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"V1 - Rotate" 747 trying to fly on its own in boneyard.

This 747 is sitting in a boneyard in Mojave, CA awaiting scrapping. On May 23rd, 2012 the area experienced extreme winds of 70+ miles per hour due to a low pressure zone. Without the weight of its engines, the slightly tail heavy 747 tries to take to the skies one last time. The next day the plane was found to have also rotated about 45 degrees from its original position. ( 更多...

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Gary McGinnis 11
I love how all the flight sim "kids" are saying this is fake. My favorite comment is by someone (with Flight Sim in their u/n none the less) giving a long paragraph thesis on V1 and stuff.

Cool video though!
phumflyer 1
And why are they all talking about flaps? Wouldn't this be caused by the trim causing air flowing over the horizontal stabilizer to be pushed upward, thereby pushing the tail down?
floatplaneS7 4
Have a closer look, the LE Slats were extended probably due lack of Hyd press which aided in giving her extra lift, that along with less weight certainly helped give Hera final wave-off. Poor old thing, reminds me of animals going off to slaughter, they know someone is up, they can smell it and I think this old girl did too.
Sad. Yearning to be free.
Wendell Smith 6
The old bird just wanted one more go.
Robert Duke 4
Find it odd that the aircraft wasn't "tied down" in some fashion. Even if it was slated to be scrapped I would think you wouldn't want a 200,000 lb aircraft on the loose.
Toby Sharp 2
lacking 4 engines and no avionics or systems i bet she weighs half that or less. Still cool tho!
floatplaneS7 4
I think it was trying to say - please don't scrape me yet :-)
Dubslow 4
Here's a link without the mobile crap:
Brian Bishop 2
Oops, sorry.
thanks for the link.
KW10001 4
I feel bad for it... :(
Marcus Pradel 3
They should've run over there, climbed aboard and logged a few take-off and Landings!

This bird is clearly not ready to be scrapped.
Ur Mom 3
I don't understand what looks so ridiculously fake about this vid. Did you watch the full screen version in HD? It looks pretty realistic to me, including other planes in the background moving. I assume also that considering how long those high winds were in effect, someone could have easily spotted this and set up a camera. Clearly some effort was put into having a stable platform for the camera as it only bumps one time, including wind over the microphone at about 1:02-1:03. Pretty cool vid, but I agree it is sad to see such a noble old bird yearning to take off one more time.
Gary Plomp 2
Ask Doug Scroggins of Scroggins Aviation,...he will give you the real scoop on that Mojave Airport B-747.
Ralph Wigzell 2
We need more eccentric wealthy people to build houses out of the planes :) save them from a horrible death. :(
David Brooks 2
I looked at the history of Southern Air. They have stored and some scrapped about 16 747s. None are SP or -100 series. They have bought/leased -200s and -300s and are getting some new 777Fs. They have used a lot of sub-series 747-230B[1], B(SF)[4], -246F(SCD)2], -206B(M)(SUD)[3], -2F6B(SF)[1], -3B5(SF)[1], -228F(SCD)[3], -243B(SF)[3], -2L5B(SF)[1], and one -346.

The quantity is in brackets behind each time.
Mark Roberts 2
Heck guys, Back in '81, I was on top of an F-14 one night in the Indian Ocean taking wing sweep oil samples, we had about 40 knots of wind coming over the bow and the plane was on 12 point tie downs. The wings were flapping up and down 6 inches at the wingtips and the whole thing was shuddering, and that is fully operational, all gear, engines, probably a quarter bag of fuel, AND the wings in oversweep, flaps and slats fully retracted, with the aircraft being at least 50 degrees off of the wind, Probably 40,000 lbs. So yeah, a hollow 747-200 with an MTOW of up to 833,000 lbs... as real as it gets, very likely in fact.
Robert Lynch 1
Don't they tie these things down???!!! especially in 80-90 kt winds?
mel0808 1
It's karma -- planes want to fly, better than being mothballed. She was trying to get away from the guillotine.
luis avila 1
it feels like this old and beautiful bird wants to touch the clouds again.
Jourdan777 1
Thanks, love that video
Raymond Arons 1
What a shame to destroy these beautiful birds while at their last gasp want to fly.
If it is fake..they did a good job....if not-it is very see such wonders of human endeavour being wasted..
David Brooks 1
This is a secret new experimental 747 for VTOL with no engines. Close but no cigar! Net video showing what wind can do even to a 747 (not as heavy as a regular 747 minus engines and likely some of the interior). Folks should think about how many light aircraft that are tossed around in winds gusts around 40 - 50.
Mian Zia 1
why other planes there are not doing so???
vulcansunray 1
I have actually been to the Mojave boneyard - on a nice, sunny calm day! Truly an amazing sight for an aviation enthusiast. I've also been to the military aviation boneyard at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, AZ - even more amazing! Anyway, back at Mojave - imagine if the 747 had backflipped!!
Brian Bishop 1
Squawk o' the week again. Thanks guys.
panam1971 1
Brett Easton 1
That was absolutly awesome.

I can't read a SN off the airframe, anyone ID the version? I'm almost tempted to say 747SP.
Kim Hackett 2
That's not an SP. The plane has an extended upper deck. Also, I believe it is a freighter.
So, judging from the 6ish upper deck windows a 741 converted to freighter?
Someone on youtube is convinced it's a 747200F. would seem to support this conclusion:

[This comment has been downvoted. Show anyway.]

Falconus 8
A surveillance video wouldn't have people talking in the background. More likely, somebody saw it, grabbed a camera, and came running.

[This comment has been downvoted. Show anyway.]

USAFcptnShades 12
Bees31ballard, You're really that ignorant? You don't belong with our kind. MEMBER BE GONE, POOF!!
Chris Coash 5
....Probably sitting in their car, shielded from the wind. Completely possible for this to happen. Heck, if the plane were tail heavy enough, and the elevator in the right position, a 10kt wind could do it. Very basic physics..
Toby Sharp 5
......tri-pod with the legs wider than normal......

[This comment has been downvoted. Show anyway.]

george bruton 8
You are a ignorant.....Just simply watching the video and listening you can figure out they are in a workshop/warehouse area. In regards to having a camera pointed at it I am pretty sure they just did not turn the camera on and this starting happening. They most likely where working on something and saw this start to happen and thought..mmm I should film this. Also, how did they fake that very detailed car driving by at the end? Or better yet if YOU where going to fake a video like you say this guy did why even take the time to add a car? Or all the detailed dust clouds?
Few other things... the 747 behind it is moving up and down as well (the one behind it not to the right) RANT OVER.
bees31ballard 11
OK I am ignorant and dumb. Sorry. You all are right. I made a mistake. It was not a fake video.
nwilcox 2
Come on Ballard..... You're an idiot and obviously know absolutely nothing of aircraft weight and balance. Don't make a comment on anything that you have no clue about especially common sense of which you have none!
p c 0

