Twitter user Sam Chui managed to shoot footage of the final landing of Qantas’ last 747 at the weekend.
The aviation blogger was on the ground at the Mojave Air and Space Port to record the moment VH-OEJ landed at 11:50am (AEST) on Saturday morning, after a short flight from LAX.
The last landing of @Qantas B747-400/ER VH-OEJ at Mojave. 11:50am local time on July 24, 2020. End of the era 1971-2020 #Qantas747 pic.twitter.com/b7bO9hC1Y4
— Sam Chui (@SamChuiPhotos) July 25, 2020
The 17-year-old 747-438 now joins thousands of other aircraft being stored at the boneyard due to the coronavirus pandemic. Chui revealed the last leg of the journey was operated by Captain Ewen Cameron and Captain Greg Fitzgerald, who he said are retiring after this flight.
You can now see all the final flights here on Flightradar24.
It was a bittersweet day with the last Qantas B747 at Mojave, Ca. Take a look behind the scenes onboard.https://t.co/fja9iHeMl8
— Sam Chui (@SamChuiPhotos) July 27, 2020
Qantas sold its last 747, along with five others, to General Electric. The airport, IATA: MHV, is located within the Mojave Air and Space Port and has been storing aircraft since the 1970s.
The location is preferred by airlines for storage – either temporary or permanent – because the 49-degree temperatures prevent rust and precipitation can be as low as just 130mm a year.
Little has been reported as to exactly what General Electric Co plans to do with the Qantas 747s.
VH-OEJ’s journey first began on Wednesday when QF7474 departed Sydney at 3:28pm on the first leg of its journey to LAX.
“It’s been our pleasure to guide you through the skies safely and taking the #Queenoftheskies✈️through our airspace over the last decades.”?Listen to our air traffic controllers bidding farewell to the final @Qantas B747 flight departing Australia #747Farewell pic.twitter.com/LGTEwpnVV5
— AirservicesAustralia (@AirservicesNews) July 23, 2020
After an emotional take-off to the tune of I Still Call Australia Home, first-leg captain Sharelle Quinn flew the aircraft over Sydney’s CBD, Harbour and beaches before heading to the HARS Museum, where she dipped its wings in a final salute to the first 747-400 housed at the attraction, VH-OJA.
Then, unexpectedly, Quinn drew a 275-kilometre x 250-kilometre Qantas Kangaroo in the sky.
Hundreds of thousands of Twitter and Instagram users shared Qantas’ official post of the stunt, with many more likely to have also shared similar pictures and animations of the journey.
When it finished, VH-OEJ climbed to cruising altitude and headed for Los Angeles, where it touched down at 1:23pm after 15 hours in the air.
Twitter user Owen Zupp captured the moment the plane came in to rest at LAX.
Arrived in LAX….now for some sleep. Photos tomorrow. ???✈️ #747Farewell #747farewell #boeing747 pic.twitter.com/EpW7HuGvjg
— Owen Zupp. Author. (@owenzupp) July 23, 2020
The two final trips followed three special flights for customer departing the week before in Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra.
Proceeds from those ticket sales were donated to the HARS Aviation Museum in NSW and the Qantas Founders Museum in Longreach, Queensland. Both currently have 747s on public display.
In the past few months alone, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and KLM have all announced plans to fast-forward the retirement of their 747s, with BA, the holder of the largest fleet, thought not to be planning any farewell at all.
QUEEN OF THE SKIES FACTS
- The first Qantas 747-238 was VH-EBA, named City of Canberra and the first ever Qantas 747 flight was on 17 September 1971 from Sydney to Singapore (via Melbourne), carrying 55 first class and 239 economy passengers.
- In almost 50 years of service, the Qantas Boeing 747 fleet of aircraft has flown over 3.6 billion kilometres, the equivalent of 4,700 return trips to the moon or 90,000 times around the world.
- Qantas operated a total number of 65 747 aircraft, including the 747-100, 747-200, 747-SP, 747-300, 747-400 and the 747-400ER, and each had specific capabilities such as increased thrust engines and increased take-off weight to allow longer range operations.
- The 747-SP was the first 747 model that allowed non-stop operations across the Pacific in 1984, which meant travellers no longer had to “hop” their way across the Pacific and could fly from Australia to the west coast of the US non-stop. The 747-400, which Qantas operated from 1989, opened up the US west coast cities non-stop, and one-stop to European capitals.
- In 1979, Qantas became the first airline to operate an all Boeing 747 fleet.
- The 747 also broke records, including in 1989 when Qantas crew flew a world first non-stop commercial flight from London to Sydney in 20 hours and nine minutes. That 30-year record was only broken in 2019 when Qantas operated a 787 Dreamliner London-Sydney direct in 19 hours and 19 minutes.
- The Qantas 747-200, -300 and -400 models had a fifth engine pod capability that could carry an additional engine on commercial flights, a capability that was used extensively in early days of the 747-200 when engine reliability required engines to be shipped to all parts of the world. Improved engine reliability of the 747-400 and 747-400ER made this capability redundant.
FAREWELL PHOTO GALLERY
For more images of the Qantas 747 throughout the years, please browse through Australian Aviation photographer, Rob Finlayson’s collection here.
Anton
says:Goodbye the ‘Queen of the Skies! Farewell the Qantas Boeing 747.
Scott Melton
says:The 747 will be sadly missed. Such an elegant aircraft and in my younger days you always had a sense of “I am going somewhere special” when you lined up to board. While I never flew in the “pointy end” I did fly upstairs a few times; one of the best experiences was in a SQ 747-200. It was like flying in your own private aircraft. I was fortunate to experience the 747 of most models across seven different airlines.
Long may she reign “Queen of the Skies”; there will never be another like her!
Rocket
says:The aircraft is a 747-438ER.. NOT a -438.
George Mosca
says:Feeling very sad, worked for 20 years and retired in 2009, love these planes…
Doug Green
says:Please research your articles.
“….now joins thousands of other aircraft being stored at the boneyard….”
– get onto google earth and count them. There might be a hundred, tops.
Adam Thorn
says:The Google Earth photos were taken pre-pandemic. Nobody knows exactly how many are there, and their official site gives very little hard information (I did check!). That figure was based on reports I’d see in other news organisations. Given the amount of planes out of action, I think it’s more likely to be thousands rather than hundreds. But I’ll keep my eye out. I think we’re going to be hearing a lot more about these ‘boneyards’ in the months to come.
Thanks for your comment,
Adam
Chris Emery
says:It is interesting to note that the 747 is still in production at the rate of about one per month. But not for long. The last production 747 is likely to be the replacement for US AirForce One.