The Last Qantas Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet ‘Fly-Over’.

25 July 2020 / Words:Jeff Rowe; Photos and video: John Molden & Brendan Barr.

They called her the ‘Queen of the Skies’. A Fly-Over by the last Qantas 747 Jumbo Jet before its retirement, in the Mojave Desert, was spectacular with a very Royal and Majestic air about it.

We were so surprised with the hundreds of people who joined members from the Illawarra Chapter of the MX-5 Club, at our chosen vantage point, for what turned out to be our biggest organised event yet. We all socially distanced in and around the Shellharbour City Airport to witness the end of an era as this iconic aircraft flew overhead.

It was about ninety minutes late leaving Mascot Airport as it had to be properly washed before takeoff.

Some might say typical Qantas, so it was that late getting to our vantage point. No one seemed to care.

We knew it was on its way though. Some people had it on ‘Tracker’ we knew where it was from phone calls from excited members it’s over the Royal National Park, Corrimal, Unanderra, Warilla and finally there it was in all its grace flying straight for us.

A flight over the Airport the noise of the engines a tilt of the wings and it was all over in a couple if minutes. Click on this image below to view the video, it gets better as the plane gets closer!

It was one of those lift your hat, waive and cheer moments that you were glad you had the opportunity to witness.

There were lots of photos taken with all types of cameras big and small. Memories for a future generation.

Then the excitement was over and everyone wanted to leave at the same time. A single road out to a busy intersection made it slow going but it was a nice afternoon and a small inconvenience to end a great event.