B747 - your experiences

[keefyboy]

Hi folks

There's a quite interesting article in todays Mirror on the 747 that is reasonably accurate given what we all know about the Red Tops:-

www.mirror.co.uk/travel/farewell-glorious-boeing-747-jumbo-22495253

It got me thinking about my 747 experiences so I thought in these days of lockdown I would start a thread.  What's your most interesting memories of the 747?

For me, to begin with, it was catching sight of Pan Am's first 747 on it's inaugural flight over Battersea and landing at LHR some 10 miles away.  This was quickly followed up by taking the 285 bus that used to travel through the maintenance area to see G-AWNA and her mates.

In later years, I was lucky enough to travel both BA and Virgin first class/business (on business) and cattle class (holidays).  Seat 1A in the Mirror article jogged my memory.  I recall one occasion when working in San Francisco, my colleague and I arrived at the airport early and we got well tanked up at the bar.  I think we must have been in Business class but anyhow, the seat I had appeared to suffer from the regular VC10 problem - that of water droplets from above.  So before we took off I was upgraded to seat 1A. I remember taking off from SFO and flying over the Golden Gate and looking down on the USS Hornet at Alameda - after that I was out with the washing and missed all the benefits of First Class.  My next memory was flying over central London and my mums flat in Battersea - I still had my seatbelt on having missed evening meal and breakfast! If anything, it made me realise what a small world we live in!

Cheers
Keith

[Jeff]

I remember walking from home to Caines Lane to watch the first 747 inbound, this was before spotting day as I was 6

[keefyboy]

Cheers Jeff. 1970 was a bonkers year for us spotters with 747's from Pan Am, TWA, Air India and SAA IIRC. It was all so different to the usual 707's and Tridents and made visiting LHR that more interesting.

[lordevanelpuss]

My first two B747 flights were to be my only ones on a British Airways example. It was a 'Classic' srs 100 and was G-BDPV which flew me on my first solo trip to Canada on 4th April 1979. The route was LHR-YMX-YYZ. The middle one is Montreal Mirabel which, at the time, had taken over as the main international airport serving Montreal, from Dorval. Things have since changed back, with Mirabel now playing 'second fiddle'. Some time after we had departed Montreal for Toronto, I had a kind of 'sixth sense' that we were going back the way we had come from, and so it turned out, 'Captain speaking' came on the tannoy and told us that we were indeed returning to Montreal, reason being a severe snowstorn that had knocked out Toronto's ILS landing system. We successfully landed at Toronto the next day. Some time before I left for Canada I wrote to BA asking if I could visit the flight deck, I don't remember getting a reply back so assumed that was something that wasn't going to happen, so imagine my surprise when a stewardess came and asked me my name and then took me upstairs where I got to look at the flight deck & meet the pilots. Three weeks later I was to return to Heathrow, again on G-BDPV.

The next B747 was with Wardair Canada, this time departing Gatwick for Mirabel then Toronto and was on C-FDJC which was on May 23rd 1981. This time our return was on a different type, we came back on DC-10 C-GXRB. This was to be my only flight on a DC-10.

10 years later, two of the Wardair 747s had been sold on to Nationair, that is the two 100srs aircraft and on the 15th September 1991, I was scheduled to fly the same route as 10 years previously on the other 747 C-FFUN. Everything seemed to go smoothly until I got to Gatwick, after that it was one delay after another all the way over, starting with a missed take-off slot at LGW, we eventually did leave, then, as it was a very busy airway, we crossed the Atlantic at about FL280 (instead of FL350) this burned more fuel so a tech stop was made at Goose Bay, which gave me the opportunity to log Vulcan XL361 which is preserved there. Then it was off to Montreal where we landed in the most attrocious weather (the passengers applauded the pilots, I wonder if they heard it!) Then more delays & missed take-off slots here, eventually we left 'Canada's France' and made it to Toronto where the delays were due to industrial action by air traffic controllers. Well we did get down and after a long time going through passport control, luggage carousel, customs, then a long drive to my final destination of Stayner Ontario, where I was offered a few bottles of beer which I very willingly drank!!! The flight back to LGW was very much smoother and was my second flight on C-FDJC.

