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The 747s are certainly long in the tooth and A350s, 777s, 787s are better in almost every way, but it's still sad to see the 747s go. They're iconic and always
by txcwpalpha 6y ago
The 747s are certainly long in the tooth and A350s, 777s, 787s are better in almost every way, but it's still sad to see the 747s go. They're iconic and always so much fun (to me) to see taking off/landing.
Wouldn't be surprised if this means the A380 being retired isn't far behind, too. It may have some life left in it because LHR really needs those big planes due to limited landing slots, but if travel doesn't pick up soon and they can't fill the A380s... yikes.
- bathtub365 6y agoI always liked seeing the staircase when boarding a 747. It really makes it feel like you're flying through the air in a building.
- Stratoscope 6y agoWhen I was a freshman at Caltech in 1969, a few of us took some fake psilocybin one evening and were looking for something to do. We found out that there was a brand new 747 parked at LAX, one of the first off the line. It wasn't in passenger service yet, but it was open for anyone to take a self guided tour! So we ran down there and wandered around the 747, visited the cockpit and everywhere and went up and down the staircase a few times. I'd been on airplanes before, but never one with a spiral staircase. It was awesome!
- dylan604 6y agoI've seen people refer to "friends" that took psilocybin, but never someone saying they took fake psilocybin. Were you being facetious or was it some sort of synthetic?
- Stratoscope 6y agoNot facetious, it was some sort of synthetic. We never knew what it really was. It wasn't real psilocybin, but it was something.
- User23 6y agoSounds like something from Shulgin's book[1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PiHKAL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PiHKAL
- dylan604 6y agoI bought new copies of PiHKAL and TiHKAL when Shulgin passed away a couple years ago. Not reading for the faint of heart, but damn those 2 were dedicated to their science. Just knowing their lab was the shed in the back yard makes it a little more on the "whaaaaa?" side of things.
- Stratoscope 6y agoSounds a bit like the Curies and Barry Marshall: https://www.google.com/search?q=scientist+gave+himself+ulcers https://www.google.com/search?q=scientist+gave+himself+ulcer...
- disillusioned 6y agoHelluva dinner party invite...
- pantalaimon 6y agoIt was Hofmann wo first synthesized Psilocybin. [1] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02160424 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02160424
- dylan604 6y agoHere, try this! Some crazy weekends started out with that phrase. The hazy days of designer drugs. BTW, no judging, recognition from a fellow psychonaut,
- dmos62 6y agoA problem with unregulated substances. At the end of the day the kids are never really sure what they're taking.
- 6y ago
- lozaning 6y agoI thought it was a SWIM thing too.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- mirimir 6y agoYeah, I did that a lot, back in those days. It seems impossibly risky now. But when you're young, you feel immortal. And conversely, we were all expecting to die in a global nuclear war. So hey.
- Stratoscope 6y agoWhen we were young, we were immortal. Those of us who survived our youth anyway. I was a five-year-old in Eugene, Oregon in the late 1950s. The new house being built down the hill next door had an underground bomb shelter. Of course we made that our clubhouse during construction! The house just up the hill wasn't as far along, but they had cut down the trees and we made tunnels and hideouts among the fallen trunks and branches. We called it "The Rough Country". And then I got a chemistry set! The real kind, with chemicals and apparatus that could burn you, blind you, or take your skin right off. Of course, now we have eliminated all risk and the world is perfectly safe.
- WalterBright 6y agoNice to see another techer! My dad took me to see the first 747 that landed at Frankfurt in 1969.
- netcan 6y agowhat is fake psilocybin?
- Stratoscope 6y agoNone of us knew. Being physics and chemistry students, if we knew what it was we would call it by its own name. We did know that when you took it, it felt a bit like real psilocybin mushrooms. But it came as a powder in a capsule, so we called it fake psilocybin.
- netcan 6y agoI see.
- DonHopkins 6y agoPseudocybin!
- kozak 6y agoA340 also have stairs (which lead to its "underground" lavatories).
