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| Jumbo out the window Detroit, MI December 2011 |
About this photo: We're winding down this week's Thematic fly theme. Feel free to click here to submit yours, as we're still accepting submissions. New theme, mellow yellow, goes live tonight at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.It's not often you get to go nose-to-nose with a 747. Or a 400-series craft like this one. Sure, Boeing's iconic plane is no longer the biggest commercial airframe in the biz - that honor goes to the Airbus A380. But it still has a certain appeal that'll always stop me dead in my tracks. Especially if one materializes on the outside of the airport terminal window.
One minute my wife and kids and I were wandering toward our gate, excitedly chattering about our upcoming flight to a much warmer place. The next, we were staring at this, and suddenly I was the kid in the toy store.
Your turn: Where's this plane going? Who's on it?
Been there, seen that! Detroit is our regular destination each year we visit our daughter.
ReplyDeleteIs it going somewhere warm? Can I be on it? Though today's not a day to complain, it's 50 degrees and the sun isn't even up. I am a huge fan of the airplanes. I was driving near the local small airport the other day and it's rare to see a jet on approach, and it I couldn't stop looking up at that plane, thought I'd drive off the road!
ReplyDeleteCarmi: This was the plane Boeing and Pan Am bet their entire companies on. It was the last hurrah for retiring Pan Am chief Juan Trippe and Boeing's William Allen. It is considered the safest and most comfortable plane to fly aboard! Great post!
ReplyDeleteIt still amazes me, just how these things actually fly!! I mean, there is the aerodynamics, thrust and so on that actually 'does' it, but just the sheer size/weight astounds me!
ReplyDeleteSo 'might' say that the A380 is the largest 'passenger' airframe, whilst others may say the largest commercial airframe is an Antonov An-225 Mriya! Splitting hairs, I know, but in the never ending war of 'Airbus' v 'Boeing', the purists will fight to the end!!
Now, as to where this bird is flying, I will has it a guess, it is heading to Asia, and most likely, Narita. Why, well Delta (DL) fly the 747's to DTW-NRT daily, MSP-NRT daily and JFK-NRT daily (and recently noted as LAX-NRT replacing the B772ER/LR mix) and they also get a quick rotation to places like MNL, HNL, KIX and NGO thrown in!! But not all of these places are 'warmer' as the Northern Hemisphere moves into the winter season!! So I am at a loss, really!!