My final B747 tale dates from 14th September 2019. Myself & Martin Harbor were in Holland for my 60th birthday and we visited the Aviodrome at Lelystad (a bit like Brooklands over here, but less the cars) This musum is presided over by retired KLM B747 PH-BUK, which was open for visitors to look over. I seem to remember originally seeing this one at Toronto, possibly in 1979. It was nice to be able to go in and look around and make my second trip up those stairs and see the flight deck (this is probably the only way anyone will see a fllght deck these days) As PH-BUK is a combi version, only the front half has any seats, the rear half is, well, empty! I wonder if BA will preserve one of their B747s in this way.

These are my experiences of the 'Jumbo Jet'.

[Jeff]

On the LHR config 747s we had a mixture of economy and upper class on the top decks. The excitement on people's faces as they realised they were seated upstairs and though they had had an updrade followed by the realisation it was just economy, then just to add insult to injury the realisation dawned that due to the curvature upstairs a normal overhead locker sized case won't fit in the upstairs ones...... Oh what amusement we had watching people try to fit the bag every which way as they knew it should fit in there cos it always did in the past

[rugbyref]

Apart from a TWA flight from Boston in which the plane just felt ‘tired’ my most memorable 747 flight was Virgin. The IFE box was under the seat in front of me, and left nowhere for my feet. Ridiculous design fault.

[graham]

Sad to say that I've only ever flown on a 747 once, that was when I was returning home from a trip to Chicago in 2006. I'd flown out on an American 777 but decided to use the British Airways flight back home as the departure time was much better than the American. I was staying at the Wright Inn in the leafy western suburb of Oak Park, about ten miles west of the Loop and had the business card of the taxi driver who had delivered me to the hotel from ORD a week earlier.

I called him about six hours prior to departure time and asked him to collect me from the hotel at 5.30pm for a 9.30pm flight. He didn't turn up until 6.30pm, the traffic out to ORD was horrendous, nose to tail on the freeway and I checked in with a few minutes to spare only to be told that there was no seat for me.

The next flight to LHR was the following morning but I was lucky and due to a couple of no shows, I got a seat.

Having spent six and a half days zipping around between Chicago O'Hare, Chicago Midway, Detroit Wayne County and some GA and Exec fields, I was shattered, fell into a deep sleep a few minutes after departure and woke up as the seat belt sign came on as we approached LHR

[keefyboy]

My first 747 experience came quite late in the day (having previously flown 707/727/737/757 and 767). It was 1988 and the sole Virgin Jumbo (I think at the time) was in for maintenance so we flew out to Miami on chartered Martinair DC10 PH-MBT (which I think ended up as a tanker with RNLAF) - we were right at the back - handy for the bar and toilets but I found it very noisy. Anyhow, a fortnight later our return trip from Orlando was on the Virgin Jumbo G-VIRG. A very uneventful flight though we suffered an incredibly hard landing at Gatwick that caused every oxygen mask on the plane to fall down from the overhead lockers. Heyho!

[rugbyref]

I also flew on an Air Canada 747 to Toronto, they only memorable element of that flight was boarding, as the aircraft was on a remote stand and we had to climb stairs to board.

Better story that ended up on a BA 747 from Barbados was a BAHolidays package deal trip to Nevis, flying BA 747 to Antigua, then on a BN2 on to Nevis. A hurricane decided to shorten our stay on Nevis and the hotel got us onto a BN2 back to Antigua, but that was still in the path of the hurricane, so got on standby list for the BWIA MD80 flight to Barbados. Got seats on that, then spent several hours in Barbados playing scrabble until we caught the BA flight home. All this arranged personally, as BA Holidays just ‘dealt’ with our problem by calling the hurricane ‘ a bit of wind!’

