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Repost: Exclusive Interview with Joe Sutter’s grandson as Last Boeing 747 leaves Everett factory

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Update, Jan. 30, 2023: The last Boeing 747 will be delivered to Atlas Air tomorrow. Below is the story LNA posted on Dec. 6, 2022, when the airplane was ready to roll out of the Everett factory. In it, we exclusively interviewed the grandson of Joe Sutter, the lead engineer of the 747 design.

Cargo carrier Atlas Air is taking the final 747-8Fs, the last of a legendary line of Boeing jumbo jets./Atlas Air photo


By Bryan Corliss

Dec. 6, 2022, © Leeham News: The final Boeing 747, line No. 1,574, rolls out of Boeing’s Everett factory tonight. The plane was built for Atlas Air, which is scheduled to take delivery in early 2023 – almost 52 years after the first 747 entered service with Pan Am in January 1970.

“It’s kind of a sad occasion,” said Jon Sutter, the grandson of legendary Boeing aircraft designer Joe Sutter, the father of the 747.

Jon Sutter – who now works at Boeing in the same Boeing Field building where his grandfather designed the Queen of the Skies – hadn’t been born when the first 747 flew. 

And his grandfather, who passed away in 2016, didn’t live to see the end of the program he’s most closely associated with. 

However, even with the end of the 747 program, Joe Sutter’s legacy lives on, his grandson said. 

“His baby, Boeing, is still going,” Jon Sutter said in a recent interview with LNA. “You can see his influence in every other plane out there.” 

SUMMARY:

  • First-flight pilots called it a “two-finger” airplane
  • 747 was Plan B after SST was canceled
  • Last 747s sport special decal honoring Sutter
  • 747 survived the Boeing Bust
  • 747-8 was final iteration
  • ‘Hard to imagine the world without it’

1st flight: Waiting for a break in the clouds

The first 747, dubbed “Spirit of Everett,” takes off from Paine Field on Feb. 9, 1969./Boeing photo

The morning of the first flight — Feb. 9, 1969 — was cold and gray in Everett. Heavy clouds pressed down. Along the runway, snow that had fallen a few days before had melted into a frigid slush that soaked the feet of thousands of people who had come to watch: VIPs, school children, scores of airline customers, and long ranks of “The Incredibles” — Boeing stalwarts who had built the world’s largest airplane and world’s largest factory almost simultaneously.

There were a fair number of people who didn’t believe the 367-ton behemoth would fly. Legendary Boeing designer Joe Sutter, in a 2004 interview with the Everett Herald, said his wife had been stopped by people at the grocery store who questioned whether her husband had lost his mind.

Jon Sutter said his grandfather had brought his grandmother that morning to the spot alongside the Paine Field runway where his team had calculated the giant “Spirit of Everett” would leave the ground – 4,200 feet down. 

Takeoff was delayed for a while. Co-pilot Brian Wygle said they were waiting for a break in the clouds because they didn’t want to take off for the first time on instruments. As pilot Jack Waddell started the massive jet rolling down the runway, observers said it seemed to move slowly, even though the records show it was going 184 mph when it lifted off.

“It must have taken a half-hour till it got to the point where it rotated and took off,” John Monroe, a junior Boeing engineer who would eventually become a lead economic development recruiter for Snohomish County, told the Herald in 2004.

Waddell climbed up to 15,500 feet. He handed over the controls to Wygle, who said they both were pleasantly surprised with how easily the 747 handled in the air. Back on the ground, Waddell would later say it was a “two-finger airplane,” meaning he could fly it with only his forefinger and thumb on the controls.

The two pilots flew the plane for 110 minutes before landing. Joe Sutter later admitted he was apprehensive about landing the big bird, but it “sort of eased into the ground.”

“When I watched the first landing,” he told the Herald, “that’s when I knew we had a good airplane.” 

Sutter told the Herald that after the plane landed, he slipped away from the VIP area to find his wife. She was crying, he said. “I had to give her a hug.”

747 was Boeing’s Plan B

Many of the people who saw the first flight shed tears of relief. There was a lot riding on the first flight. Boeing had literally bet the company on the 747, which had been kind of a Plan B. 

