long time low and slow in a 747 400
it had been a long flight from JFK to sydney in a 747 400, I was a pax down the back so was happy that this model had the altered yaw damper so the tail no longer kicked around as it did on some of the early ones
we arrived at sydney early and were treated to what may have been a superb display of hand flying, all around the airport,waiting our turn to land with some sharp turns but hardly any flaps and the engines apparently set on flight idle all the time. we always traded height for airspeed, the views were spectacular and the wind dead calm. I never saw any runways we could have glided to if needed, and did wonder how far above stalling we were, and if we would have been safer with more speed and more flaps