This was almost certainly drawn out by hand, waypoints (lat/lon) and turns were plotted and then inputed into the flight management computer, and there is a good chance the plane just flew itself as told. Although given it was flown at such a lower altitude below 15k feed near Moses Lake (which is where Boeing does a ton of testing at that airport) it's possible the pilots hand flew this by following a pre-plotted ma…
They could also just spoof the ADS-B data right?
Easter egg in flight path of last 747 delivery flight
121–130 of 421 posts
Re: Easter egg in flight path of last 747 delivery flight
#122Any flight buffs know the estimated cost of doing something like that? I’m all for having fun, and I love that they spent the money to do it
Re: Easter egg in flight path of last 747 delivery flight
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not a flight buff, but... - Jet fuel from NYC to LAX seems to cost ~$10k.[1] - You pay a pilot $50 / hour salary. (+100% more with benefits?)[2] - Double all of that for a bunch of random things I can't think of (airport fees?) My napkin math seems to indicate this couldn't possibly cost Boeing more than $10-20k? Pretty small potatoes to such a large company. [1] https://simpleflying.com/commercial-airliner-fuel-cost…
> My napkin math seems to indicate this couldn't possibly cost Boeing more than $10-20k? Pretty small potatoes to such a large company. Yeah they were losing billions through criminal negligence and delayed deliveries of the 737 Max, so a couple of tens of thousands for some well needed good PR is nothing. This is probably the first bit of it for multiple years now, with all the delays in the 777X, assembly quality i…
Re: Easter egg in flight path of last 747 delivery flight
#124Earlier 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 really... This level of high-precision and publicly-available flight tracking is pretty new.
Re: Easter egg in flight path of last 747 delivery flight
#125This was almost certainly drawn out by hand, waypoints (lat/lon) and turns were plotted and then inputed into the flight management computer, and there is a good chance the plane just flew itself as told. Although given it was flown at such a lower altitude below 15k feed near Moses Lake (which is where Boeing does a ton of testing at that airport) it's possible the pilots hand flew this by following a pre-plotted ma…
They could also just spoof the ADS-B data right?
Re: Easter egg in flight path of last 747 delivery flight
#126This was almost certainly drawn out by hand, waypoints (lat/lon) and turns were plotted and then inputed into the flight management computer, and there is a good chance the plane just flew itself as told. Although given it was flown at such a lower altitude below 15k feed near Moses Lake (which is where Boeing does a ton of testing at that airport) it's possible the pilots hand flew this by following a pre-plotted ma…
They could also just spoof the ADS-B data right?
Re: Easter egg in flight path of last 747 delivery flight
#127Re: Easter egg in flight path of last 747 delivery flight
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not a flight buff, but... - Jet fuel from NYC to LAX seems to cost ~$10k.[1] - You pay a pilot $50 / hour salary. (+100% more with benefits?)[2] - Double all of that for a bunch of random things I can't think of (airport fees?) My napkin math seems to indicate this couldn't possibly cost Boeing more than $10-20k? Pretty small potatoes to such a large company. [1] https://simpleflying.com/commercial-airliner-fuel-cost…
> My napkin math seems to indicate this couldn't possibly cost Boeing more than $10-20k? Pretty small potatoes to such a large company. Yeah they were losing billions through criminal negligence and delayed deliveries of the 737 Max, so a couple of tens of thousands for some well needed good PR is nothing. This is probably the first bit of it for multiple years now, with all the delays in the 777X, assembly quality i…
Re: Easter egg in flight path of last 747 delivery flight
#129Any flight buffs know the estimated cost of doing something like that? I’m all for having fun, and I love that they spent the money to do it
Not a flight buff, but... - Jet fuel from NYC to LAX seems to cost ~$10k.[1] - You pay a pilot $50 / hour salary. (+100% more with benefits?)[2] - Double all of that for a bunch of random things I can't think of (airport fees?) My napkin math seems to indicate this couldn't possibly cost Boeing more than $10-20k? Pretty small potatoes to such a large company. [1] https://simpleflying.com/commercial-airliner-fuel-cost…
https://www.aviationinterviews.com/pilot/payrates/united-par...
Re: Easter egg in flight path of last 747 delivery flight
#130I find it just really endearing that at companies, regardless of how many other issues they have or the dysfunctions and bland corporate culture, there are people who keep the pride of purpose and "olden days / traditions" in their memory and do things like this. Or are able to call on institutional memory of something bygone, that reappears once in a while. (whether it's a big gesture like this or small cultural day…