@blademan

Awesome pictures! Thanks for posting them.

I bet we have crossed paths on the ANC ramp many times.

Small world...

I had my shot at sitting up front in first class with all the Officers and E-7's and above...

Fuck that, I hung back in coach with my platoon.
The Stews handed out decks of playing cards and latter warm towels.

I had a chance to talk with one during take off as her jump seat was across from me.

She told me they loved .Mil contract flights as we were so nice and polite and happy for any little amenity we got, unlike the civy passengers who were entitled and could never please them.

Boeing 747-400 Flight Deck/Cockpit Escape Hatch Instruction Video

Lol!  Yes we have, and yes it is.

I’ve flown a few times on 747’s. One trip was with KLM, but the rest were trips to and from Australia. Flying with Qantas on the Queen was perfection. I’d go Sydney to Dallas, and then Dallas to Brisbane. That was perfect as I was living in Brisbane. When they got A380’s on the Sydney-Dallas route, they didn’t need to get fuel in Brisbane anymore for the return. My last flight back to the US was then on a 777. They are nice, but they are not 747 nice

A buddy of mine from my MQ-1 days has flown the Dreamlifter!

Been a while since I’ve taken photos at ANC but always some great planes around!

Cool pictures!  Yeah, ANC is a great place for watching aircraft, especially heavy jets.  We are usually something like number 4 in the world for cargo.  We are about 9 1/2 hours from most of the industrialized world, so ANC is a huge truck stop for heavy jets moving cargo around the world.  Heavy jets can load up with cargo, put on enough gas to get here, gas up again and continue on to their destination.  More payload instead of gas makes ANC a valuable stop over for cargo traffic.

Came to post that. Saw it on Paine field twitter.

U fly with Miami Rick before?. He was on the 747 as FO. Then upgraded to 767 Capt.

I might have, but I try to stay far away from Miami.

Moses Lake used to be Boeing's Area 51.

I would say Plant 2 across from Boeing Field used to be Boeing’s Area 51. That and the area towards the south end of Boeing Field where they used to do lot of the military mods to aircraft. Was always AWACS, the 747 ABL, etc parked down there.

For aircraft, the Development Center at the south end of Boeing Field was Boeing's Seattle Area 51.  The DC went black in late 1980 with the B-2 Stealth Bomber contract.  We did work there testing the effectiveness of shield rooms for black projects.  There was shield room housing a black project in the very center of the 9-101 building.  The name of the project was classified.  Since we couldn't say the actual name, our name for the project was "The Meat Locker".  That project, for some reason, had a very high percentage of hot looking women working for it.    We loved going there!

The DC is where Boeing's portion of the B-2 (less the main landing gear) were developed.  We were there when the first B-2 wings did their trip to S CA to Northrop.  Middle of the night-type operation with a blacked out C-5.

Another team that was located at the DC at the time due to it's security was the Boeing Commercial Airplane group assigned to support the NTSB, specifically support of airplane crashes.  The kinds of people that have airplanes assigned to them and go to work with an already packed bag.

Plant II was mostly machine shops in the 80's, then they tore it down some time after 2008 or so.  There was one area of interest at PII:  A high power very large Xray machine.  They used it one time to find metal shavings in a whole tractor trailer of frozen hamburger.  It was a pretty large room (obviously) with +3' thick concrete walls.  Boeing also used to own and operate a nuclear reactor on the SE side of 16th Ave and the Duwamish River.  GE says there is a marina there now.  Another interesting part of PII was the large lead melting plant they had at the north end of the main PII area south of 16th Ave (2-15 building maybe, don't remember).  Anyway, they would make all kinds of forms for sheet metal parts.  They had big hydraulic slam presses (I don't know the technical term for them) that were either in the same building or the next building over.  We could feel the vibrations north all the way to the 2-10 building when they were being used.

My first job at Boeing was at Plant II, including the main plant building south of 16th Ave and then later at the 2-10 building north of 16th (Earwax program).  I see from GE that the 2-10 is still standing.  Holy Shirt, that thing was obsolete back in the 80's!  You would walk in on a Monday morning and the smell of rotting paper and cigarettes would just about knock you over.  It didn't help that the west end was supported by wooden piles going into the smelly Duwamish River.  Huge rats lived there.  