- waheoo 6y agoA380s are relatively new arent they? Compared to 747s I mean.
- CydeWeys 6y agoThey're even bigger though, so they have the same problem as the 747 in a post-COVID world only worse. In hindsight it was a mistake ever developing them. They're a huge loss for Airbus and will never remotely turn a profit.
- lmm 6y agoThey've turned out to be unpopular which means they're doomed. But pandemic notwithstanding they made sense for hub-and-spoke carriers (like the Gulf states or Turkish Airlines) in a world where landing slots became increasingly limited and expensive (because the likes of London will probably take 100 years to get around to building another runway). They've ended up failing, but I don't think it was as dumb an idea as many people see them as.
- jryle70 6y agoThere'd been rumor of a Turkish Airlines's order for A380 for so long but it never happened. Etihad and Qatar each operate a tiny fleet. In fact A380 seems to only work for Emirates. So it doesn't really make sense for hub and spoke airlines either. It isn't a dumb idea. It's a marvelous machine. But it isn't viable commercially and Airbus let prestige cloud their judgement. Doesn't help that they fucked up the service introduction, causing a two year delay and probably extra billions.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- hkt 6y agoLondon may never build another runway. The current prime minister has personally campaigned against it, for a start.
- lsllc 6y agoI've been lucky enough to fly on the upper deck of a 747 a handful of times (both economy and business, never first!). I've yet to fly on a A380 but I suspect time is running out there. That being said, flying long haul (transatlantic) on a 787 is sooo much better!
- GrifMD 6y agoI'm glad I got to fly in a 747 upper deck and nose (thanks BA and Qantas). Still I really wish I could have flown in the proper nose right at the front. The idea of having forwardish facing windows just looks so nice. I will say the A380 is really so much better than 747s (or at least 747-4s, not sure about the newer -8s). You can just tell how much quieter it is, and the size of some of the business class sections is outstanding. Emirates' business class bar is such a fun little novelty that made flying delightful. And their economy just felt better too.
- gsnedders 6y agoI've only done the 747-8I in economy, but it is notably much quieter than a -400, though not to the same extent as an A380.
- rogy 6y agoagree a380 economy can be as comfortable (if you get the upstairs 2 seat aisle) as business in an old 747 ( flew lhr->dfw on an old ba 747, upstairs in business just before lockdown it was pretty sad up there)
- Jonnerz 6y agoI was lucky enough to fly first earlier this year on a BA 747 to Dubai (Avios reward flight). I was sat in the 2nd row, but the seat is not that close to the window which makes it hard to benefit from the angled windows. It was cool, but not as great as people make it out to be.
- m4rtink 6y agoSome early Soviet airliners used to have a glassed nose. :)
- therockspush 6y agoThe A380 is supposed to end production in 2021. Airbus made a bet on the wrong business model, hub and spoke. One of the great things about the 747 was all the different variations. It had what the aviation industry craved. The A380 is cool to watch land, it always looks like its just going to fall out of the sky. But it's too much plane. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747#Variants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747#Variants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A380#End_of_production https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A380#End_of_production
- keymone 6y agoThey are still very competitive with A320 and A350. I hope A380 will get revived eventually, best passenger jet experience on the market right now.
- flohofwoe 6y agoA380 "early retirement" is already well underway, accelerated by the pandemic: Air France: https://simpleflying.com/air-france-airbus-a380-retirement/ https://simpleflying.com/air-france-airbus-a380-retirement/ Lufthansa: https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2020/06/19/lufthansas-remaining-a380s-not-expected-to-operate-for-two-more-years/ https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2020/06/19... Emirates: https://www.forbes.com/sites/willhorton1/2020/05/18/emirates-a380-retirement--aircraft-of-the-future-cut-short/#173800479e25 https://www.forbes.com/sites/willhorton1/2020/05/18/emirates... ...and Airbus will stop building them entirely in 2021: https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2019/02/14/airbus-confirms-it-will-stop-building-the-a380/ https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2019/02/14...