As the 747 Begins Its Final Approach, a Pilot Takes a Flight Down Memory Lane
I used to fly these every two weeks, KL691 and KL692 the flights between Schiphol, Netherhands and Toronto, Canada.<p>Then at some point they moved to 777's, and even though it was a nice plane and far more modern the 747 almost never had a turbulent ride whereas the 777 trips were far less comfortable, especially the red-eye return flight rarely was smooth enough that I could get some sleep.<p>Retiring the 747 was one (small) factor in the decision to move to Canada. I flew that flight so often that I knew most of the flight crew by name after a year or so, and quite a few of them would recognize me.<p>It's a magnificent aircraft and the most impressive bit to me is that it was designed mostly with slide rules and other old-fashioned gear.<p>Also, this is the only time I've ever gone faster than 1,250 Km/h groundspeed in a regular jet (and that probably wasn't even close to the record). Trade winds really helped there but still, it was incredible to see how fast we moved over ground (or rather, sea).