Boeing had intended for the Supersonic Transport (for which the late, great Seattle Supersonics basketball team was named) to be its cutting-edge passenger jet for the second half of the 20th century. 

It had drawn up the 747 as a long-haul cargo jet – its fuselage dimensions were determined by the amount of space needed to fit two rows of 20-foot cargo containers side by side. The cockpit was raised – creating the ‘Four-Seven’s iconic profile – mainly to get it up above the cargo hold.

Likewise, Everett was not Boeing’s first choice to be the home of the 747 program, according to T.M. Sell, a professor of political economy at Highline College and an author of a book, “Wings of Power” that looked at how the company wielded influence in its home state during the 20th century.

There was no room to assemble a jumbo jet at Boeing’s Renton plant, or at Plant 2 in Seattle, where it had built bombers during World War II. The new plane was more than twice the size of the 707, and it would require a new building. 

Boeing’s site-selection team originally came back with recommendations for putting the new program in Cleveland, Denver, or San Diego. Moses Lake, Wash., was another strong contender. Boeing went as far as to take an option on land near Walnut Creek, Calif., in today’s Silicon Valley.

But in the end, top Boeing management worried it couldn’t get enough key personnel to relocate and decided it didn’t want to trust its make-or-break airplane program to an inexperienced team of engineers, techs, and mechanics. Paine Field, which had been well down the list of potential sites, was the final pick.

Last 747s honor Joe Sutter

While Jon Sutter wasn’t yet born in 1969, he said his sister was 3 months old, and their grandfather pulled some strings so she could be brought into the factory to see the first 747 before it flew.

Boeing designer Joe Sutter and the plane he’s best known for, the 747. Despite his fame in the industry, his grandson says he was a “pretty standard grandpa.“

But for all his notoriety in the aviation world, Joe Sutter was “pretty much a standard grandfather,” his grandson said.

With one exception: When the family spent weekends at their beach cabin out on Hood Canal, sometimes some of grandpa’s work friends – CEOs of various airlines – would come to join them for cocktails and oysters grilled on the half-shell over a fire. “That was part of our life,” Jon Sutter said.

Family members are sad to see their grandfather’s airplane program coming to an end, and some think it’s a strategic mistake, he said. With all of the problems Boeing’s had with the 737, 777, and 787 programs, the 747 has been a reliable performer. “They’re shutting down lines on the airplane they can deliver.”

The plane will be one of three to bear a ‘60s-style cartoon drawing of Joe Sutter and a 747 on its tail. Cargolux and UPS already are flying the other two “Joe Sutter Editions.” 

Today’s factory roll-out isn’t the last step. The plane will be towed across Washington State Route 526 to the flight line, for field testing and work to correct any squawks before flight testing. Atlas will “take the keys” in a delivery ceremony sometime in early next year. (Jet aircraft don’t need keys to turn on the ignition: Boeing typically provides customers with ceremonial keys to lock and unlock cockpit doors at delivery ceremonies.) 

The 747 Survived the Boeing Bust

Jon Sutter said that while his grandfather would also be able to take pride in the success that was well beyond what anyone ever expected. The Queen of the Skies was supposed to be Boeing’s 2707, the Supersonic Transport, not the 747. 

The 234-seat, delta-winged SST was intended as America’s answer to the European Concorde. The FAA itself picked the design over proposals from Lockheed and North American in 1966, and by 1971, the program had 122 orders from 26 airlines, including Alitalia, Canadian Pacific, Delta, Iberia, KLM, Northwest, and World Airways.

But the program, which was two years’ behind schedule by then, was reliant on federal funding, and in 1971, Congress canceled that cash stream, citing environmental concerns (including noise) and marginal economics. 

Already teetering due to cuts to military contracts as the Vietnam War wound down, lost NASA contracts as the Apollo program ended, and a drop in commercial orders during a recession, the end of federal funding for the SST was catastrophic for Boeing, leading to the layoff of two-thirds of its workforce, some 60,000 people.