[davebasing]

Not my most flown type by any means but have so far managed 65 B747 flights in -100, 200, 300 & 400 series to/from 29 different airports around the world. Not managed either an SP or an 800 (yet). First 747 flight was appropriately on Pan Am’s N747PA back in 1980 and required a fuel diversion to Winnipeg en route from LHR to Los Angeles. Also diverted to Manchester due weather en route from Dulles to LHR back in 1985 on G-AWNE. Plus one abandoned take off with BA at JFK with a TOC warning. 24 of my flights were with Virgin, 21 BA and the rest spread between Thai, JAL, Malaysian, Qantas, South African, Pan Am, United and Northwest.

Back in the days of strict air fare regulation (1970s) when all carriers on a route charged the same price and tickets were freely interchangeable between IATA carriers, I often turned up at Orly or CDG after regular ICAO meetings in Paris with a BA ticket to LHR but looked at departures to see who I could change to at zero cost and minimum wait time. In one case this was JAL (resulting in my shortest ever 747 ride on JA8106, next shortest being San Francisco - Seattle on N652PA) but other switches saw me transfer to the likes of Gulf Air TriStars and Varig DC10s (the latter with a very quick full meal!). Keith mentioned the VC10 dripping problem but this was also prevalent in business class on BA’s early 747s particularly just after take-off. On one such flight to Washington with BA I was not only dripped on but seated next to a very drunk Mexican who BA nevertheless continued to ply with alcohol and who was prone to keep dozing off and dropping his lit cigarettes. Didn’t get much sleep on that one! Only first-class ride on one was in 1986 with Qantas (VH-EBV) en-route to an IATA scheduling conference in Singapore with a stop in Bahrein watching the sun come up over a line of Gulf Air 737s with a cold beer in hand. Non flying highlight was probably being invited to the naming ceremony for BCALs first 747 and there being pressed to do a charity parachute jump (not from the jumbo) with a group of BCAL stewardesses. When my wife left the CAA BCAL presented her with a cuddly BCAL 747, probably worth a bob or two now (the toy not the wife!).

[mick]

My first was Virgin G-VJFK 747 from Gatwick to Orlando on 26/05/1999
Flew back on G-VLAX

Also flew G-VROC back from Miami to Heathrow on 08/06/2014

Flew G-BYGD of BA from Heathrow to JFK on 06/12/2007
and back on G-BYGG

On 24/10/2015 flew G-CIVJ to Boston from LHR

Only non British lump was N184UA of United from LHR to Washington Dulles on 18 /08/2001

That's about it from me.

[davidallum]

Was at Heathrow when BA's first 747 (G-AWNA) was delivered,also at Heathrow when Pan Am,Air Canada & South African started their 747 services.

Have only flown in a 747 on eight occassions:

14/09/1983 G-BDXA (200) British Airways LHR-SFO
29/09/1983 G-BDXB (200) British Airways LAX-LHR
30/03/2004 D-ABTC (400) Lufthansa FRA-NRT
30/04/2006 F-GISB (400) Air France CDG-JNB
07/11/2010 G-CIVE (400) British Airways LHR-PHX
14/11/2010 G-BNLM (400) British Airways PHX-LHR
01/04/2017 HL7630 (800) Korean LHR-ICN
22/04/2017 HL7636 (800) Korean ICN-LHR

Will be sad to see them go.

