MILESTONE – AT 11:53 A.M. ET:   Technological progress brings with it nostalgia.  From Fox: 

When you look up at a plane flying overhead in America, there's one thing you'll know for sure: It's not a Boeing 747.

After nearly 50 years, the venerable aircraft is being retired in the United States for good.
The commercial airliner, which was once hailed as the “Queen of the Skies,” has been embraced by every major U.S. carrier since the first model rolled off the line in 1968. At one point in 1990, there were 130 of the jets in operation throughout the country, but many airlines gradually retired their fleet with cheaper, more efficient models including Airbuses or newer Boeings in more recent years, Flight Global reports.

And on Wednesday, Delta Air Lines is flying the last of the country’s 747s from its hub in Atlanta to Pinal Airpark — an “airport graveyard” — in Manara, Ariz.

COMMENT:  I recall my first flight in a 747, back around 1970.  I was amazed by the sheer width of the aircraft.  I always loved it.  If the plane wasn't full, you could often stretch out over the middle four seats.  At least that's the way I remember it. 

One 747 flight we took went sour.  We were almost halfway out over the Atlantic on a flight to Rome, when the plane lost an engine.  Under flight rules in place at the time, because the flight hadn't reached the halfway point, we had to fly all the way back to Kennedy Airport in New York...with a one-year-old baby.  But at least we flew in style, and PanAm provided a bassinet for the baby.

January 12, 2018