My coworkers and I stood at our office windows today and managed to catch a

[dflprincess]

glimpse of a 747 as it made its final final descent into MSP.

I don't know why, but we were all a little awestruck by it. I never flew on one but, from the pictures, it was an incredible plane.

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Isn't that plane

scheduled to be retired?

[dflprincess]

4. Yes - that's what made it an event nt

[Wellstone ruled]

6. Seems to me,it was a major

thingee when Northwest put that Plane into service. Seems to me thy NWA built a special Hanger for that plane at the time.

[dflprincess]

7. The paper's article about it said it wouldn't fit in the hangars they had at the time

There was a photo of it only part way into an existing hangar.

I think the one they built for it is the one along 494 at about 33rd Avenue....but don't quote me. Velveteen Ocelot would be the one who could confirm that.

[Wellstone ruled]

8. Remember that photo.

A friend of ours was a NWA ground crew member at the time. Do remember the Hanger by 33rd being built.

Thanks for the info. Old memories of a different era. And to thing,all those super great employees are no longer members of the most Profitable Airline in the world.

[geardaddy]

10. My cousin worked on the ground crew for Northwest. When they went Delta he quit

because Delta got rid of the unions (except for the pilots union).

[Wellstone ruled]

11. That was baked into the Cake

by Wilson and Checky.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. That was the last one.

I saw the first one (the first of the -200 series) when it arrived at MSP in 1970; a group of us went to the airport to watch it take off because we didn't believe it could fly. When they take off, the huge wings actually move upwards because they generate so much lift.

I've only flown on them a couple of times but got some simulator time when I worked at NWA. It flew very nicely. Also got to crawl around in one that was halfway taken apart when it was down for a heavy check. I stood out on a wing. It's really high up.

The end of an era, I guess.

[dflprincess]

5. I thought of you while we were watching it. nt

[WhiskeyGrinder]

3. IIRC, I was on one in the mid-80s to fly to Europe via Northwest Orient. Enormous!

[geardaddy]

9. I flew on them a few times

To Europe and to Asia. Excellent plane. I remember flying on one with CAAC to Shanghai from SFO back in 1984 when I was going to spend my sophomore year in college in Beijing. My friends and I snuck into the lounge in the upper deck for a look. That was super cool.