[michael]

Done a few

13/11/84 G-BDXC B747-236 British Airways EGPK-EGPK (Crew training. Entered and exited by nose wheel ladder)
22/05/88 VT-EDU B747-237 Air India LIRF-LSGG (A disgusting flight.I hate to say by the hygene of the passengers.Flight to LIRF was ST-NSR a Sudan B707 !!!as Air India decided it was NOT going to stop at Rome on the way out,so transferred 21 very angry Prestwick ATC staff for ECC'88 football,blessing actually !)
22/05/88 VT-EDU B747-237 Air India LSGG-EGLL (Spent the 1 Hour stop over on the steps with 25 other europeans and Australians)
29/01/92 9M-MHO B747-4H6 Malaysia EGLL-WMKK
02/02/92 9M-MHN B747-4H6 Malaysia WMKK-WMKP (First B744 to visit Penang,Chinese New Year,600pax flight went from B734 to A300 to B744)
07/02/92 9M-MHO B747-4H6 Malaysia WMKK-EGLL DIVERTED to EGCC ( 6 hours on cargo then bussed to EGLL arriving of M25 as the plane took off)
04/11/03 G-VBIG B747-4Q8 Virgin Atlantic EGLL-KLAX
11/11/03 G-VAST B747-41R Virgin Atlantic KLAX-EGLL
17/06/05 G-VLIP B747-443 Virgin Atlantic EGKK-TBPB
17/06/05 G-VLIP B747-443 Virgin Atlantic TBPB-TAPA (Split flight with Barbados to Antigua 1 hour flight)
25/06/05 G-VROM B747-443 Virgin Atlantic TAPA-EGKK
12/10/05 G-VROC B747-41R Virgin Atlantic EGLL-KJFK
22/08/06 G-VGAL B747-443 Virgin Atlantic EGKK-TLPL
29/08/06 G-VROM B747-443 Virgin Atlantic TLPL-EGKK
04/10/08 G-CIVD B747-436 British Airways EGLL-KMIA
09/10/08 G-CIVP B747-436 British Airways KMIA-EGLL
25/10/08 9V-SPQ B747-412 Singapore A/L EGLL-WSSS ( Listed as my daughters worst event of her life.THE TURBULENCE WAS BAD)
01/08/09 G-VAST B747-41R Virgin Atlantic EGKK-TAPA ( Bought my Border Collie while pushing back on my phone !!!)
12/08/09 G-VXLG B747-41R Virgin Atlantic TAPA-EGKK ( 11 YEARS TO THE DAY ,2 hours sleep at home ....then collect Mylo the collie pup)
06/02/14 G-BNLI B747-436 British Airways EGLL-KMIA
16/02/14 G-CIVJ B747-436 British Airways KMIA-EGLL
07/03/18 G-BYGE B747-436 British Airways EGLL-KSFO
16/03/18 G-BNLK B747-436 British Airways KLAS-EGLL

So (as non airline crew obviously) I have spent well over a week of my life on the B747 flying (then add Boarding,Taxing ...sitting at Manchester!!)

[billsamuels]

Morning Folks,

Here’s my experiences with The Queen of the Skies.... 