‘Hard to imagine the world without it’

The 747 has been remarkably successful as a cargo jet, as projected, but its impact on passengers was greater. The huge wings needed to lift the heavy jet could carry enough fuel to cross oceans, and packing the cargo holds with people instead of pallets dropped seat-mile costs by some 30%. For the first time, trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific travel was within the reach of the global middle class. 

“You think of everything that airplane has done. It’s carried the space shuttle, It’s airlifted a thousand refugees at a time,” Jon Sutter said, adding that 747s have been outfitted for fire fighting, carried airborne lasers and telescopes, and – since 1986 – have carried U.S. presidents.

“It’s actually hard to imagine the world without it,” Jon Sutter said. “There’s not much out there that can replace it.” 

Boeing isn’t planning to replace the 747 any time soon. In the company’s recent briefing on its air cargo market projections, Vice President of Commercial Marketing Darren Hulst said Boeing expects the 747-8Fs will fly “well into the middle of this century.” 

Boeing expects cargo carriers will focus on 777 freighters and conversions, which have higher payload capabilities than older model 747-400s, Hulst said. 

Boeing will provide aftermarket support for the 747s as long as they are flying, and when those days are done, “then we’ll see what happens beyond that,” Hulst said. “But it’s a long time away.”  

747-8 was the final version

The 747 has been refurbished eight times. The last iteration, the 747-8, was built to take advantage of new engines and avionics developed for the 787. The greater thrust would allow for a 19-foot stretch of the fuselage – the only time Sutter’s original design was made longer. (The 747 SP was developed in the 1970s as an extended-range passenger jet; it was 48 feet shorter. Forty-five of them were built.)

The 747-8 program was launched in 2004, and Boeing executives at the time expected it to be an easy refit, and forecast a market for 300 planes, split between passenger and cargo versions.

However, the myriad delays on the 787 program siphoned engineering talent away from the Dash 8. Production didn’t begin until August 2008, and in February 2009, then-CEO Jim McNerney said the company was reassessing whether to continue with the program, particularly because it had only won one order for passenger planes.

Like Airbus, which struggled to find buyers for its A380 passenger plane, Boeing found that airlines weren’t interested in planes with more than 400 hard-to-fill seats. Boeing’s 777s and 787s and Airbus’ A330s and A350s had similar ranges to the 747 and A380, which allowed them to serve similar city pairs with more frequency.

Boeing ended up pushing back the program another year – taking a billion-dollar charge against earnings in the process. But early customers Cargolux and Lufthansa reaffirmed their commitments, and Korean Air placed an order for five-passenger models. (KAL would later add two cargo jets to the order.) 

In February 2010, the first 747-8 flew. Cargolux took the first of its planes in 2011; Lufthansa took its first passenger model in 2012. Boeing sold 155 Dash 8s; with freighters outselling cargo jets roughly 2-to-1. 

UPS ended up being the biggest buyer of 747-8s, with 28 cargo jets. Atlas Air, Cargolux, and Cathay Pacific each took 14 for their cargo fleets.

Lufthansa operates the biggest 747-8 passenger fleet, with 19; KAL has 10, plus seven cargo versions.

Sutter’s long legacy

Sutter with a commemorative model 747 presented to him in 2011, when Boeing named an Everett engineering building in his honor./Seattle West photo

While the plane most associated with his grandfather was the 747, Joe Sutter also was a senior member of the team that designed the 737, which is the airplane that set the standard for aerospace design for more than half-century. With its conventional tail, underslung wing and engines mounted in pods, Jon Sutter said, “that basic ‘Three-Seven configuration is the cookie cutter for every plane that’s come after.”

Joe Sutter believed in the 737 even when sales were so poor that management considered selling the entire program to Japanese interests. At 54 years old, the 737 already has outlived the Queen of the Skies.

Jon Sutter said his grandfather was one of the greats who defined what Boeing was and what the industry could be, listing him alongside Ed Wells (who designed the B-17 and 707) and Malcolm Stamper (Sutter’s boss on the 747 program, who would go on to be Boeing’s longest-serving president).

