Boeing has delivered its last Jumbo.
Baba would have been emotional. The B747 was his favourite aircraft. Even before he knew he was going to fly it as the Pilot-In-Command, he had fallen in love with the Queen of the Skies. He called his eldest (me) ‘Jumbo’ with love.
I’ve travelled so often in the cockpit (the world of aviation was something else altogether before 9/11) and seen so many take-offs and landings from the vantage point behind the left-hand seat that I am feeling emotional myself.
As for Baba, even when he retired after 40 years and almost 20,000 hours of accident-free flying, both military and commercial, whenever he saw the aircraft, whether parked, flying, taking off, or landing, he would watch speechless and in awe like a child seeing his first aeroplane. I have spent countless minutes waiting impatiently as he pulled over on Western Express Highway just so he could catch another Jumbo take off. He likened them to watching an elephant, which you’d never believe can lift itself in the slightest, gracefully raise its front and take off into the blue yonder. I still visualise that when I see a B747.
What a beautiful aircraft! Farewell, Queen. You and Baba are now part of my past. And you’ll remain forever a companion during some of the most joyous memories of my life.
Happy landings and dogspeed. Enjoy your retirement.