30/03/1976 N93108 TWA LHR-LAX
06/04/1976 N93117 TWA JFK-LHR
01/06/1976 N93117 TWA JFK-LHR
02/02/1977 9V-SQD Singapore Airlines LHR-FRA-ROM-BAH-BKK-SIN
08/02/1977 9V-SQE Singapore Airlines SIN-BKK-BAH-ROM-FRA-LHR
20/02/1978 N601BN Braniff LGW-DFW
26/02/1978 N601BN Braniff DFW-LGW
23/04/1980 9K-ADC Kuwait Airways LHR-CAI
27/04/1980 9K-ADB Kuwait Airways CAI-LHR
23/02/1981 N605US Northwest Orient LGW-MSP (went for interviews to join NW)
25/02/1981 N612US Northwest Orient MSP-LGW
28/02/1981 G-AWNI British A/W LHR-MIA
15/03/1981 G-AWNI British A/W MIA-LHR
31/10/1981 N602BN Braniff LGW-DFW
04/11/1981 N602BN Braniff DFW-LGW
07/03/1982 VH-EBM Qantas LHR-BAH-SIN-SYD
24/03/1982 VH-EBN Qantas SYD-SIN-BAH-LHR
22/04/1982 N610US Northwest LGW-MSP
29/04/1982 N604US Northwest MSP-LGW
22/10/1982 N607US Northwest LGW-MSP
07/10/1982 N621US Northwest MSP-LGW
20/04/1983 N605US Northwest LGW-BOS
21/04/1983 N605US Northwest BOS-LGW
07/04/1984 N611US Northwest LGW-BOS
10/04/1984 N602US Northwest BOS-LGW
24/07/1984 N622US Northwest LGW-FRA-LGW
17/10/1984 N601US Northwest BOS-LGW
29/10/1984 N603US Northwest LGW-FRA-LGW
17/11/1984 N606US Northwest LGW-MSP
23/11/1984 N607US Northwest MSP-LGW
08/11/1985 N621US Northwest LGW-BOS
10/11/1985 N610US Northwest BOS-LGW
19/11/1985 N604US Northwest LGW-MSP
22/11/1985 N609US Northwest BOS-LGW
05/04/1986 N603US Northwest BOS-LGW
14/05/1986 N609US Northwest LGW-FRA
30/06/1986 VR-HIJ Cathay Pacific LGW-BAH
02/07/1986 HZ-AID Saudia RUH-JED
28/10/1986 (Unrecorded) Northwest LGW-MSP
30/10/1986 N611US Northwest MSP-LGW
05/09/1986 N609US Northwest LGW-BOS
12/09/1986 N606US Northwest BOS-LGW
08/03/1987 (unrecorded) Cathay Pacific LGW-BAH
26/06/1987 N602US Northwest LGW-BOS
03/07/1987 N734PA Pan Am LHR-JFK
25/07/1987 N603US Northwest LGW-BOS
12/08/1987 G-BDXL British A/W SFO-LHR
11/03/1988 N626US Northwest MSP-LGW
11/04/1988 G-AWNJ British A/W BOS-LHR
06/06/1988 VR-HIA Cathay Pacific LGW-BAH
02/08/1988 N621US Northwest LGW-BOS
09/08/1988 N605US Northwest BOS-LGW
21/10/1988 G-AWNG British A/W LHR-NBO
29/10/1988 G-AWNH British A/W NBO-LHR
28/04/1989 N93104 TWA LHR-ORD
29/04/1989 N621US Northwest MSP-LGW
03/06/1989 N606US Northwest LGW-MSP
07/06/1989 N605US Northwest MSP-LGW
15/09/1989 N609US Northwest LGW-MSP
29/01/1990 G-BDXL British A/W LHR-YYZ-DTW
25/03/1990 N613US Northwest LGW-MSP
04/04/1990 N603US Northwest MSP-LGW
27/09/1990 (unrecorded) Northwest LGW-BOS
01/10/1990 N668US Northwest MSP-DTW
07/10/1990 N609US Northwest MSP-LGW
20/10/1990 (unrecorded) Northwest LGW-BOS
