The Anonymous Widower

Getting A Jumbo Out Of A Tight Spot

This story about a Boeing Dreamlifter getting out of a small airport effectively shows how getting planes into the air generally isn’t the biggest problem.

Admittedly, getting the aircraft in the story into the small field, is a bit like a pilot putting a flight for Heathrow into Northolt. So whoever it was is for the high jump. Luckily, no-one was hurt and no damage was done!

Boeing 747s, and a Dreamlifter is only a specially modified version, are surprisingly agile beasts and they have a tremendous power-to-weight ratio.

I remember one story, where a guy ditched a light aircraft into the sea off Long Island, due to engine failure.  He performed the ditching very successfully and managed to climb into his life raft.  He’d called Mayday before he ditched and the whole incident had been watched by a TWA 747, which the pilot then circled over the life raft, pointing at the unfortunate pilot with its wing.  The ditched pilot wished he had had a camera with him, as the 747 doing steep turns at low altitude was an an impressive sight. After an hour or so, he was pulled out of his life raft by a helicopter. After reading this story, I always made sure, that whenever I flew myself over water, I always had life jackets and generally a life raft.

There is also this personal story, tells how British Airways got a very heavily-loaded 747 out of St. Lucia.

November 22, 2013 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Flying