Hello, my name is Paul Stewart, and I'm at Sydney International Airport we're I am about to fly to Brisbane for
60 minutes and then turn around and fly back to Sydney again, Brisbane is too hot
I just get sunburned and people smell funny there
So the real reason I'm flying to Sydney is because Qantas have put the 747 on the domestic route
and I've managed to get on board. As you may know, they're retiring the 747 over the next two years
so I'm taking every opportunity I can to get on board
So coming up is me being sentimental about he Qantas 747, the queen of the skies, for the next 15 minutes
This video will be a bit different to normal as I won't be focusing on the usual seat, meal and service etc
But rather on the aircraft itself. The flight was only an hour and there wasn't time to really appreciate the business class service
In fact, the only reason I flew business was because I wanted a good view of the wing, which I think I got.
Now the journey began in the lounge with a group of friends where we admired the view. The Qantas Sydney First Class lounge
honestly has some of the best av geek
views in the world and I'll include a link to a proper review of that lounge in the video description below
Here's footage of a Qantas
A380 - 800 partially obscured by a British Airways 777's tail
While the a380 is arguably more comfortable to fly in and has got the superjumbo tag
It certainly will never be the 'Queen of the Skies'
Now here's our aircraft arriving VH-OEJ or Oscar Echo Juliet
Which was the 57th and final Boeing 747 delivered to Qantas.
This particular model is a - 400 ER and Qantas were the only airline to ever purchase the passenger version of this aircraft
Essentially the takeoff weight was increased 15 tonnes
to a total of 412 tonnes and the airline could choose between more fuel,
which would give an extra 800 kilometres range, or more payload.
The extra range was particularly useful for Qantas because a few of their routes such as flights to Johannesburg and Santiago
don't really have many places to divert to if fuel gets low!!
Here's my seat
and of course
The first thing I check is that I get a good view out the window of the wing and engines. And coming up later
I've got some amazing views out of the window as we take off from Sydney, fly over the Gold Coast and land into Brisbane.
The first interesting thing
I'll mention are the Kreuger flaps on the leading edge, or the front, of the wings which are unique to the
747, other than for older airliners such as the 707.
Most modern airliners such as a B777 you're about to see, have slats which extended forward from the wings leading edge.
Both designs create lift and according to Wikipedia the Kreuger flaps worked well, but they're quite complex, hence
why don't see them on many other airliners.
It was now time to hit the skies and this time I won't fast forward through the take-off footage.
Keep an eye on the Kreuger flaps folding away,
some stunning views of the Sydney CBD and enjoy the General Electric CF6's explode fuel into music and a lot of thrust!
On the topic of the wings you'll notice a 1.8 metre winglet, which is introduced with the - 400 model to reduce drag.
Now Qantas badge all of their - 400 models with 'Longreach' and I often hear at airports people saying that they've flown Longreach before.
But that's just because the entire Qantas jumbo fleet has Longreach written on them.
All of the aircraft are also given a name and ours today was called 'Munala' and was previously painted in there were Wunala Dreaming
Indigenous art livery
And going back to the wings. It's interesting to compare it with the newer
747-8 where they've removed the winglets and replaced them with an upward bending wings
Which essentially does the same thing and I might add looks absolutely fantastic
For interest sake, here's a view from the top deck of a 747-8 from a recent flight I took with Lufthansa.
And here we are back in the Qantas
747 - 400, although also in the upper deck. See the familiar winglet again
This actual aircraft is VH OJA which holds the record for the longest nonstop flight by a commercial aircraft
which was 20 hours from London to Sydney
That aircraft is now retired at the HARS museum just south of Wollongong and I've uploaded a video where I tour through that aircraft.
link below in the video description
The flight path took us out over the ocean before we turn slightly west to fly up along Australia's eastern coast.
The view was pretty impressive and here you can see the city of Yamba.
Shortly afterwards the descent down into Brisbane began.
Fortunately
There was a break in the cloud to get a brief glimpse of the Gold Coast.
For those subscribers not familiar with Australia. The Gold Coast is our culture capital.
It's often described as our Oxford or Prague, by people who have never been to Oxford or Prague
Anyway, it looked cool from 30,000 feet
In fact the weather made for an almost perfect and interesting landing into Brisbane as there was enough light to illuminate everything and
enough clouds to make it interesting.
At this time
I might quickly spam my Instagram and Facebook account. Check out those for heaps more aviation content as well as updates about new videos
As I said earlier
Qantas are retiring their entire 747 fleet with one actually just sent to the desert last week.
It's sad to see although somewhat understandable when you consider that aircraft
Like the a380 are more comfortable and airline sseem to be moving towards big twins, alas
The Queen of the Sky will be missed
It was an incredibly impressive piece of engineering and revolutionized air travel, in part because it was just so big, and tickets were cheap.
it was interesting to consider the fact that Boeing never expected it to be a success and
planned for it to sell mostly as a freighter.
This is why the flight deck was on the top storey so that the nose could open up and allow freight to easily move in
and out.
In the end, supersonic travel didn't take off, Boeing cancelled the SST aircraft program and the Jumbo became one of the most successful
airliners ever built!
I was fortunate enough to walk around the first-ever Boeing 747 at the Museum of Flight in Seattle
last December and put together a video from the tour. The link to that is in the video description below.
Now not only was a 747 significant for Boeing and the traveling public, but also for Qantas who operated 65 Jumbos.
In fact between
1978 and 1985 their entire fleet were 747s.
It made up a major part of their international fleet into the future with it being a flagship until the A380 arrived
The Qantas 747 also had a significant place in the history books as in 1974 they set a world record flying
673 people out of Darwin following Cyclone Tracy.
I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the Qantas 747
Comment below with your first flight in one and how they're significant for you.
Also, do you intend on chasing a flight and one before they're retired?
Due to the 737 pilot shortage
Qantas are actually putting them onto flights to Perth regularly as well as infrequent ones between Brisbane and Sydney such as the one today
So you may be in luck if you don't want to fly one to Los Angeles or Hong Kong
Now as we come into land, to keep an eye out on the Kreuger flaps
Interestingly as we touch down the inner flaps are retracted as to avoid damage from debris thrown up by the reverse thrust
I've always wandered why they do this, but now I know. Thanks Wikipedia!
Thanks for watching what may well have been my final 747 flight.
I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did making it.
Make sure you give it a thumbs up and if you enjoyed it
make sure you check out my channel for heaps more aviation related videos and
don't forget my tour through VH OJA at 'HARS
south of Wollongong and through the first ever 747 in Seattle. All of those links are in the video description below
Thanks again and see you another time