30/03/1991 N614US Northwest MSP-LGW
26/04/1991 N604US Northwest LGW-BOS
28/04/1991 N604US Northwest MSP-LGW
13/05/1991 N614US Northwest LGW-MSP
15/05/1991 N610US Northwest MSP-LGW
30/05/1991 N603US Northwest LGW-BOS
31/05/1991 N603US Northwest BOS-LGW
25/10/1991 G-VJFK Virgin Atlantic LHR-LAX
28/10/1991 G-VGIN Virgin Atlantic LAX-LHR
10/11/1991 N611US Northwest LGW-MSP
14/11/1991 (unrecorded) Northwest MSP-LGW
18/04/1992 (unrecorded) Northwest BOS-LGW
28/05/1992 (unrecorded) Northwest LGW-MSP
03/06/1992 (unrecorded) Northwest MSP-LGW
15/07/1992 N620US Northwest LGW-MSP
16/07/1992 N634US Northwest MSP-LGW
07/08/1992 (unrecorded) Northwest LGW-MSP
09/08/1992 (unrecorded) Northwest MSP-LGW
10/01/1993 (unrecorded) Northwest LGW-MSP
13/01/1993 (unrecorded) Northwest MSP-LGW
02/02/1993 (unrecorded) Virgin Atlantic LHR-LAX
04/02/1993 (unrecorded) Virgin Atlantic LAX-LHR
13/02/1993 (unrecorded) Northwest LGW-MSP
20/02/1993 N628US Northwest BOS-LGW
11/03/1993 (unrecorded) LGW-MSP
20/03/1993 N612US Northwest MSP-LGW
22/05/1993 N613US Northwest LGW-MSP
17/06/1993 (unrecorded) Northwest LGW-BOS
20/06/1993 (unrecorded) Northwest MSP-LGW
02/07/1993 (unrecorded) Northwest LGW-MSP
03/07/1993 (unrecorded) Northwest MSP-LGW
23/10/1993 G-VIRG Virgin Atlantic LHR-LAX
31/10,1993 ZK-NBT Air New Zealand LAX-LHR
19/02/1994 (unrecorded) Northwest LGW-MSP
26/02/1994 N612US Northwest MSP-LGW
14/03/1994 N614US Northwest LGW-MSP
16/03/1994 N614US Northwest MSP-LGW
30/04/1994 (unrecorded) Northwest LGW-MSP
02/05/1994 N625US Northwest MSP-LGW
25/05/1994 G-AWNE British A/W MIA-LHR
08/06/1994 G-VMIA Virgin Atlantic LGW-BOS
09/06/1994 G-VLAX Virgin Atlantic BOS-LGW
04/03/1995 G-VOYG Virgin Atlantic LGW-BOS
17/04/1995 N612US Northwest LGW-MSP
19/04/1995 N611US Northwest MSP-AMS
09/06/1995 G-VHOT Virgin Atlantic EWR-LHR
19/08/1995 N623US Northwest LGW-MSP
02/09/1995 (unrecorded) Northwest MSP-LGW
29/09/1995 N613US Northwest LGW-MSP
01/10/1995 (unrecorded) Northwest MSP-LGW
12/06/1996 PH-BFD KLM LAX-AMS
13/06/1996 PH-BFO KLM AMS-LHR (hope this is not a mistake)...
15/03/1997 G-VGIN Virgin Atlantic LHR-IAD
28/05/1997 G-VOYG Virgin Atlantic LGW-MIA
23/05/1998 G-BDPV British A/W LHR-ORD
28/05/1998 G-AWNH British A/W ORD-LHR
15/05/1999 G-BDXC British A/W LHR-MIA
19/05/1999 G-BDXD British A/W MIA-LHR
19/07/2003 G-CIVX British A/W LHR-FFD-LHR (shortest flight(s) 17 minutes!!!)
26/03/2004 G-CIVW British A/W LHR-JFK
29/03/2004 G-CIVE British A/W JFK-LHR
22/02/2017 G-CIVK British A/W LHR-LAS
01/03/2017 G-CIVB British A/W LAS-LHR

