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A hugely successful design, first flown in 1969 and still going more than 50 years later. It certainly won the battle of speed vs capacity against Concorde.
It'll be missed. I use to like flying on them as even though they were huge, some of the spaces were quite sectioned off an personal. And you could walk up and down the stairs to stretch your legs!
BA retiring it's 747's on 11:10 - Jul 17 by peterleeblue
Watching a 747 take off is one of the greatest engineering sights I have ever seen. Astounds me every time!
They scared the crap out of me. I use to live under the HR flightpath, and even at about 5 miles out it seemed like some could only just clear the rooftops.
BA retiring it's 747's on 11:05 - Jul 17 by Fixed_It
No - but a thing of beauty and engineering brilliance.
Especially given that the original design is more than half a century old, 50 years before that we're at Alcock and Brown making the first crossing of the Atlantic.
Whilst they will be missed, the fuel economy of the newest generation of airliners is so much better that that has to be a good thing if people are to continue flying,.
I still miss seeing Concorde fly over London in the evening too.
BA retiring it's 747's on 11:19 - Jul 17 by Steve_M
Especially given that the original design is more than half a century old, 50 years before that we're at Alcock and Brown making the first crossing of the Atlantic.
Whilst they will be missed, the fuel economy of the newest generation of airliners is so much better that that has to be a good thing if people are to continue flying,.
I still miss seeing Concorde fly over London in the evening too.
This is old now but still pretty good (from memory):
SB
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BA retiring it's 747's on 11:32 - Jul 17 with 1353 views
BA retiring it's 747's on 10:39 - Jul 17 by homer_123
Decision brought forward from 2024 isn't it?
indeed it is, BA had the biggest fleet of 747's still flying until this announcement. They will look to get rid of the A380's next the newer generation of 787/777X/A350 can cope with the demand and can fly further than the A380 ( Qantas fly 787 non stop from Perth to Heathrow ). BA also have a large order for the new 777X on order as well to replace the 747s and A380's.
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BA retiring it's 747's on 11:38 - Jul 17 with 1344 views
Virgin Atlantic have retired theirs too. Not the most economical aircraft these days.
There was a nice economy option to sit upstairs in the bubble on some Virgin routes for a while. Much quieter and no kids up there.
Beautiful plane. Always liked seeing them when just waiting at the gate to get on some characterless but efficient Airbus or Embraer.
Pronouns: He/Him/His.
"Imagine being a heterosexual white male in Britain at this moment. How bad is that. Everything you say is racist, everything you say is homophobic. The Woke community have really f****d this country."
i flew on one in jan to india. it was with klm who had a business class deal on at the time. klm stopped using them as well. i might have been on one the last 474 with klm from india only 20 seats upstairs, mind you we then had to fly on a embraer 175 to and from norwich.
forensic experts say footers and spruces fingerprints were not found at the scene after the weekends rows
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BA retiring it's 747's on 12:15 - Jul 17 with 1306 views
BA retiring it's 747's on 11:38 - Jul 17 by Guthrum
Altho the battle was more between the cost of speed and capacity. Concorde was just too expensive and too limited on where it could operate.
Got the opportunity to cross the Atlantic First Class in the nose of a BA 747 a couple of years ago (courtesy of a friend). Quite an experience.
I watched a documentary about the building of Concorde a few years ago, on BBC I believe. It said how more technology went into the engineering of Concorde, than went into the moon landings. There was a lot of genius engineering went into how to fly the average man, at twice the sound of speed without feeling the G force.
[Post edited 17 Jul 2020 13:16]
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BA retiring it's 747's on 13:35 - Jul 17 with 1233 views
I'm very surprised that not a single person (or indeed a married person) from Ixworth has pointed out that the first apostrophe in the title should not be there, and that some folk think that the second one shouldn't either.
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BA retiring it's 747's on 13:37 - Jul 17 with 1219 views
I watched a documentary about the building of Concorde a few years ago, on BBC I believe. It said how more technology went into the engineering of Concorde, than went into the moon landings. There was a lot of genius engineering went into how to fly the average man, at twice the sound of speed without feeling the G force.
[Post edited 17 Jul 2020 13:16]
One of the biggest issues was the ability to "supercruise", which is to keep up a sustained supersonic speed without using afterburners/reheats (which consume fuel at a frightening rate).
Most jet fighters can only "dash", in very short bursts. Concorde had to keep it up for 3,000 miles. It's a delicate balance of weight, power and fuel.
BA retiring it's 747's on 11:32 - Jul 17 by IpswichKnight
indeed it is, BA had the biggest fleet of 747's still flying until this announcement. They will look to get rid of the A380's next the newer generation of 787/777X/A350 can cope with the demand and can fly further than the A380 ( Qantas fly 787 non stop from Perth to Heathrow ). BA also have a large order for the new 777X on order as well to replace the 747s and A380's.
A380s are out until at least October too. I can't see all of them coming back either. All depends how quickly the A350s and 787-10's arrive
They have 12 A380s and they need to have around 80%+ load to be profitable. Jo'Burg is their most profitable route on them right now (or was).
Captain I know isn't exactly hopeful and recently turned down the A350 conversion!
BA retiring it's 747's on 14:31 - Jul 17 by ElderGrizzly
A380s are out until at least October too. I can't see all of them coming back either. All depends how quickly the A350s and 787-10's arrive
They have 12 A380s and they need to have around 80%+ load to be profitable. Jo'Burg is their most profitable route on them right now (or was).
Captain I know isn't exactly hopeful and recently turned down the A350 conversion!
Air France have binned there's and saw Qantas were putting all there's into storage via flight radar the other night. I've never flown on the A380 which will be a shame as all those who have had said it's a nice plane, the A350 I went on with Finnair was a nice plane and plenty of space in business class as well.
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BA retiring it's 747's on 16:03 - Jul 17 with 1133 views
My only experience was between Dallas and Heathrow in First Class. Always remember the first question was "did i want some pyjamas ?" I said maybe only after the Champagne !!
Ealing Blue
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BA retiring it's 747's on 16:58 - Jul 17 with 1102 views
BA retiring it's 747's on 13:37 - Jul 17 by Guthrum
One of the biggest issues was the ability to "supercruise", which is to keep up a sustained supersonic speed without using afterburners/reheats (which consume fuel at a frightening rate).
Most jet fighters can only "dash", in very short bursts. Concorde had to keep it up for 3,000 miles. It's a delicate balance of weight, power and fuel.
That was also in the documentary, which i forgot about. I just googled about the documentary, it is on BBC4 called Concorde: A Supersonic Story. It might be on iplayer if you're interested.
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