Posted on 12/07/2022 6:14:01 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT
Sounds nice!
As I was walking my bike, I heard a strange sound coming from the sky. I was used to the sound of jet planes by this time. This sounded different. It reminded me of the sound made by truck tires, heard from a long way off; that sound was my memory from moving across the country as a child with my parents, taking Route 66 to and from southern California. It wasn't a roar or a scream sound that I was used to, more of a gentle low-pitched whine.
I looked up and saw an enormous airplane that seemed to be moving too slowly across the sky.
Then I remembered the "Jumbo Jet" I had read about in magazines. I was impressed. It sounded like something completely different, a major change. I thought "wow, that's the future."
The first time I ever heard the magnificent General Electric CF-6 high-bypass turbofan engine. Mass flow rate through the first-stage fan of about five tons per second at takeoff setting. A lower-noise version of the TF-39 they developed for the C-5 Galaxy.
I sized the 747 nacelle for one of the -80 series General Electric jet engines on the drafting board one night on third shift. I must have done a great job, lol. It went on to power Air Force One. A different era.
I toured the 747 assembly plant in Everett, WA in 1975 when it was only six years old. That was the most amazing factory tour of my life. I remember some of the videos they showed us of flexure testing of the wings with hydraulic rams and a test take-off with an intentional over-rotation and the ass of the aircraft dragging on the runway for a long ways. That was almost 50 years ago and it feels like yesterday.
I flew a 747 from Anchorage to Tokyo in the fall of 1976 and the plane was nearly empty. There must have been less than 20 paying passengers. I don’t know if they were ferrying the aircraft or if high regulated prices kept people away from travel, but I still remember all the room I had to stretch out and the great personal service from the stews.
The Japanese went nuts when they saw the General Electric CF6-80 series high-bypass turbofan engine.
I flew from London to Atlanta on a half empty 747 in 1974. Best flight ever.
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.
First class flights in the 747 was the best. In the lounge upstairs, there was always baskets of cigarettes.
Was it during winter by any chance ? The air over the North Pacific can get extremely turbulent during the winter months, specifically about a couple of hours east of Japan.
I have not seen that, but it certainly sounds like something to witness.
My father worked at McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis for 40 years and some of my earliest memories are of going out with my parents to Lambert Field to watch the planes. I have always been a fan of airplanes as machines and as works of art.
The wings are meant to flex by design. If they were rigid (no flex) their load limit would be much less (fracture sooner).. and also would be very uncomfortable for passengers during turbulence.
No exaggerated claims about the weight of the paint / coatings on a 747 this time?
—”Where were the Vietnamese babies going?”
Many flights and thousands of children resettled in the US and Europe.
Sadly one of the flights crashed in RVN.
I was second officer on the first one to leave Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood Int. Airport back around 72 or 73
(Been a long time!)
(Flying to Lax for DAL.)
First time on landing you are amazed at the distance you are from the tarmack!
(Close to 3 stories from ground to flight deck😬)
In the mid-1980s I was on a cargo 747 before it was loaded. Walking in the empty cargo version, especially the nose area, was like being in a warehouse.
Flew on the C-5 twice, passenger compartment was reversed so you sat facing towards the rear of the bird.
All other international flights have been on 767s (meh).
TY!
I worked in a warehouse due east by a mile from the Ontario CA airport runway. Every afternoon a UPS 747 would swoop in from Louisville and all our ceiling tiles would hop up and down. I might miss those planes but I wont miss that job.
I got a tour of that same plant in 1974. I was 12. My dad’s cousin was an engineer with Boeing so he showed us a lot of cool stuff. I couldn’t understand how that massive machine could get into the air.
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