Re: Planespotting
 

I still want to fly on one. Completely irrationally, because you can't tell what bloody plane you're on from the inside, but nonetheless, the 747 is still my favourite from the outside.

They still run the 747 from Chicago. There are two (might even be three) daily services to Heathrow and when we were waiting at the gate for our flight on the 777, there was one loading up for the earlier flight.

Re: Planespotting
 

The 777 is a far better passenger experience. As I say, the 747's are pretty tatty inside. That said, when I flew out to start my new life 2 years ago, I travelled over in the bubble. Now that was very cool. From the outside though, the 74's were my favorite to watch going up and down. They still manage to look bigger than the 380.

Re: Planespotting
 

The 777 is my favourite plane to fly in, by a long way. It looks good taking to the air, too. The 747 just has the edge for me on appearance, the 747-8 is just a great looking plane. Also, there's something about a -400 series in BA livery that just looks right. Hard to explain.

Re: Planespotting
 

I knwo what you mean - I like 747's, especially up on the top deck, though that hasn't happened for a few years - in fact, exactly the same number of years as it has been since a company paid for my flights.....!

That said, we did a United 747 from SF-HK last summer and it was truly the only time I've ever looked at a plane and thought "I don't want to get on that".

It was the crappiest looking plane I have ever seen, and I've flown some dodgy airlines over the years..... It was plain white - no livery - apart from the bits where shiny metal was showing through. It didn't have the turny up bits on the wings, although I'm not sure why I was that distressed about that. As we got closer down the jet way, I swear there were popped rivets on the flare where the wing meets the fuselage (do they even use rivets on planes? I don't know, but there were holes that weren't filled....!).

I was looking at wife and mouthing "I don't want to get on this plane" and she was scowling at me to knock it off before middle son (who is a nervous flier anyway) caught the vibe. So we boarded, like lambs to the slaughter....

When we got on, the seats were crap and the IFE was virtually non-existent - remember the days of the central screen? Well, we had that, but it did't work, so all we had was audio - not very good for such a long flight.....My only thought was that it was going somewhere for scrap. It really looked like they'd just halfheartedly glued the wigs back on the hull that is parked at Teesside airport for firefighting practice. I was not happy, but it did get us there, albeit not in any sort of style, and during the inevitable periods of turbulence, all I could see in my minds eye were those missing rivets..... I have never been so relieved to get off a plane in my life. We're flying United again this year (we got a credit from them for this flight - not miles, an actual dollar credit:thumbup:) but its on a 777 so hopefully will be somewhat more pleasant!!

Re: Planespotting
 

I had read at the time that the MH370 "ping data" had been matched to actual ping data from real aircraft, and at that time they seemed pretty certain about it. If that is not now the generally accepted result then so be it, but if there is significant doubt I wonder why they're still searching the southern Indian ocean. :confused:

Re: Planespotting
 

I know what you mean

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...D96FF.png.jpeg

Re: Planespotting
 

The southern theory is still the most likely which is presumably why they're still looking there with the limited resources - well, not a bottomless pit of money, big though that pit is.

Some theories really are bonkers though and you wonder how they can even begin to substantiate them. The idea that MH17 and MH370 were the same plane: just for starters, how does one account for one less plane in the fleet?! :banghead:

Anyway, all that aside, two other things have been on my mind. Firstly the media gives the impression that the black boxes ping for exactly 30 days and then stop. I would assume they keep going until the batteries die, and that duration may well be a lot longer than 30 days. Secondly, have any of the aero companies come up with some sort of more reliable and frequent satellite pinger thing, so even if most of the plane has shut down - possibly even dismantled midair - that it could continue on its own battery power for a lot longer? I know a powered device would need a circuit breaker, and thus susceptible to deactivation, but if the black boxes have batteries then so could a third black-box-esque pinger...?

Re: Planespotting
 

Found this video from the telegraph website.....pretty cool and incredible flying, but check out the pilots expressions!

VIRAL IMPLOSION

Re: Planespotting
 

Sorry..thought I'd embedded the video...you need to scroll down to it at the bottom of the page....

Re: Planespotting
 

Well it was United, hands down the worst airline based in North America, they really haven't gotten their act together from the merger, and they were pretty bad before the merger as well.

I won't even consider United for flights.


I've only flow on a 747 2 times and probably never again, when I went to Australia and back home, this was 15 years ago now, flew on Qantas.

Only other wide bodies I flew on were DC-10 on Northwest in the early 00's, Delta 767 and Delta MD-11 when wide bodies were still used on a fair amount of domestic runs.

If I ever go anywhere where wide bodies are used, I will seek out a flight that uses a 777 as I have yet to fly on one, followed by a 787, those are my next 2 goals.


Worst mistake I ever made was not forking over the cash to fly Concord, our flight agreement with BA permitted flights for 2,000 and some change.


Now 99% of flights are 737's of one sort or another, and a very rare A320 if I happen to fly Virgin America, oh a Dash 8 to take me to the 737.

Re: Planespotting
 

That was discussed in the media, after MH370 dissappeared, and although the pinger will continue in most cases, the design is such that it might last a few more days, but not a whole lot longer. And, in the case of MH370 it was revealed that the battery might have been suspect and not even lasted 30 days.

That said, I think the whole "pinger thing" is increasingly irrelevant and the future for commercial aircraft should be a stream of realtime location data, and perhaps flight/ engine computer data too, streamed to a satellite.

Of course if a plane drops in the ocean the pinger would still be useful to home in on the wreckage, though more pingers (not more black boxes) might be useful to trace pieces - one in the cockpit, in each wing, and in the centre of the fuselage.

Re: Planespotting
 

Delta is rumoured to be buying 5 757's from Shanghai Airlines.

I believe Shanghai Airlines has some of the last ones off the assembly lines, so fairly young still.

Re: Planespotting
 

That it was unliveried, it was obviously one of the off-lease planes that had been parked in Arizona or New Mexico awaiting a new lessee or owner%2

Re: Planespotting
 

That it didn't have winglets leads me to believe it was a -300 or a -200 series as well. United have never operated a -300 (nor have Continental), and the -200 was phased out in 2000, so this doesn't sound like a regular United plane.

Re: Planespotting
 

If the frame is good for 40,000 cycles, and given that longhaul aircraft typically only do one round trip/day, that plane might be good for another 20 years or more. :lol: