The Boeing 747 begins its final descent • Hacker News Board

Re: The Boeing 747 begins its final descent

#61

Post by rwyinuse » Sun, Jun 28, 2026, 7:45 PM UTC

spankibalt wrote: post #55

rbanffy wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least it’s not an up/down scaled 737… I’d say it looks nicer than the 777 replacing it, or the 380 that tried it.

Concorde, Tu-144, L-1011 TriStar , Il-62, Tu-154, SE 210 Caravelle , de Havilland DH.106 Comet and Vickers VC10 are all much sexier. Just for starters.

You just seem to have a fetish for aircraft with fully or partially rear-mounted engines. I prefer 747 over all of the above, although 757 is my favorite.

IL-62 I particularly dislike. Sitting next to those big engines would suck, especially after reading on multiple accidents where they exploded and killed or nearly killed everyone onboard.

Re: The Boeing 747 begins its final descent

#62

Post by sleepyhead » Sun, Jun 28, 2026, 7:45 PM UTC

vimalbhalodia wrote: post #8

robotnikman wrote: post #4

Guess I probably wont get a chance to fly on one, flying on the 747 was on my bucket list.

Lufthansa still has a number of 747-8 and 747-400 in active operation - while there's evidence that the routes are scaling back, there's at least a few more years to fly one. They're even refurbishing the interiors to have a more competitive long-haul business class offering. Korean Airlines has a handful of 747-8 in active operation but they're making moves to retire them especially post Asiana merger. Air China als…

I flew 747 last month with Lufthansa and asked one of the crew how long they will keep it in operation. «I retire in two years so I don’t care» a very German response but at least they hadn’t made any announcement that he seem to be aware of.

Always fun to be on the second floor despite the seat configuration being a bit dated.

Re: The Boeing 747 begins its final descent

#63

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Jun 28, 2026, 7:46 PM UTC

intexpress wrote: post #60

I will miss the 747. Modern planes with less engines feel less safe. I hate all the justifications used to fly long distances across oceans with only 2 engines, or only 1 engine.

[deleted]

Re: The Boeing 747 begins its final descent

#64

Post by MattRogish » Sun, Jun 28, 2026, 7:48 PM UTC

robotnikman wrote: post #4

Guess I probably wont get a chance to fly on one, flying on the 747 was on my bucket list.

Back in the olden days (2015-ish?) KLM was having a really, really cheap business fare sale JFK-AMS; I snagged it with Delta miles (if I recall correctly) - and flew there and back in their 747 in the upper deck (just to take the flight; didn't have anything to do in AMS). It was really quite nice; it was the first and apparently last time I've taken the 744. I'm really glad I was able to do it.

Re: The Boeing 747 begins its final descent

#65

Post by tacostakohashi » Sun, Jun 28, 2026, 7:57 PM UTC

rbanffy wrote: post #53

PaulHoule wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it is much nicer than the 737/A320 class. Just thinking of the curve of a 737 makes my neck knot up. Bigger planes like the 747/757/767/777 are much more comfortable as well as modern planes like the A220/E195. 737 class planes are so ubiquitous that many passengers have no idea another experience is possible.

My dislike for widebody airliners is that the odds of getting a window seat are much smaller. What’s even the point of flying if you can’t look at the world from up high?

The 767 2-3-2 layout is my favorite, with only 1 middle seat per row, yet still two aisles so you can use one while the other is blocked, or walk little loops if it's not.

Re: The Boeing 747 begins its final descent

#66

Post by spankibalt » Sun, Jun 28, 2026, 7:59 PM UTC

elzbardico wrote: post #58

spankibalt wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Concorde, Tu-144, L-1011 TriStar , Il-62, Tu-154, SE 210 Caravelle , de Havilland DH.106 Comet and Vickers VC10 are all much sexier. Just for starters.

Maybe the Concord and Comet. For the rest of the list I think you'd spend a very long time finding people to agree with you. The soviet ones are even more complicated, the Tu-144 is basically an Ugly Concord.

So or so, Bogost's statement is akin to describing the Amiga 500 as the only beautiful home computer. And that's obviously ridiculous. As for your statement, nah, I won't have to search very long for people agreeing with me on many of the aircraft listed; whole coffee table tomes have been published specifically dealing with the subject of Soviet, French and British classic, especially narrow-body, airliners.

Re: The Boeing 747 begins its final descent

#67

Post by GMoromisato » Sun, Jun 28, 2026, 8:02 PM UTC

Anyone interested should read Joe Sutter's book, 747. Sutter was the lead engineer for the development of the 747 and he has some awesome stories.

One interesting story is that Juan Trippe (CEO of PanAm) wanted Boeing to create a double-decker airplane. He was enamored with the idea of "ocean liners" cruising the sky. But Sutter (and other engineers) knew that it would be impossible to create what he wanted, so instead they proposed a wide-body aircraft (10 seats across). Nevertheless, Trippe insisted on a double-decker design.

The engineers then created two cabin mockups. One for a double decker, which was basically two narrow-body cabins stacked on top of each other. The other was the wide-body of the 747. Once Trippe saw the trade off, he realized that the spacious cabin of the 747 was the way to go.

But even then, when he saw the second level where the pilots go, he insisted on putting passengers up there too.

I've had the good fortune to fly on the top deck of the 747. I highly recommend it.

Re: The Boeing 747 begins its final descent

#68

Post by wat10000 » Sun, Jun 28, 2026, 8:04 PM UTC

PaulHoule wrote: post #40

SoftTalker wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah economy class on a 747 sucks as much as it does on any other airliner.

No, it is much nicer than the 737/A320 class. Just thinking of the curve of a 737 makes my neck knot up. Bigger planes like the 747/757/767/777 are much more comfortable as well as modern planes like the A220/E195. 737 class planes are so ubiquitous that many passengers have no idea another experience is possible.

I’ve flown on a wide variety of planes, and never found any difference in comfort from the plane itself. It’s all about the seats.

Re: The Boeing 747 begins its final descent

#69

Post by stouset » Sun, Jun 28, 2026, 8:08 PM UTC

intexpress wrote: post #60

I will miss the 747. Modern planes with less engines feel less safe. I hate all the justifications used to fly long distances across oceans with only 2 engines, or only 1 engine.

You mean the justification that they are, in fact, just as safe?

Re: The Boeing 747 begins its final descent

#70

Post by spankibalt » Sun, Jun 28, 2026, 8:09 PM UTC

rwyinuse wrote: post #61

spankibalt wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Concorde, Tu-144, L-1011 TriStar , Il-62, Tu-154, SE 210 Caravelle , de Havilland DH.106 Comet and Vickers VC10 are all much sexier. Just for starters.

You just seem to have a fetish for aircraft with fully or partially rear-mounted engines. I prefer 747 over all of the above, although 757 is my favorite. IL-62 I particularly dislike. Sitting next to those big engines would suck, especially after reading on multiple accidents where they exploded and killed or nearly killed everyone onboard.

> "You just seem to have a fetish for aircraft with fully or partially rear-mounted engines."

Hey, what can I say? I'm more of an ass man.

> "Sitting next to those big engines would suck, especially after reading on multiple accidents where they exploded and killed or nearly killed everyone onboard."

I fail to see what this has to do with visual aesthetics, but the safety record of the 747 was not so hot; already excluding the malaise brought on by the fetishes of terrorists and the Evil Empire, of course.