When it was launched into service in 1970, the Boeing 747 was the pinnacle of air travel.
A top speed of almost 1000 km/h. Capacity for up to 600 passengers. An upper deck which, in the early days, looked like a mini-conference room that James Bond might find himself in. The plane measured 71 metres from nose to tail – the Wright brothers’ first flight was almost exactly half that length. It had a range of 15 000km – 37% of the earth’s circumference.
To say that the 747 is iconic in the aviation world is an understatement.
I’m pretty sure I’ve never flown in one, but I was fascinated enough by them as a kid that I think I might have. I have memories of being in a plane which had a staircase to an upper level, but that memory might be completely fabricated. I just don’t know.
A memory I’m sure I do have is of being in Florida on a family vacation and seeing the Space Shuttle being delivered home to the Kennedy Space Centre, riding piggy-back on a specially modified 747. The Space Shuttle was, in my mind, such a symbol of the enormity of space and the miracle of the future that it seemed ludicrous that there was a regular old airplane big enough to carry it in the same way my dad would carry me.
At the end of 2022, the last Boeing 747 was produced. Iconic as they are, airlines are trending in favour of jets that have two engines, as opposed to the fuel-hungry four-engines of a 747 and similar planes. Which is fair enough.
They will continue to fly for the next few years on a few airlines, and perhaps a few cargo lines, but eventually these giants will be a thing of the past.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. Luv Pug is the lo-fi project of Kyle Scherrer an LA-based guitarist and pug lover (10% of streaming revenue goes to a local pug rescue charity). I love that an artist committed to such a tiny dog named a song after such an enormous aircraft.
2. The lo-fi genre, with its muted percussion and general lack of reverb on any instruments, always feels small and intimate. But in this song there’s just enough sustain on the piano, and just enough ethereal synth noise in the background, to imply the bigness of air travel.
3. The twinkling guitar reminds me of the twinkling lights on an airplane’s wings.
Recommended listening activity:
Looking up.