Goodbye Old Friend,

the Australian airline Qantas has retired its last Boeing 747 jumbo jet,

in the past 38 years I have visited Thailand so many times, travelling there as many as 5 or 6 times a year, often as it happens with Qantas, over the past week, Qantas operated three “Farewell Jumbo Joy Flights” touring Sydney, Brisbane, and Canberra with passengers on board for the final time, last Wednesday the last 747 in the Qantas fleet took off with six pilots and no passengers, the flight path drew Qantas' distinctive kangaroo logo in the sky, the last flight is taking the aircraft from Sydney to Los Angeles, where it will clear customs before continuing on to its final resting place in the California desert, after making a scenic departure over Sydney and a low pass over the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) in Wollongong, which hosts a retired Qantas 747, QF7474 turned east over the Tasman Sea to draw Qantas’ iconic kangaroo, measuring 275 kilometres east-west and 250 km north-south, the kangaroo took slightly less than 90 minutes to complete. When finished, VH-OEJ climbed to cruising altitude for the last time and headed out over the Pacific Ocean towards Los Angeles. After resting at LAX for a day, the very last takeoff by a Qantas 747 will send VH-OEJ to the Mojave Air and Space Port to join its fleet mates in retirement, and I guess be stripped for parts, such fond memories of the numerous hours I have spent in what was my favorite plane, the mighty 747, RIP.