A cargo pallet is lowered away from the opened nose of an SIA Cargo 744F.
I know, I know… everyone and their mom does “year-end review” stories. I am adding one more. Really, this is more for me and our team to look back to see what and how we did for the year. While I am at it, I might as well share, right?
This was the first full year where I sort of half-assed it. Probably not the right word to use, but I am going with it. July 2018 will mark the 10th year I have been running this site. A decade. For many of those years we published one story per weekday, week after week. That takes quite a bit of time. Even just editing and formatting another person’s story can take hours. And all those emails — they never stop.
I was driven by passion and love of airplanes. I also was hoping to make this a full-time business. In 2016, I was given the opportunity to try to make that happen and I hated it. I started to lose the love for the site and that wasn’t cool. So, I decided to get a job that I love and turn AR back into a hobby. This was the right call — I am happier now than I have been in a long time.
We flew over 317,000 miles for 2017! Image: GCMap.com
Of course there have been consequences. We have moved from a very consistent five stories per week to one, two, maybe three. I think there was one or two weeks with zero. I wish we could have daily content — I love reading our stories myself. However, the time commitment wasn’t sustainable, and that’s okay.
The number of stories might be down, but I don’t think we have half-assed the quality of our content. I am really proud of our stories and what we have been able to accomplish this year. I feel so grateful to have so many amazingly talented and passionate folks that have been able to share their experiences on AR.
Of course it is nicer when we write stories and people are there to read them. As expected, our traffic is down compared to previous years, but not as much as I thought. We still had over 3 million visitors to the site in 2017 and we’ve grown to over 100,000 Twitter followers. A huge thank you for sticking around with us, and hello to our new friends!
Alright, let’s move a bit away from the emotional stuff and let’s get into some stats (hey, we have something for everyone here).
Neon vests required for Aviation Geek Fest 2016 – Photo: Future of Flight/ Boeing
IT’S HAPPENING! Aviation Geek Fest 2017, is a go! There was a lot up in the air (heh), so things were kept a bit hush-hush, until we knew we could announce something. Here is the announcement coming from the Institute of Flight:
“The international Aviation Geek Fest 2017, the most important event for commercial aviation fans from around world, is set for September 29, 30 and October 1 at the Future of Flight Aviation Center & Boeing Tour at Paine Field, Mukilteo. The annual confab brings the top AvGeeks for three days of intense networking, VIP tours, special speakers, drone flights and more. Presented by the Institute of Flight with sponsorship and support from Airlinereporter.com. Details are being finalized. Preregistration will open in August.“
I know. That doesn’t give you much time to plan and you have lots of questions. Things are going to be moving fast, so hold on to your AvGeek boots. Be sure you have joined our e-mail list — folks on that list get all the juicy details as they go live. Also be sure to check back on our page AirlineReporter.com/AGF.
WHAT IS AVIATION GEEK FEST?
Aviation Geek Fest is an opportunity for fans of flight to get together and experience some awesome behind-the-scenes aspects of airlines, airports, and aviation. Much of it — is not open to the general public. The event can be as small as 10; the largest we have had so far is about 350.
The last event was held in Seattle in April of 2016, and 250 tickets sold out almost instantly. The demand is high for people who are interested in aviation to have a unique, special, and fun experience.
Previous events have done VIP tours, including the Boeing wide-body factory floor, the 737 factory, Dreamliner gallery, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Alaska Airlines maintenance, and much more!
The Korean Air A380 readies for departure at LAX – Photo: Kevin P Horn
This summer, my partner Natalie and I decided that we wanted to visit one or two cities in Asia during the short window that we had off. I researched the airlines, routes, and cities that we were interested in flying to and ended up choosing Seoul and Tokyo for stops. I had accrued about 200,000 points through Chase credit cards and started looking through redemption options. A friend of mine pointed me towards Korean Air, since they were partnered with Chase for 1-1 transfers and had an excellent 62,500 mile redemption (63,000 since I could only transfer in 1000 point increments) for business class to Asia one-way. These flights had the option to select a multi-day stopover in Seoul, so it precisely lined up with our travel goals.
I booked two one-way flights to Tokyo Narita (NRT) in Korean Air Prestige class with a five-day stopover in Seoul (ICN). I ended up booking a return with United Airlines on an Economy Saver redemption for 35,000 miles. But I’m not writing this to talk about United economy; flying on the upper deck of both an A380 and Queen of the Skies 747-400 is much more interesting.
Our seat on the ride of a lifetime – Photo: Manu Venkat | AirlineReporter
Groundbreaking. Iconic. Gigantic. Gorgeous. There’s a lot of words you could use to describe the 747-400, but as of 2017 there’s a new word that gets added to the list: disappearing. Most airlines are rushing to retire the aging beauty. A few airlines, like British Airways, plan to keep the Queen of the Skies around for a while longer. But in general, if you want to make sure you get one more flight on the aircraft that — for many of us — is the ultimate AvGeek icon, you should make it happen soon.
A ride on a 747 is special, no matter where you’re sitting. However, it’s extra awesome if you’re in the first few rows of the main deck, which give you a one-of-a-kind partially forward facing view. You can actually see the runway ahead of you as you take off and land! We made sure to include a ride on a United 747 in seat 1A as part of a recent around-the-world Star Alliance tour, and from an AvGeek perspective, it was the flight of a lifetime. We took plenty of photos and videos for your viewing pleasure — read on to re-live the magic with us.
A view that should be on every AvGeek’s bucket list – Photo: Manu Venkat | AirlineReporter
A variant of the Queen of the Skies took a step closer towards the history books this week as Kalitta Air retired its remaining 747-200, which is one of the few remaining airworthy civilian models of the type.
N793CK, A Kalitta Air 747-200 freighter, prepares to land at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on its next-to-last flight before being placed into storage
This particular airframe was delivered to United Airlines in March 1987, having been built at Boeing’s Everett, Wash., factory. It was converted to a freighter in 2000 by Boeing while registered to Northwest Airlines, and was eventually put into storage in 2009. In 2010, it returned to service with Kalitta, and was officially retired on April 23.
Seconds before touchdown at SEA
“It’s nice to see that people still care about this stuff,” said Capt. Scott Jakl as he and his flight crew were preparing the aircraft for the flight to Kalitta’s maintenance facility in Oscoda, Mich. “This is a very big deal for us,” he said of the plane’s last flight.
