I resent what you said,
You resent what I said? Rather thin skinned, don't you think? I said nothing objectionable, nor insulted you in any way, shape, or form.
I didn't make any assumptions, I merely asked what it was like from a safety aspect considering it is antiquated (yes, 20yrs old in my eyes is antiquated, that makes me a relic then).
You did. You insinuated that having a family makes you question the safety, gives you concerns, gives you a small reservation. How do you suppose an internet conversation will change that? First you indicated you want to know how it flies, with a small reservation about safety...your second post indicates your primary concern,and your primary reason for asking, is safety.
The record of the Classic speaks for its' self. If you want to know about the specific company's safety record, then you'll have to either name the company and ask for insight, or research it separately. The 747 is simply a design. It's a good design. It's a proven design. It's a universally recognized design that has a lot of good service left in it. What you're not going to find is that anyone can tell you about risk based on the design; it doesn't really have bad habits. Any risks you might face will exist in the way it's operated and maintained, and as you've noted twice, yourself...that's most certainly company-specific.
Flyingwise is absolut classic , I mean R.M.I. , H.S.I. and attitude indicator , if you are not able to maintain your situan awareness picture you will have difficulties, there is no navigation computer or fms showing your position on a moving map.
The thing about the Classic is that they're all different. Vastly different in the instrumentation, displays, nav, etc. We have moving maps, EFIS, etc. We have FMS plus INS and GPS.
The systems design is very well thought out, with redundancy on many levels. It's very much a hydraulic airplane, and there's no manual reversion for the flight controls. With four different systems and each major control served by two systems, in different ways, it's a safe airplane.
The airframe has had a number of years and a lot of hours of operation...long enough for problems to become manifest. It's proven. It's also far from antiquated.