“You really can take it down to just a few engineers at Boeing,” Jon Sutter said, “and he was part of that group.” 

 Category: Boeing, Cargo

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79 Comments on “Repost: Exclusive Interview with Joe Sutter’s grandson as Last Boeing 747 leaves Everett factory”

    • As a 47 join mechanic we built one every three days in the 90s.
      I estimated if they were ALL lined up nose to tail, the nose would be an Everett the tail would be in Tacoma.
      Met and walked around with Phil Condon in my last day for 30 min.
      Crazy proud

      Reply

      • Condit – not Condon.
        Phil was not among Boeing’s greats – but that’s another story

        Reply

    • Not necessarily for good. Give them some time to rebound from their mistakes. After all the s@#t they we went through the last 15 or so years, they had to have learned something.

      Reply

      • @Jeff. I used to think that too, … like maybe losing $30 or $40 billion or more on the 787 would tell you something.

        My error in logic was that one eye-watering disappointment after another certainly taught ME something – them, not so much.

        As it happens, my s@#t was their shinola.

        I missed the fact that Boeing executives and shareholders extracted over $70 B in legacy value since the merger, and they believe that harvest can continue.

        Reply

  2. > “It’s actually hard to imagine the world without it,” Jon Sutter said. “There’s not much out there that can replace it.” <

    Correction, there is NOTHING that can replace the Queen of the skies.

    Most beautiful airplane ever designed and built. Having flown multiple trips on the 747-400 was amazing especially up on the upper deck. Flying over those big oceans with 4 engines turning was a great comfort.
    Thanks for this article and for honoring the great Joe Sutter. I had the privilege and honor of meeting him during my career at Boeing. A very nice man.

    Boeing took a huge risk with this jet and what’s even more remarkable is the time it took from paper to certification. Back in the days when common sense prevailed and they got er done!
    No PowerPoint then 😉

    Reply

    • I agree that it was a wonderful plane.
      However, I won’t miss the cabin noise compared to today’s new jets.
      And the upper deck was essentially just a narrowbody experience.

      Have you flown on an A380?
      So quiet that you can have a whisper conversation with the person beside you.
      And the upper deck gives a full widebody experience.

      The A380 may not have been a commercial success for AB, but it’s a very firm favorite with passengers (ask Emirates).

      Reply

      • Having a quiet plane is not always beneficial. You can hear everyone’s conversation. A noisy plane helps to drown out other conversations which I prefer. In addition, the A380 has thick side wall that somewhat obstructs the outside view from certain angles. Definitely miss the 747.

        Reply

        • Yep, had 4 or 5 flights on a 747. Loved it.

          I had a whole front almost to myself coming back from Japan. Laid out across 3 seats and caught up on my sleep, then got to watch Alaska slide by off the left wing. No stop in Anchorage, onto Seattle and a 727 back North. hmmm.

          Nothing will ever replace it. It had grace and beauty that modern aircraft lack.

          Reply

        • I’m 80 now. The first time I ever flew was AA Phoenix to Chicago, first class. That flight ruined me for about 20 years. The 747 took off and landed with all the grace of a butterfly. I had seen the space shuttle on the back of the NASA 747 several times. My son didn’t comprehend the shuttle size until he saw a 747 at an airport.
          Not a dry eye hearing that the 747 line is officially shut down. The 747 is the GOAT aircraft and will be so for several decades to come.

          Reply

      • The 748 have newer engines, so she silent too, genx engines on the 8 series so…

        Reply

      • Bryce ..you said the exact same thing last time the 747 tribute came up…
        Give it a rest and save your a380 bootlicking for another time..
        This is about the storied career of that marvelous plane !!

        Reply

        • TC.
          Bryce conveniently forgets that Airbus got to study the 747 for over 30 years before creating the A380. What is amazing is that after all that study, they created
          a wonderful technologically advanced aircraft that was a mere step change leading to a horrible sales failure. With 30 years of study in hand, they failed on the execution.. We will never know how much was lost on the program since none the bridge, highway , infrastructure and other civil costs can be accounted. The A380 program was a technological tour de force, one of the best aircraftvever built, best remembered as the biggest marketing miss in the history of aviation to date. Comparing all the groundbreaking 747 advancements with the step changes in the A380 isnt a fair comparison, for either bird.

