Matthew's 747 Story
“Being born precisely one week after the tragic Canary Islands Disaster of 1977, perhaps I was destined to hold a strong interest in the 747 and aviation in general.
My first flight to anywhere came onboard a Qantas 747-200, the majestic City of Elizabeth. She took my Dad and me all the way up to Singapore back in January 1991. If I can think back that far, I was astonished by the level of power these aircraft had speeding down the runway at over 300kmh. You will never forget your first take-off!
Two years later came a family trip to the then British Colony of Hong Kong, this time onboard the 747-300. I was personally warned that the final approach into 'Kai Tak' would bring its own level of excitement. Descending into 'Honkers' I wondered what all the hype was about. Then it hit. The wild motions, the engines surging, the neon signage burning brightly hundreds of feet away. Hang on!.
As always, Qantas delivered us to the ground safely.
And so the time came for us to head home. Back in 1992, we visited Singapore again, and on the return sector, I was lucky enough to gain cockpit access thanks to the First Officer being a friend of my then high school deputy principal!. That flight wasn't my first on a 767 but most certainly the best. What a thrill it was being seated almost immediately behind the captain for our final descent into Sydney on an awesome summer's morning. Thanks for that Harry and Tim!.
Would I be lucky enough to be able to visit the cockpit again?. For me, I was just thrilled with that awesome pitch-up to take off over the Hong Kong mountains and the unforgettable landing there one week earlier. When morning broke over Australia my chance to visit the cockpit came!. Again, such an amazing experience and thank you again to the flight engineer on that flight for looking after me up there. Once again, I stayed with the pilots all the way pulling up to the gate at Sydney.
After completing my HSC in 1994, we went to Singapore again for a week. This time it was on the newish 747-400. My big moment on the new Qantas Jumbo had arrived!. I distinctly remember the Captain deliberately flying circuits over Uluru (Ayres Rock). My first time seeing that as well. Cockpit visit you might ask?. Of course!. I sat up there for about 30 minutes along with several young Jordanian people flying home. I remember seeing a lot over lightning over Java as well. We were flying safely over a very bad storm affecting that part of Indonesia on that night.
My last ever Qantas 747 flight came in 2007 when we took QF6 home from Singapore. She was pretty packed that night and I remember her hitting over 1000km/h thanks to the good tailwind we had over the Northern Territory that night. No cockpit visit back then due to revised rules owing to the incidents of 2001.
My 747 flights will long continue but in the virtual sense (Infinite Flight iOS App) you may wish to check out for yourself.
Thank you to all 747 pilots and crew over the years and thank you reader.”
