[zabzonk]

I hated the top deck when flying east from NY to London. The rising sun poured in every time a crew member opened the cockpit door, waking me up. Best seat for me was the single one in the lower deck at the very nose of the aircraft.

The 747 was a great aircraft to fly in though. The tower of power effect on take-off really reassured you that you were going to get where you were going.

[hdgvhicv]

BA used to fly the on the Moscow to London route once a day. I remeber vividly the late night a320 flight was cancelled and we were stuck in the lounge until the early morning flight about 6 hours later.

Somewhere over the North Sea I decided to give the on board phone a go, and it worked. A early call to let my wife know I’d made it (there were only a few seats left on the morning flight and 180 passengers to fit on).

Next time I flew it the phones weren’t working, and it wasn’t long until they’d all been removed, so I’m glad I got to tick that off my list.

Likely my last 747 flight ever was far less salubrious. I was supposed to be flying Toronto to jfk to Heathrow, but the Toronto flight was cancelled and I got downgraded to economy and put on a 747 to Amsterdam.

[kristianp]

> The tower of power effect on take-off really reassured you that you were going to get where you were going.

I have the memory of being struck by how much the overhead storage compartments were shaking at takeoff. Not reassuring at all, but they stopped shaking once we got off the ground.

[pa7ch]

What do you mean by this tower of power effect? Was it just that the 747 had a more powerful take-off or something due to 4 engines?

[buildsjets]

On a normal takeoff, a 4 engine aircraft has less excess power available than a 2 engine aircraft. Aircraft engines are sized to provide a minimum climb gradient with a single engine inoperative. A twin engine aircraft with an with an engine failure had lost 50% of its power. A quad with an engine failure is only down 25%. So the twin’s engines are oversized to compensate.

[epc]

There was quite a kick when the engines spooled up. I flew mainly SFO/LAX to SYD and the few minutes of full thrust you just kind of sat back in your seat and didn't try to do anything.

[zabzonk]

More or less. I remember the first time I flew in a tri-jet (after a 747), I was a bit worried on take-off about how we were still on the ground as the end of the runway approached.

To clarify slightly, I first heard "tower of power" used to describe the Saturn V. So two icons of the late 60s.

[kkylin]

We got front lower deck seats once when I was a kid. My sister and I had extra open floor space for playing. It was great.

[zabzonk]

Oh no - you were THOSE kids.

[kkylin]

Actually we weren't (& aren't) able to afford this kind of thing. Dad worked for the airline & somehow got this perk, just once.