Posted on 03/02/2013 8:40:26 AM PST by BenLurkin
CITY OF INDUSTRY (CBSLA.com) — One Southland man has spared no expense to recreate a mock 1970s Pan Am 747 that’s now on display at a warehouse in the city of Industry.
As CBS2′s Amy Johnson reports, Anthony Toth has been working on a life-size model plane for about 35 years, moving it from place to place before finally having it settle into a 3000 square-foot warehouse.
“When I was 5 years old, I boarded a 747 back in the early 70s with my family on a trip to Europe and the experience actually changed my life forever,” Toth said.
Toth, who works at United Airlines in the passenger sales division, says he’s spent his weekends and vacation days working on the replica 747, which is equipped with electricity for in-flight films and food.
The mock plane also contains Pan Am coffee cups and dishes, as well as, emergency cards and a closet full of uniforms.
The cost? More than $100,000.
“This particular model cost me a lot of money to build but it was completely worth it,” he said. “I guess there’s a part of me that wanted to recreate that brand and that image of flying.”
Not yet flown on one but from those I know who have, upper is preferable because it’s quieter, apparently. The uproar of all the passengers on the main deck, coming and going, it’s a big plane. Turbulence can create some passenger discomfort toward the upper rear so that’s always set up as economy as far as I know.
The A380 is an ungainly, ugly looking plane from the exterior, imho, very unlike the elegant design of the 747, but it’s upper deck doesn’t have quite the issue with passengers having a sense of constant rolling motion.
That photo by the spiral staircase would seem to make it an even safer assumption.
Whatever floats his boat.
imo it’s a complete waste of space.
I'm with you on that. It's the new BUFF.
very unlike the elegant design of the 747
The queen of the skies. I read that the 747 was originally designed to compete for the contract that eventually went to the C5.
Well, DUH. Guess that’s why I don’t normally post things on Saturday before coffee.
By the way I walked around a -8 a couple of weeks ago. That is a BIG plane.
Perhaps you meant one of those 10-story, 30’ x 10’ warehouses that seem to be popping up all over the place these days...
I understand. I was finishing my second mug of coffee when I started viewing FR....I try not to face anything more challenging than the weather forecast until my coffee-low light is out.
Quick! Get your post removed! Hell hath no fury than a math mistake made on the internet.
Huh? I love the upper deck when it’s business class, never noticed any unusual movements and it’s less people so you have less people per bathroom and better service. The pilots are up there as well. I’ve never ridden up there in coach class and have never seen coach up there but it’s up to the airline how it’s set up. That 747 that crashed in Japan that killed 520? I think it had coach everywhere.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Airlines_Flight_123
One thing I’ve always wondered about flight 800 was that I thought it was an older 747 with only three windows on the top deck but when they pieced the plane together, it had the long row of windows up there???
Now the back seats of the longest variant of the 757, it has noticeable tail wag, I can’t stand em and I can sleep through any turbulence. Maybe the movement is a different type on the 747 that I’ve never noticed (roll VS yaw, is that correct?) They also take forever to board and off load and the seats are three to a row in coach with the same width body as a 737 and single aisle. In fact, those are the worst seats of any model Boeing, the three to a row or middle seats of a widebody.
My 747 exposure was almost entirely courtesy of Aer Lingus, Kennedy to Dubin by way of Shannon and back or Logan to Dublin by way of Shannon and back. I heard “Fáilte go Baile Átha Cliath - Welcome to Dublin!” many, many times between 1989 and 1995.
Here’s some neat vintage footage of an Aer Lingus 747, from I believe 1975. It still has the piano bar on the upper deck:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnzDFos6gR8
Kid? I was 43 the first time I flew on a 747. Blown away, I was. What a fantastic plane. Flew on them about 10 times for a couple years in the nineties. Loved every minute.
If he “spared no expense”, why didn’t he just buy a real one?
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