The First Farewell to the Queen

As it turns out, it was a good thing that I headed over to the airport.  I ended up meeting someone from a planespotting group that I am on.  He told me that Sunday was the last 747 flight from Detroit to Narita Airport in Tokyo.  This has been a route that has been served by the 747 for close to 30 years.  As of Monday, the Queen was replaced with an A350.

I don't normally post pictures of myself on this blog, but this one kind of says alot.  I'm not sure if this was my first encounter with the 747 but it was certainly one of my earliest.  For as long as I can remember I have liked airplanes.  I'm not really picky when it comes to planes, if it has wings, chances are pretty good that I would like it.  This picture was taken in 1973 on Guam.  My dad was stationed there and either he or my mom would take me planewatching then.
The plane in this picture belongs to Japan Airlines and is a 747.

 Fast forward 44 years later.  Once again, I find myself starting at 747 behind a fence.  This particular one is N669US and belongs to Delta Airlines.  She is actually a 747-451 and was acquired by Northwest Airlines in August of 1990.  She was then acquired by Delta when they merged with Northwest in 2008.

 I actually found myself a decent spot to plane watch near the cell phone lot.  I might have to try this spot again as I kind of like this vantage point.  Especially since it gives me somewhat of a view of the airport.

 She slowly lifts off the ground and the Spirit Airbus coming in for a landing can only watch in awe as the beautiful leviathan takes off.

 Her four PW4000 engines providing over 200,000 pounds of thrust to get her off the ground.  I still have to admit, it is pretty cool seeing a plane this massive take off.

 Especially when you consider that it almost weighs 900,000 pounds.

 The plane will carry her passengers 6,814 miles and reach an altitude of 30,000 feet.  She will average 577 miles per hour.

 The flight lasted 13.5 hours.

So I bid farewell to the Queen for this flight.