          Reply

          • How “great” the current 777X and 787 programs are??
            The 787 is a great marketing success or so I heard, has BA recouped every penny it spent on it??? 🤣

          • Hey Pedro…..
            I agree with your criticisms of the Trip7X…. It should have been named the Boeing 380. That program is a shitshow. As far as the 787, fantastic airplane, program not so. Is it a success, absolutely, it flys well does everything the customers want. Is it profitable, probably not. How in Gods name you can have a problem unresolveď for long enough to accumulate 120 aircraft on the ramp is beyond me. With program accounting, and I understand we stand a lot of it from being inside the animal, its difficult to dissect how bad things really are. But it is bad in a large way and program accounting combined with the huge deferred production balance is allowing Boeing to kick the can down the road. This creates a very unrealistic picture of the company to be maintained. The skilled airplane guys that were so successful in past programs have mostly left. Without those artists, craftsmen and subject matter experts, clowns who have never built truly complicated products are failing on all fronts….. lastly, I do feel a bit insulted that you try to bash me when I’m being as balanced in what BA is actually about as anyone here…. Theve done so much right, yet are doing so much wrong today……. We need to de-polarize things, and actually have conversations on points of merit…..

          • Sorry. Nothing personal. I referred to facts I know. My apologies anyway.

    • “Most beautiful airplane ever designed and built.”

      Well, this is a question of tastes for sure. But don’t forget the Connies (L-079. -1049, -1649), 727-100, Comet, VC10, Concorde…and a few others

      Reply

  3. @Bryce

    Whatever. This article is about the 747, the risks Boeing took to make it happen not about the ugly A380.
    The A380 will never share the same glory as the 747.
    Don’t obfuscate our moment. Thank you.

    Reply

    • @ Airdoc
      My comment was directed to your assertion:
      “…there is NOTHING that can replace the Queen of the skies”,
      which, of course, is subjective rather than substantive.

      Opinions aren’t binding upon others 😏

      Reply

  4. Bryce, Airdoc.
    Its correct, Nothing can replace the Queen. The A380 can never be the First wide body transoceanic airliner. The A380 can never have a second life as a very economical freighter. The A380 can never be the 1st non round crossection airliner designed on slipsticks. It is universally unique in that so many envelopes were pushed. There will never be another like it. This is a time to slap each other on the back and remember the 747 as what it is, an aircraft that flew for decades in more livery’s that you can easily count. I enjoyed my time in the 747 program, it was built by craftsmen that I have come to love and respect. Its sad to see her go, but just as age slows all of us, its time to just say thanks for the memories. Some may throw shade on her on her way out, but the fact remains, there will never be another commercial jet with the impact of this one…………

    Reply

    • Thanks for the input Scott!
      You are one of the reasons for her success!

      Reply

      • GARY….
        Thanks for the mention, but dont downplay your contributions either. You are one of the highly respected people I was speaking of….. It was always an pleasure working with you. Airplane guys like us will never get to do this again…… Take care my friend…….

        Reply

  7. I was lucky enugh to fly Cathay 747’s between L.A. and Hong Kong nunerous times, all on the upper deck during the 90’s. It was like flying on a dream! We had our own upper deck flight attendant and rest room– it was easy to forget that there were hundreds of people below us on the main deck. The icing on the cake was the aircraft carrier like landing at Kai Tak airport. Great memrories that will never come again!

    Reply

  8. AM 71 . HAD THE PLEASURE OF IST FLYING ON IT IN 1976 FROM WINNIPEG TO HONOLULU NON STOP WITH WARDAIR. SO VERY RXCITING AS A 26 YR OLD THEN GOING TO AUSTRALIA IN 1991 FLEW ON IT FROM LOS ANGELES VIA HONOLULU TO SYDNEY WITH NORTH WEST AIR LINES. SO MANY GREAT MEMORIES YES TRULY THE QUEEN OF THE SKY. A LEGEND GOING TO MISS THE 747.