Think that’s 145 sectors, goodness knows how many hours in flight, but the mileage works out approximately 505,000.

Cheers fellas.

Bill

[keefyboy]

That's an awful lot of loyalty points Bill - hope you made the most of them!

Cheers

[foxfire]

I've only flown in a B747 four times, all to or from the US. The first was on BA to Boston in 1995, (registration lost in the mists of time), then in 1997 Kuwait Airways on a return trip to New York on 9K-ADD in both directions. My last B747 flight was in 2014 back from San Francisco with BA on G-BNLO, sadly last seen heading for the Teruel graveyard.

The Kuwait Airways plane was fairly tired and on the way over I found my armrest with the in-flight entertainment panel was broken, which made for a long boring flight. We returned to the UK a week later, unfortunately on the same plane, in the same seats and with the armrest still broken. We thought we'd scored really good seats, facing the bulkhead between economy and (business?) class, with lots of leg space. These were ok heading westward but returning overnight we found the bulkhead had the crew rest seats so, in addition to having no in-flight entertainment, I had dozing crew facing me all night, inches away! Of course, the plane was 'dry' so no soothing glass of something to help send me off to sleep - I don't think I slept at all!

However, my first proper sight of the aircraft, apart from seeing it over my home in north London, was at Heathrow from the top of the Queen's Building on 31 January 1970, a few days after Pan Am's first service, when I took these two now murky pictures - slides don't age well!

[billsamuels]

Aug 14, 2020 13:58:51 GMT keefyboy said:

That's an awful lot of loyalty points Bill - hope you made the most of them!

Cheers

😂 😂

Sadly on ‘staff travel’ loyalty points, or even air miles, we’re completely out of the question.

Would be an interesting exercise for other wide-bodied aircraft....

Bill

[lordevanelpuss]

Aug 14, 2020 11:11:06 GMT billsamuels said:

Morning Folks,

Here’s my experiences with The Queen of the Skies....
13/06/1996 PH-BFO KLM AMS-LHR (hope this is not a mistake)...
 
Cheers fellas.

Bill

Possibly not. I have seen KLM 747s occasionally at LHR, including a srs 400. My best period for seeing them was in the early 1980s, when one would position into LHR to operate a Kenya Airways flight. Of course they were the 'classics' in those days.

I also remember KLM DC-10s coming in to operate for Ghana Airways at that time. Twas a good time to see KLM 'heavies' at Heathrow if you hadn't yet been to Amsterdam.

[keefyboy]

Bill - they introduced a similar policy in our place quite late in the day - nobody ever appeared to police it - so pretty much everyone took advantage of it though nobody ever talked openly about it.

It must be very frustrating to not record the registration of the flight your on. I've managed it on all bar 2 trips - Skyways 748's Lympne to Beauvais and return in 1972. Given that this was a general spotting trip for a group of us in Paris, I cannot for the life of me remember why I never recorded the aircraft I was flying on!
Cheers
Keith

[keithh]

Aug 14, 2020 17:43:27 GMT keefyboy said:

Bill - they introduced a similar policy in our place quite late in the day - nobody ever appeared to police it - so pretty much everyone took advantage of it though nobody ever talked openly about it.

It must be very frustrating to not record the registration of the flight your on. I've managed it on all bar 2 trips - Skyways 748's Lympne to Beauvais and return in 1972. Given that this was a general spotting trip for a group of us in Paris, I cannot for the life of me remember why I never recorded the aircraft I was flying on!
Cheers
Keith

I flew that route in 1971, G-ARMX, ARMW. Dirt cheap

[keithh]

I remember being on the Queens building for the first 747 visit, Panam, and I went up on to the high bit that looked like a bridge shortly before departure was due. You couldn’t see the aircraft parked up in Terminal 3 and the excitement when it taxied round into view for the first time was brilliant.
I haven’t flown that many long haul flights and most of the early ones, bar a 707, were DC 10s and then A330. My first 747 flight was Virgin in 2007 and I also managed one BA.
G-VTOP LGW-MCO Virgin 2007
G-VROS MCO-LGW Virgin 2007
G-BNLJ LHR-ORD BA 2015
G-VXLG LGW-MCO Virgin 2020
G-VROM MCO-LGW Virgin 2020

[foxfire]

A rather sad 747 experience yesterday. I was visiting Cardiff and was over-flown by G-CIVK on final approach to St Athan from Heathrow on it's very last flight before scrapping.

[lordevanelpuss]

I still think that BA should preserve one, like KLM have done with PH-BUK.

[keefyboy]

Nice sentiments M'Lord but I suspect preservation is the last thing on BA's mind at present given the current climate. The costs of Upkeep to maintain a 747 in preservation are likely to be enormous - whether it be at Cardiff, Heathrow, Manchester and so on. I'm no accountant but I'm pretty sure if BA were to remain the owner of a preserved 747, it would be treated as a capital asset, and they would have to pay HM Treasury an annual Return On Capital Employed.