I have never flown in one, but I used to live close to O’Hate and always enjoyed watching them coming and going. That big bird makes an impressive take off.
O’Hare. Stupid autocorrect.
—” always enjoyed watching them coming and going. “
As a kid, it was a bit of a treat to watch the planes coming and going at O’Hare.
Usually from Irving Park Rd, we lived in Itasca. Do that today and a fair chance they would shoot first would and ask questions later.
I flew on one only once, from Rome to JFK. It was a Pan Am flight IIRC.
They were a bit different than regular sized planes. I flew on them a number of times on international flights. I recall one which was only half full so you had almost the entire rear part of the plane empty. I could flip up the arm rests and snooze completely horizontally with loads of pillows and blankets. Those days are long gone.
That big bird makes an impressive LANDING!!!!!
Next time you happen to be at an airport, and you should happen to see one (747) coming in for a landing, look closely at the end of the wings (say approx 25 - 50 ft. of the wing end) and watch the moment the wing loses lift and the plane is on the ground. Looks as if the section of wing moves approx 10 ft. or more.
Has more of an effect, if your able to see / view, both wings at the same time, depending on your angle of view.
I worked at Boeing, Everett, Washington State, 1986 - 1991, working on 767's and the mighty 747's, and 747's-400's.
I was a Spray-Painter, painted the different section(s) of the airframe(s) before assembly, and wings.
The wings were placed on special tooling, to hold one wing each, in a vertical position (as if going straight up to the sky, moon) the inboard side (where wing attaches to the plane itself / passenger tube) is 10 stories tall.