    Reply

      • Looks like a NOTAMS to me!

        Who decided all these rules anyway?

        Just asking.

        Reply

    • Wardair. Wow – now there’s a name I haven’t heard in awhile. From Winterpeg, no less.

      My memory of the 747 is flying in the AC Combi as a kid and wondering, “Hey! Where’s the rest of the aircraft? I feel gypped!”

      Reply

  11. The Queen is leaving the Palace.What a wonderful aircraft, Thankyou Boeing employees , Thankyou,Thankyou. My Dad flew B-17 ‘s and B – 29’s as a flight engineer with the 20th USAAF . During the 1970’s 80’s 90’s and up to 2004 my father and I owned a International Horse Transport Co . Together we shipped hundreds of Horses around the world with such Airlines as Flying Tiger, Lufthansa, Pan Am, Alitalia,Seaboard World, TransAmerica,KLM all using 747,s .It was the best time of our lives,We had our quarters on the 01 deck and the horses flew on the main deck. “ If it ain’t Boeing I ain’t Goin”

    –

    Reply

    • Yea, saw some of those flights through Anchorage.

      I miss that era for the Aircraft that we all talk about so passionately, those truly were iconic.

      Reply

      • My wife and I flew the first Rome to New York . Pan Am felt 841/842 as military out sourced it’s military and dependant travel. It was referred to as Cat-Z. Civilian transportation.

        Reply

      • Oh man, talk about outright jealousy.

        I did get to see the Boeing mfg facily in Everett (my mom and I took the tour, she is also an Av nut, picture of her with the P-51 Pink Lady in Northway Alaska in the 50s)

        I know its time but it sure hurts to see the last 747 go and the Cargo Variant is my all time favorite, something about the abbreviated hump just calls to me.

        Others love the long hump and that is all good, they are all 747s !

        Long Live the Queen! (and you don’t hear Americans say that much….)

        Reply

        • I was an acoustical engineer at Pratt & Whitney during the development of the JT9D engines for the 747. I was at Everett for the first flight of the 747 with Jack Waddell in the left seat.

          Yes, a wonderful airplane with dependable engines.

          Eric Wood

          Reply

  13. I had the opportunity as a Transport Canada, Civil Aviation Safety Inspector, to approve the B747-4 training course for Canadian Airlines maintenance. It was amazing to learn the functionality of systems of the ‘Queen of the Sky’.
    I will always refer the 747 as an ‘Iron Bird’ “what a beautiful bird”! So-long….

    Reply

  14. The aircraft deck configuration is inherited from the design work funded for the C-X competition, which also led to the engines development. The raised cockpit is a consequence of the cargo loading requirements.
    With Lockheed having won with what would become the C-5 Galaxy, Boeing had a prevalidated configuration to start its Plan B civil aircraft.

    Reply

  15. My two most memorable 747 flights were on July 26 and Aug. 22, 1971, from FRA to ATL and return. I was in the Army and flew home on a 30 day leave. Those flights were part of the Delta-Pan Am interchange. I flew the same aircraft on both segments, Pan-Ams’ “Clipper Wildfire” N655PA. Great memories and a great aircraft. Eight years later I began a wonderful career as a mechanic at Delta.

    Reply

  16. I went to work for Boeing out of college in the 60’s and still have the post cards that went on the first 747 flight from Everett. Spent a lot hours flying on the 747 to Asia.

    Years ago if I was really nice a Cathay Pacific Captain might invite me to the flight deck for the landing. It was quite a thrill to be on the 747 flight deck for the final approach and landing in Kai Tak!

    Magnificent airplane!

    Reply

  17. Current Boeing leadership would not have launched the 747 in the first place. Must have had a negative impact on cash flow for the first 8 years.
    The money Boeing invested in the 747 would have paid for a lot of cash buybacks.

    Reply

    • The 747 almost killed Boeing. All the effort. All those.people.’
      Then it wasn’t selling
      Employment cratered – about 65% were laid off.