Sell it to China?

Diversity and Equity training likely.

I kind of think it still is to some extent. A number of night flights still take place, not like the old days but there are still some hard to pass off as civil air traffic late night in the desolate parts south and west of Moses Lake airport.

Most of my experience up in Seattle is from the 80's when I lived up there.  I have no idea what's going on now.  Plus, I retired from Boeing in 2012.  

All that and the busiest sea plane base in the world, makes me miss living there some days.

@TimeOnTarget

What month/year did you deliver those MRAPs to BAF?

Cool, do you work on that line?

Atlas was the first company that delivered MRAPS. My first flight out of CHS was in January, 2010. We had only been doing these flights a short while at that point.

We were the only carrier who could do it initially. Other companies complained to the DOD that they weren't gettin any of the action. Sadly, National paid a heavy price for their methods.

I flew numerous flights into Bagram, Kandahar, and Kabul over the years, but I never flew into Bastion with Altas.

Been a few crashes this summer on that side...

When I flew as crew on-board NAS Whidbey's station C-12's sometimes we would do touch and goes at Moses Lake until we puked.
One time we were in the pattern by ourselves while a B-52 and a 747 traded touch and goes / missed approaches on the cross runway.
On the other side was a helicopter pilot doing training.
Real busy.

Ouch! I don’t think that one is going to buff out.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Nicely done.  Sounds like someone has a large watch and a small.....

You're a skateboarder?

I had a break in aviation from 2012-2014 and was one as well.

Ran a '79 Kenworth K100C flattop big bunk toting a 48' flat.  Hauled lumber, coils, steel, bees...almost anything you could strap onto a trailer.

I must say flying is a lot easier!

Really hoping my company decides to pick up those MAXes.  By the time we take delivery of what they currently have on order, just our 737 fleet will be equivalent to the third largest airline in the world.

Talk about a rattle trap and turbulent ride.

Here’s a couple pictures I grabbed today going by Moses Lake (Grant County Airport)
There is another group parked on the other side out of view from SR 28
Attached File


There is also a 727 as well,
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Some time in the early to mid-80's I saw the last 727 being delivered to Fed Ex.  We were working in the 2-10 building on the Earwax program.  They let us out to walk across Marginal Way to see it take off.  That's damn near 40 years ago.  

You'd be surprised.

It had CabMate air ride where the back of the cab lowered onto the frame, and the 8-bag suspension did a good job.

Did it ride as smooth as a stretched W900? No, but it was surprisingly good for being a cabover with a short-ish frame.

Oh...and Michelin tires. I went from GoodYears to Michelin ZXA 24.5s and those things rode like a magic carpet.

Dude, go for it.  If you don't, you'll always question whether you should have.

Go do the regional thing and then once you're on the line apply at the majors...you'll get sucked up in short order.

Cathay was out in force again today on the romeo spots getting some gas.

Someone asked about pilot contracts.

They are extremely complex and only a few “sharpshooters” actually know it inside and out.

The FedEx pilots make good money and have an extremely flexible contract that allows you to move or drop/pick up trips for extra pay without working a lot (or any) more.

Tough life but very rewarding financially.

My company’s contract sucks and the company basically ignores.

TC

This has been an interesting thread for sure.

I work at a small regional airport.  The only 747 I've worked is AF1 a couple times on radar and tower.  Had 2 Atlas Air 744s today doing some troop movement of over 700 soldiers.  It was the first and probably last time we'll have two 747s at the same time, heh.  Such a cool plane.

https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/last-747-is-off-the-line/

That is probably the one pictured in the OP. But it turns out that the actual last one is still back in body join.

Yeah I didnt figure the last one was actually moving out the door yet. I walked the next to last one only a few weeks ago.

1573 is in her customer livery and has apparently been delivered:

Attached File


Boeing's Penultimate 747 Spotted With Paint Job At Portland International Airport

Wow!
I didn’t know about the livery. Not sure if I like it but It pays the bills.

I hope I get to fly one of the new ones before they lose the new car smell.

Wow, a freight forwarder's name on the side.

See that the crew sked position is still there at Erlanger. If I wasn't 50 miles away I'd take it.

We had jets with Panalpina”s livery on them in the past.