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Old 14th Dec 2022, 07:50
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India Four Two
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Manchester MAN
Posts: 6,644
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Two personal anecdotes concerning the 747.

I and my family lived in Jakarta in the early 80s. My daughter and my son were both experienced travellers by this time, having flown round the world at least twice. We once went on holiday to a resort on the east coast of Malaya. We flew to Singapore on a CX 747 where we changed planes. We walked down the jetway onto a MAS 737. My son, aged four, looked around and said "Dad, where's the spiral staircase?" He had only ever flown on 747s!

In early 1998, I flew from Tokyo to Saigon via Hong Kong on a CX 777. I realized this would be my last time into Kai Tak before it closed, so I flashed my PPL and business card and got a jump seat ride for the IGS 13 approach - I think being in Business Class helped. A spectacular experience, but the 747 part of the story occurred after landing. We were taxiing in on the parallel taxiway and got a good view of a China Airlines 747 coming round the corner. It touched down in a cloud of tyre smoke, bounced 30 feet into the air and touched down again.

The Captain, who was the PF, said "Another fine arrival by China Airlines!"

The FO turned to me and said "You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to bounce a 747. You really have to work at it!"
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