      A year later the SST was cancelled

      A Boeing optimist was someone who brought their lunch to work

      Reply

      • I think in the years before 747, US DoD ordered 745 B52s, 800 KC135 and 2000 B47s big jets in short order. That’s what really launched Boeing into the jetliner business. But also costed 60.000 jobs when that assembly tsunami was over..

        Reply

  19. Very touching story almost got me crying we’ll miss B747 wen it makes its last flight……
    I always wanted and will love 747 especially dat big head, narrow belly and slim butt. 😢😢

    Reply

  20. I’ll never forget flying back from Houston to Los Angeles years ago and the pilot telling us that would be overtaking the space shuttle riding piggyback on its mothership the big modified Boeing 747. It was a visual I’ll never forget and I’ve always loved the Boeing 747 and always will. A very bittersweet moment as American aviation marches on. Thank you for the thousands of men and women who saw this program from the early design stages to today’s final aircraft—what a run!! Congratulations to all

    Reply

  21. Il mondo non sarà più lo stesso senza il 747 , the world never will be the same without the 747…..the end of a Dream…..

    Reply

  23. I have only had 1 flight on the 747, New York to Brussels , on the upper deck, in the 90’s and it was amazing. Then I had the opportunity to visit the final assembly line and realized just how small I was. The largest building in the world of course still standing, parts & pieces in one end, and a completed magnificent 747 rolling out the other end. The building is also an engineering feat as well- – , what will be its purpose now be?
    And while I have an opportunity to speak on a venue that I have read comments for years, I have never participated in the comments.
    The 747 is an Icon the world recognizes. Air Force One, with its iconic paint scheme is also immediately recognized around the world as the symbol of freedom. I would like to see all the commenters on this site that represent high values around the world, start a campaign to continue the iconic paint scheme on the 2 new Air Force One, instead of the proposed dull, looks like a private business jet paint scheme. Thanks

    Reply

  24. My last flight on 747 was in November 2017 when at the last minute AA switch me to Philadelphia to London (then to Moscow) because the flight out of Chicago was late My wife and I were stuck in row 54 (last row) and it was a bit bumpy ride

    Reply

  25. My first flight on a 747 was on the upper deck from Narita to Singapore with a Singapore Airlines business class ticket. It was like being in a private room at an elegant hotel.

    I absolutely fell in love with that flight attendant. She would bring my my drink (and only MY drink) on a tray while wearing that sarong-like uniform and would then kneel down in that 2 inch thick carpet to serve me.

    There I was , high in the Pacific sky, in a beautiful airplane, with a beautiful woman.

    Reply

  26. “Last Boeing leaves factory tonight”

    …a suitable metaphor for our ESG future.

    Reply

  27. I remember the Lufthansa 747-100 parked at ORD-took a tour with a friend ! Flew the 747-100 with Air France 4x with UAL twice and Northwest Airlines 2x.Lufthansa wants this 747 to fly forever because it was never enthusiastic with Airbus A-380.Japan Air Lines and Lufthansa were the most enthusiastic airlines flying the 747-The Queen of the Skies-according to Lufthansa-the 747-should fly forever.And i agree ! Queen of the Skies Forever and Ever !

    Reply

  28. Queen of the Skies … fare thee well … may the memories live on … flew on the north west 747 air line 6 times … from Seattle SeaTac to Korea and Manila and back to Seattle and then the second time was from Seattle to Tokyo and Manila and back to Seattle… sure loved riding that Queen of the Skies … always had a window seat right behind the wing… the best place to be … the seats were comfortable and there there was plenty of leg room … 11 seats wide … twin alies …

    The new airlines don’t have room or space that the 747 had …

    Won’t be doing any more flying … I’m done … can’t stand to wear a face mask … can’t breathe with that darn face mask…

    I’ll just keep my two feet on the ground and stay within the borders of America …

    Reply

  31. Rolls-Royce, the British Boeing.
    Bit of a tenuous connection I know but hopefully you will be commenting on just how they came to employ a lunatic as CEO?

    Reply

    • Thanks for that video link. The 747 really was the Queen of the Skies- too bad I only flew on one once, and that video brought
      back nice memories.

      Reply

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