On Wednesday I headed up to Watsons Bay to wave goodbye to an old friend of mine. It was a sad day as this was the final time that the Qantas Boeing 747 would grace our harbour city and Australia.
After nearly 50 years of unbroken service QF7474 roared down the runway at Sydney International Airport at 3.25pm. Within a few minutes she was visible from my vantage point looking over the Pacific Ocean where she gracefully made her way out until she did a 180 degree turn and headed towards the harbour. She came straight across the heads of Sydney Harbour watched by fans on both sides.
She made her way over the Harbour Bridge and over the Sydney Opera House something she had done thousands of times. After a few minutes she made her way back to the heads before turning South towards Wollongong where she would do a flyover of Albion Park Airport where her friend the oldest Qantas Boeing 747 is laid to rest in the museum there.
Before she left these shores for the last time she had one final trick up her sleeve in relation to her flight path and I have added an image attached to this story. Shen then made the 13 hour flight to Los Angeles before a final hop to the Mojave Desert where she will be laid to rest.
Thank you for the service old friend, thanks for the memories, I loved flying on you and you also bought numerous of my guests to these shores. I’m gonna miss you loads.