Holy Crap, 747-8s Are Quiet.

Live blogging from the road!

I'm at LAX waiting for my flight (PAL flight 103, 747-400 line 1012 RP-C7472), at the Tom Bradley complex, gate 156, which is at the south end. My flight pulls up and I'm admiring how awesome 747s are in person, and a couple jets are taking off just to the side of me on runway 25R making the usual racket. Suddenly I catch this long ass ghost ship 747 race by and lift up into the air in the dark, and I look closely to see Cathay livery. It's dark so I can't see the tail number, but I looked it up on FlightRadar (because FlightAware is busted) and it's B-LJD. So not only am I stoked to see one of my overdue delivery frames take off in person 100 yards away, but I can't believe how quiet it was. I mean it was like a Tesla just drove by or something. No hyperbole, that was amazing. Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to get a pic. But here's my ride:

Philippine Airlines line 1012, RP-C7472

Now I'm in the International Lounge feeling like royalty, with free food and drinks, far away from all the smelly proletarians. I could get used to this Business Class thing...

May '13 Wrap Up

Four deliveries in May:

• Line 1438 (RC554) B-LJD for Cathay Pacific
• Line 1473 (RC508) LX-VCH for Cargolux
• Line 1476 (RC582) N855GT for Atlas
• Line 1475 (RC028) D-ABYI for Lufthansa

Matt Cawby posted a curious picture:

An apparent 747-8I in final assembly inside building 40-24. However, if you look at the chart, you can see the next ten frames in or scheduled for final assembly are all 747-8Fs. Something is fishy, but I don't know what the explanation is yet. Note 40-24 is supposed to be the 787 surge line, where the first 787-9 is starting its final assembly. Is this just line 1480 for Lufthansa back inside for some fixing?

A Tribute to an Overdue Delivery #3 : Line 1438

A slightly half-assed ODT, due to me being busy as hell with my real job. Line 1438 (RC554) B-LJD, Cathay's 9th (but 4th constructed) 747-8F, delivered today.

Roll out happened back in early 2011 and she got a paint job that April.

Afterwards, she entered long term storage (with engines) at KPAE which lasted for well over a year. It was curious that previous frames for Cathay (lines 1427 and 1428) and later frames after line 1438 delivered punctually, while 1438 (and 1433) were held back for so long.

Refurbishment started around July of 2012 and finished up earlier this year. Photo records show she lost her engines sometime post refurbishment, although I don't remember the exact circumstances.

(Edit: When I look at this last picture closely, I think it's actually B-LJC, which never did have engines during storage. That would make more sense.)

Here's to a long and prosperous (albeit delayed) career. Thanks to Matt Cawby for most of the heisted pics.