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Easter egg in flight path of last 747 delivery flight

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Re: Easter egg in flight path of last 747 delivery flight

#91
post #63
post #14

As someone who does not like flying (I don't like heights), I will miss those planes. The large size makes me more comfortable in one.

Interesting. I often feel safer in smaller (but not too small planes), where I don't see the wings visibly flapping. Something like a A320 or a 737. With 747s the wings flap up and down quite visibly in turbulence, and you can even see the fuselage twisting if the curtains aren't closed between the sections. There's also just the wall thickness to mass ratio. You ever notice that you can crash toy RC cars all you wan…

Maybe this video helps a bit to put all that twisting into perspective? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B74_w3Ar9nI

Re: Easter egg in flight path of last 747 delivery flight

#92

The 747 IMO is the most beautiful aircraft ever, certainly the most beautiful civilian aircraft. A couple of years ago, I made it a point on an international trip with my kids to book seats for us on the upper deck. It was really awesome, and I am sure they will look back on it as a great memory. If you are able to, before it is too late, I would encourage doing it. The most iconic seats on the most iconic civilian a…

When you have been away from them for a while and you're used to just spending time in terminals with nothing but 737s everywhere, when you come back to a terminal with a 747 at the gate, it is a bit awe inspiring to see just how big these are. Similar to the first time walking up to a 777, A380, etc. They are just huge (or the 737 is tiny).

Re: Easter egg in flight path of last 747 delivery flight

#93
post #41

So, how does this work? Do you plot this via the Auto Pilot? Like, inserting a list of waypoints?

Some of the turns are way too tight to be done by the autopilot. But it looks very regular, so I would suspect some custom control system was used. Would also be interested to know how they did this!

custom control system

This would be the very last explanation in aviation for sure. Like, dead last in terms of speculation.

Re: Easter egg in flight path of last 747 delivery flight

#95
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's cool is that aviation can be so stifling at times with training, rules, regulations, etc, that it seems that certain very cool traditions are either set in stone, or born and survive relatively intact. ADSB reporting, which powers these flight tracking sites that are available to the public, is (relatively speaking) a very new thing to aviation and the general public. And the fact that these maneuvers are abso…

Is this tradition even new? Drawing things in the sky seems to be a well established aviation tradition.

Not at this extent, and the ability for the general public to be aware of it.

Re: Easter egg in flight path of last 747 delivery flight

#96
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know anything about flight deliveries. But, including a set of basic flight maneuvers makes sense to me. In which case they would be maneuvering anyway and they decided to go out in style. Big salutes to them who set it up.

You can tell nobody from Nascar was involved as there are both left AND right turns.

Fun fact: not all nascar tracks are left turn only.

Re: Easter egg in flight path of last 747 delivery flight

#97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, you don't want to find the problems on the delivery flight.

Better then than on the first passenger filled flight. Don't think of it as the delivery flight. Think of it is final test flight

This is a cargo plane, though, I don't think a passenger 747 has been built in a while.

Re: Easter egg in flight path of last 747 delivery flight

#98
post #54

I see two planes now flying very close to each other... https://imgur.com/a/QcZohkC

That seems neither close nor something special. There are different flight levels, so planes can cross each other safely.

yup - it just shows how little I know about the subject... agh! - It was bit spooky looking at these, and I thought I zoomed in but by the time I took the screenshot it was way oof

Re: Easter egg in flight path of last 747 delivery flight

#99
We’re in the flight path, and I told my wife to go up to her office roof to see if she can see it, but she’s stuck in a meeting, and I’m too far north to catch a glimpse. I guess I’ll have to settle for spotting it on my ADS-B receiver, which is still pretty cool.

Re: Easter egg in flight path of last 747 delivery flight

#100
post #68
post #54

I see two planes now flying very close to each other... https://imgur.com/a/QcZohkC

Without knowing how far you're zoomed in on the map or the altitude of the two planes, I can assure you that they're nowhere near each other.

yup - just layman (me) being scared not understanding what's going on :) - then I saw earlier what the plane did (took me a while to figure out what was this about)
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