Lovely 747-409 last night from nr Stansted

[susier]

Watched this stately creature at around FL100 going over our house yesterday, such a beautiful sight and I tried to track it on FR but it fell off T-MLAT and T-EST somewhere near Crete.


Anyone know where it was going? Saudi? Squawking 3015 IIRC (Transit)


Thank you.

[SpringHeeledJack]

Most likely a Kingdom Holdings VIP aircraft heading to Saudi.


SHJ

[susier]

Thank you very much. <goes to google>


It was on FR looking huge and I looked out the window by my desk and there it was - clear as day - just slowly, slowly, steadily rolling along in the dusk.


Like it didn't even have to ask, everything else would just move out of the way...I can see where it gets its nickname.


Such a treat as nothing interesting passes over here too often :) Last thing was an Antonov a few weeks back.

[SpringHeeledJack]

It either was, or is Eid, the festival at the end of Ramadan, so no doubt transporting people back to a family gathering at home.


SHJ

[susier]

Oh cool :)

[DaveReidUK]

Do you have an identity for it ?

I'm curious because, apart from a couple of freighters and two of the Dreamlifters, all the 747-409s in service are with Air China (409 is their customer designator).

[susier]

Hi there Mr Reid,


Well, all it had was B74S on FR, no reg number, http://www.flightradar24.com/2015-07-17/16:49/12x/B74S/6d5943b


I am sorry, I'm probably wrong about the model. SP44? I was trying to find out info about it. Hope the link works - turn the clock back to 16:49 UTC on 17th July and you can see it just above Kent.


Hope this helps - please do tell me what you know, I'm fascinated :)

[susier]

Looks like there are only 18 of them about still? I mean flying. another 9 hanging about on the ground and another 18 scrapped.


List here: Production List - Boeing 747SP Website (http://www.747sp.com/production-list/)


Isn't 'Never built' one of the saddest phrases ever? :{

[boeing_eng]

747SP HZ-HM1B was in STN yesterday

[DaveReidUK]

I am sorry, I'm probably wrong about the model. SP44? I was trying to find out info about it. Hope the link works - turn the clock back to 16:49 UTC on 17th July and you can see it just above Kent.FlightRadar24 strikes again. :O

As per Boeing_Eng's post, it was HZ-HM1B, a 747SP-68.

I have no idea where FlightRadar got the idea it could have been a 747SP-44 - of the 6 of that variant built, one is in a museum, 4 were scrapped and one written off.

Nice looking aeroplane, anyway:

http://cdn1.airplane-pictures.net/images/uploaded-images/2014/11/11/482797as.jpg

[El Bunto]

I have no idea where FlightRadar got the idea it could have been a 747SP-44

A data error that you can suggest for correction here:

Flightradar24 database (aircraft, routes and airports) (http://forum.flightradar24.com/forums/10-Flightradar24-database-%28aircraft-routes-and-airports%29)


Would it have mattered anyway if it said SP-68? The OP didn't pay any attention to it apparently. If he'd just pasted-in B74S from the screen in the first place this query could have been resolved in 10 mins instead of dragging on into the night.

[susier]

Thank you Dave Reid for the correction and the pic : )


I did pay attention. I scrutinised the page for a good while trying to find out what it was, if I could get a registration somehow from the data available, and so on. The problem is that I know very little about planes in spite of liking them so much, and got confused. I also don't understand FR very well.


I wasn't trying to show off by sounding clever (or even like I have any basic knowledge which is, to be fair, pretty scant). I just wanted to share what I had seen as it looked so nice in the sky, and tried to get the terminology right, but failed.



My apologies. (I'm not a bloke by the way - it's Susie-R - you couldn't know that so no worries)

[treadigraph]

Love the SP, still remember seeing one for the first time in 1976, one of Pan Am's over my school heading to Heathrow. Lovely sunny morning, just like today.

Nice to still see them occasionally.

[mutt]

Are you sure that it was HZ-HM1B on the 18th?

[Hartington]

I got taken round the United base at SFO not long after they acquired part of Pan Am. One of the places we went was through the stripped out fuselage of an ex Pan Am SP and the person taking me around was VERY uncomplimentary about the state they had received the planes in.

[susier]

Mutt, I have genuinely no idea but I am sure someone will be able to sort this out. Whatever it was, was very pretty.

[boeing_eng]

HZ-HM1B - Boeing B747SP-68 [B74S] c/n: 21652 ln: 329 (http://www.libhomeradar.org/aircraft/HZ-HM1B.html)

[DaveReidUK]

Are you sure that it was HZ-HM1B on the 18th?Well two of us have confirmed that it was. What would you accept as evidence that we're telling the truth?

[mutt]

No problem, thanks :)

[trident3A]

A rare treat to see an SP these days but the VIP ones still pop up from time to time.

[susier]

Thank you for all your help everyone. Much appreciated.

[Seloco]

I got to fly the PanAm SPs transAtlantic occasionally in the past. A window seat behind the wing was fun in order to see the extraordinary and somewhat convoluted extension and retraction sequence of the huge single piece flap sections - very different from the standard 747-200s of the day!

[susier]

Now that would be something to see in action :) I think I might have to have a trawl of You tube to try and find some footage of the SP.

[treadigraph]

As an aside from susier's original question, does anyone recall whether Braniff's SPs ever operated into Gatwick?

My memory claims I saw one there but, as we all know, 35 years or so can cause a subtle refraction of reality in one's mind!

[boeing_eng]

Yes Braniff SP's did visit LGW.....

Photo: N606BN (CN: 21992) Braniff International Airways Boeing 747SP-27 by David Oates Photoid: 7558968 - JetPhotos.Net (http://jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=7558968)

[treadigraph]

Cheers, my memory's not that bad then :ok:

(or perhaps I've previously seen a photograph of one there :p)

[ATNotts]

Yes Braniff SP's did visit LGW.....

Photo: N606BN (CN: 21992) Braniff International Airways Boeing 747SP-27 by David Oates Photoid: 7558968 - JetPhotos.Net (http://jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=7558968)

Is that a World Airways DC8 behind the BCAL DC10?

[DaveReidUK]

Is that a World Airways DC8 behind the BCAL DC10?

If all else fails, you could read the caption underneath the photo. :O

"The good old days at Gatwick. In the background are a Cathay 747-200, World DC-8, BCAL DC-10 .....and an old DC-3. Scanned from a negative."

[Evanelpus]

I remember driving down to Heathrow to catch the two Qantas SP's that arrived for maintenance, sadly for me, both my visits were night time ones but I did get some shots of them.