Equal Wings

Ajeet February 1st, 2010

Arguably the best passenger aircraft ever, the first Boeing 747 was delivered to Pan Am 40 years ago. It was the largest airliner flying until the Airbus 380.  ‘Jumbo Jet’, ‘Super Jet’, ’Mega Top’ and ‘Mega Ark’ were some of the superlatives used to describe this revolutionary jet. Since the first flight in January 1970, it has transported thousands of tonnes of passenger and cargo loads all over the world. The latest variant, the B747-400 is still widely in use today, and offers one of the most comfortable of flying experiences.

Here’s a classic video covering the first flight of this legend (the video is in 2 parts). Enjoy!

I must be careful with using too much past tense in this story, coz its not over yet! Even as i write, the good folks at Boeing are already embarking on the next chapter -- the B747-800. You can immerse in the whole saga from the beginning at Flight Global’s coverage of the 40th anniversary at this link:

http://www.flightglobal.com/page/747-40th-Anniversary/747-40th-Anniversary-Evolution/

I had the honour of visiting the very first B747-100, at Seattle’s Museum of Flight. Here’s a picture of RA001:

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Ping April 13th, 2009

A month has passed since our return to Singapore and we’re well-adjusted to the warmth and humidty here. We spent the first 2 and a half weeks settling into our home and helping with my sister’s (Thing Ming) wedding. The wedding was both a joyous and heart-warming event for the family. I thought that my sister looked really beautiful and blissful that day. It was great meeting new relatives and catching up with those whom we’ve not met for quite a while.

For the last week and a half, we made a 10 day trip to Guilin and Yangshuo, both of which are in the Guangxi Province of China. We will write more about our travels to these 2 places in our next post. As for now, Ajeet will be moving from the B747 to the Airbus 330 and will be undergoing training for the next 2 months. It will be very intensive but I’m sure it will be pretty exciting too. As for me, I will be looking around and researching my options.

Here are some pictures that we took at the wedding:

3 sisters at the Chinese dinner

The happy couple

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