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UPS takes off with brand new Boeing 747-8 ahead of peak shipping season
Some major muscle is arriving in Louisville, right in the nick of time for peak season. UPS added two new jets to its fleet at Worldport last week. The Boeing 747-8 is the newer, bigger, and better version of the previous 747-400. UPS started purchasing the 747-8s in 2017, with the intention of buying 28 in total. Last week, number 20 was delivered and went into service. (www.wdrb.com) Ещё...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
They've been saying that for years now. If orders keep coming they will keep making them
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There will be nothing to look at if they ever stop making that plane. Mona Lisa of the skies. My first flight was Boston Logan to London 1999.
Wishimg UPS would bring their 747s to DFW. I love sitting at Founder's Plaza near UPS's cargo terminal. Sit there for 2-3 hrs at times. But there are 747s from other airlines at times. Also wishing Qantas would bring back their A380s to DFW,, flies right over my house if the wind is from south going back to Sydney.
My first 13+ hour flight was on a '47SP nonstop from DFW-NAR. I felt like I was in heaven seeing dozens and dozens of -100 & -200 models in Tokyo. Flew them all over the world loving them so much delays didn't bother me. Thankfully I was always up in the bubble or in the nose in first or business. Until 5 years ago I had flown every type of commercial jet. The 777 and A-380s have their perks, comforts and advantages, but the 747-400 will always be my favorite commercial jet.
My first '47 ride was aboard a dirty, crowded Pan Am SP out of SFO to HKG, Kai Tak via HNL. Due to a screw up in my corporate travel department,I rode in coach for the 11 hour 2nd leg, wedged between two huge roughnecks on their way to SE Asia somewhere to tow an oil rig around the Cape into the Atlantic off the Brazilian coast. Although we were uncomfortable, we drank pints of whiskey and smoked packs of cigarettes as they regaled me with stories of their wild adventures around the world. Time passed quickly during that surreal trip and my love affair with that huge domed plane began. In my career, the 747 carried me to my own adventures as I travelled the world. I explored the wonders up the circular stairway in the upper deck lounge, and was treated like a celebrity in the first class nose. I rode a brand new Singapore Airlines "Big Top" 747-400 during another marathon flight across the globe, which insulates you from the masses downstairs. I felt like an early flier in a DC-3 up there. Whenever I said in SFO I'd ask for a room on the north side of the Embassy Suites Burlingame so I could thrill to the sight of those big domed birds coming in over the Bay. When I read of the retirement of that iconic ship, I was saddened. This news of new orders still quickened my pulse, and although I don't fly anymore, I'd love to have one more trip, and stay a night down on South Bayshore Blvd to watch them slowly float down to earth again.
Thank you Sir for this account, it read like a novel and really got me thinking about what those times must've been like. I grew up flying as a kid and now as an adult I've been having my own international adventures and have really been enjoying the learning experiences. I long for a flight on the four-seven but in my time it's been the triple 7 that I've fallen in love with ever since my dad took me to see the all-glass cockpit of one of the first United deliveries at IAD in 1995. As I started my Asian travels in 2013 or so I've been on many a 777ER/LR from DFW to ICN and I always feel safe up there even w/o the four engines of the 47. I too want the legacy of the 47 to live on and if it can't be in the passenger variant then the cargo variants work just fine. I love the story it tells of American ingenuity and design with its legacy. Last thing, before moving to VA my dad worked at SFO and we lived in Burlingame for a while - you brought some memories back, thanks again!
My pleasure, friend. Thank you for your kindness in the spirit of the moment, and of the day. We are both lucky guys to have found our loves. Boeing still makes great planes. Happy Holidays to you and yours.