Does anyone need a used 747?
Does anyone even know what a used 747 costs? I found some posts that say you can get one for a “couple of million” dollars. And then you need to fill the tanks with fuel… But if you can buy the plane, that shouldn’t be a problem, now should it?
I came upon a dozen or so used 747 cargo planes in an aircraft boneyard of sorts at the Mojave (CA) Air & Space Port.
There’s some interesting history and things that I didn’t even know about the Air & Space Port that you can read about on their website by clicking here.
Some of these aircraft will be parted out and ultimately scrapped in place. Some are in flying condition, and may find a second / third / fourth life.
I don’t know what the history holds for these beasts caught in the shimmering heat waves of Mojave.
These images are interesting to look at. However, unless you’re into pictures that show the distortion caused by the heat waves, they may never make it onto a wall anywhere. On the other hand, some like the effect. You can decide for yourself!
From looking at the number of cargo 747s – either the air cargo business isn’t what it used to be, or these winged giants are being replaced by new or newer aircraft with a lower operating cost per pound of cargo. Size isn’t everything in aircraft – it’s important for sure, but for smaller cargo that doesn’t require a specialty plane, it’s all about operating costs. That’s part of why we human cargo pieces keep getting squeezed into smaller seats with less leg room – and we seem to be paying more for it, but that’s another story.
Believe it or not, the first flight of a 747 was way back in 1969! I’ve flown on the 747 three times – once in the cavernous coach section, and twice in Business Class on a business trip to Australia. By the way – it’s didn’t seem much better in Business Class for 14 and 16 hour flights – that’s just too long on an aircraft, period.
I found three websites about the 747 that you might find interesting – Boeing 747 on Wikipedia, the official Boeing 747 site, and Boeing-747.com.
Here’s a link to the planes gallery on Laughing Frog Images.
Thanks for looking!