seng confirmed the carrier will receive MSN019 (9V-SKG), MSN021 (9V-SKH) in May and three more though the fiscal year. Through calendar 2009 Airbus has planned production of 14 A380s, …

In the recent issue of Boeing’s AERO magazine there is an article titled Exceeding tire speed during takeoff in which there is this nice graphic that demonstrates the recommended take-off rotation and climb angles for all Boeing aircraft. I was surprised that despite it’s length, the Boeing 747-400 Jumbo Jet has a rotation angle of 10 degrees. Compare that to …

The Aviation Herald reports a Japan Airlines Boeing 747-400, registration JA8922 performing flight JL061 from Los Angeles LAX, USA to Tokyo Narita Japan with 245 passengers and 17 crew, had just pushed back and had its engines running at taxiway C between taxiways C10 and P, when engine number 1 (the outer left) sucked a luggage container into its inlet. …

March 2nd, the crew of a Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 freighter, registration 9V-SFK performing freight flight SQ7344 from Nairobi, Kenya to Amsterdam Schiphol, Netherlands, declared an emergency reporting a fire alert and automatic activation of the cargo fire suppression system and diverted to Munich, Germany. The aircraft landed safely, and the crew remained on board while the emergency services checked …

A Northwest Airlines Boeing 747-400, registration N676NW performing flight NW2 from Manila, Philippines, to Tokyo Narita, Japan, with 408 passengers and 14 crew, was in a holding pattern near Chiba, 40nm south of Narita, about 30 minutes before landing with seatbelt signs turned on, when the airplane encountered severe turbulence and suddenly dropped from its assigned altitude of 15000 feet. …

Over 20 years ago I watched a fascinating video on the Discovery Channel program Wings. I recorded the show on to VHS tape, but the tape lost its quality over the years. This program was re-christened as the “Great Planes” series. Thanks to Jon at Flightblogger, I re-discovered my favourite video. On this the 40th anniversary of its first flight, …

Even as Boeing grapples with problems and assembles the first 747-8, it is quietly celebrating of the first flight of the 747 which took place today, 40 years ago, on Feb. 9, 1969. With 1,412 delivered, the 747 launched the wide-body era and for nearly four decades has steadfastly remained the “Queen of the skies”. At Paine Field in Everett, …

An era came to its end as Australian carrier Qantas retired its last Boeing 747-300. The fleet of six, which entered service between 1984 and 1987, clocked more than 524,000 flying hours. Along with the retirement of the fleet, comes another retirement — flight engineers. Modern airliners with their “glass cockpits” have eliminated the flight engineers’ station. Qantas will no …