Here is a tribute from one of the test flights
https://airlive.net/live-last-ever-built-jumbo-jet-is-drawing-a-747-in-the-sky/

30 years @ Rockwell/ Boeing SoCal.
Had to go from rockets that shook the earth to planes that flew slow, I got over it.
X-37 was my favorite program. Airframe was not classified, Payloads is another story.

I made the tragic mistake of upgrading to first class when our family moved to Hawaii. Now I am ruined.

The government (Army) pays some stupid rates on airfare that usually isn't the lowest. They had the responsibility to move us from VA to HI but we were visiting family in Texas. The travel folks actually wanted me to return to VA just to fly to HI (stupid but they didn't get it). I did the research and found 1st class tickets from Houston to Honolulu, I traded in my DC to HI tickets (United) and paid $50 per person ticket difference and $25 fee for the change.

Did the same thing a couple of years later when my boss wanted me to attend a conference in Florida (from Hawaii). I paid a bit more but I just couldn't imagine flying that far twice in a week in coach. It was American and 1st class sucked.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1675396444.jpg
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I'm not sure I'm going to recount all the details correctly, but I think the first time I ever flew in a plane was in a 747.

I was quite young (maybe 6? ~1976, flying to SFO from PDX?) and I remember sitting with my parents and younger brother on the left side of the plane. My dad and I sat in the front two seats and my mom and brother sat behind us. There was an aisle to my right and two more seats near the window on the other side of the plane. The carpet on the floor ran right up the wall in front of us (and I'm assuming today that was the front bulkhead). My dad wouldn't give up the window.

I remember the flight attendant coming forward after we sat down and before take-off asking if my brother and I wanted to see the cockpit. We said "sure!" and she lead us up the stairs and up front. We stood in line with a couple of other kids and got to stand in front of the throttle quadrant and get a pair of plastic wings to pin on our coats from the captain.

I don't remember the rest of the flight after that; memory is a funny thing...

I fondly remember the ability to go see the cockpit as a kid, and the plastic wings lapel pin the crew would give you. I also remember when you could smoke on a plane, which seems unspeakably bizarre to me now. No idea what the first plane I flew on was but best guess would be an Avianca 727.

The first plane I flew on was a Western DC4 from Los Angeles to San Francisco.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...20140304141531

I don’t remember my first plane, but my most memorable was a MD 1011L (?) flying from Atlanta to San Diego around 1979. Lots of beers and the flight was nearly empty, so I was able to stretch out and sleep in the middle row of seats.

Love the 47..

On the DC3 comment - I loved my flight in one, sure it moved a lot more in turbulent air, more like a cessna 172 than a 747 would - but we were airborne in less time that a 747 would have accelerated to 30 mph ;-) Such a beautiful plane and you felt that if the engines went, you had a decent chance of a glide somewhere...(it was the Otis spunkmeier DC3 based in oakland, pre-digital so I can't find pics)

On another note the airliner I have fondest memories of was the Caravelle... A super sleek early smaller jet with a finesse unequalled since and a fantastic glide ratio - one of the few airliners where losing both engines was not a death sentence.... (On April 15, 1959, Air France carried out a novel publicity event to promote the safety of the new aircraft. A Caravelle deliberately glid, without propulsion, between Paris and Dijon in France, a distance of more than 262 kilometres - 163 miles). To me it was to early jet airliners what the constellation was to prop ones. Class.

https://hushkit.net/2022/05/26/10-reasons-the-sud-aviation-caravelle-jetliner-is-fantastic/

flew 747's a lot in the '80's and '90's from DC and SF to Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Best ride was upper deck business class. Just like your own private airplane. BA did great service on those runs. Cathay Pacific ran 747's for a time from SF to Hong Kong. Riding first class with them was a great experience. First long flight ever was on a 747 from JFK to Rome. Riding in baggage class on my way to Cairo for job. Remember looking up the aisle and thinking the plane took off in segments. Seemed like th front was flying before the middle and then the middle before the back where I was sitting. Just a bit disconcerting.

US airlines just don't know how to do first or business class. Gold standards are Qatar, Emirates, Etihad, Cathay and Singapore . Never fly Qantas or Air New Zealand.

Rode business from Europe DFW and met a fellow from the UK who was making his first trip to the US. We were together again on what passes for first class AA DFW to PHX. He was shocked at the crappy accommodation and service as compared to BA business or first.