Search gallery:

Jumbo Jet (21 images)

View: 100 | All
  • Like a huge caged animal in a zoo, the cockpit section of a Boeing 747 'jumbo' jet is perceived peering over the barbed-wire perimeter fence at London's Heathrow airport between engineering schedules and more transcontinental flights. Two fluffy cumulus clouds are stacked vertically above the hump of the airliner's nose to form three white blotches of the same tone. This major hub is mainly for British Airways operations, one of the three busiest airports in the world. When asked what is his favourite building of the Century, architect Sir Norman Foster offered the 747 the Jumbo has since carried 2.2 billion people: 40% of the world?s population. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903. .

  • A ten year-old boy looks at the first Pan Am Clipper Boeing 747 that landed at Brussels airport on 6th September 1970.

  • Wing tips and tail from British Airways 747 airliners are almost touching during their turnarounds while on apron at Heathrow

  • A close-up detail of a Boeing 747 main nosewheel and landing lights during the aircraft's turnaround at Heathrow Airport.

  • Honeymooners cuddle in front of a British Airways 747 before their round-the-world adventure from Heathrow Airport's T5

  • Telescopic window washing pole reaches on to 2nd storey arrivals glass near 747 at Heathrow Airport's T5

  • During a lull in activity, a Boeing 747 is swathed in engineering gantries during a major check (maintenance schedule) at the British Airways Heathrow base in London England. As if in a hospital ER several metres off the ground, yellow struts surround the aircraft's forward nose section and the first class windows along the white fuselage allowing mechanics, engineers and avionics specialists unimpeded access to every element of the air frame. Neon tubes illuminate the hangar that houses flying machines which are serviced here between transcontinental commercial passenger flights. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903. .

  • Heathrow writer-in-residence, Alain de Botton writes his airport novel near 747 in Departures at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5.

  • Reflected retail advertising poster and parked aircraft at Heathrow's Terminal 5.

  • The giant nosewheel of a Boeing 747-400 airliner is parked on the apron area during its overnight turnround at Heathrow Airport. The engineering of this magnificent piece of aviation design is highlighted by the headlights of an airfield vehicle and the tyres sit firmly on the tarmac at an exact parking spot according to the aircraft's length in order for it to be met by air bridges and service trucks. The nose wheel is used for steering the jet when on the ground. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009). .

  • In the darkness of a taxiway at the southern end of Heathrow Airport, the bright lights of an engineering hangar spill out into the night. A Boeing 747 Jumbo jet sits nose-in behind another during a scheduled set of maintenance tasks that every aircraft needs to keep to in order for its continued airworthiness. The unmistakable shape of this large aircraft is a half-silhouette against the intensity of the hangar and blue flare spots that arise from the internal glass in the camera's lens. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009). .

  • In mid-day heat of the arid Sonoran desert sit the remains of Boeing 747 airliners at the storage facility at Mojave, California. Here, the fate of the world?s retired civil airliners is decided by age or a cooling economy and are either cannibalised for still-working parts or recycled for scrap, their aluminium fuselages worth more than their sum total. After a lifetime of safe commercial flight, wings are clipped and cockpits sliced apart by huge guillotines, cutting through their once-magnificant engineering. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903.

  • French language edition book cover of Alain de Botton's "The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work" containing photography by Richard Baker.

  • In the heat and dust of the arid Sonoran desert are the remains of a Boeing 747 cockpit at the storage facility at Mojave, California. The wiring of the now-extinct flight engineer's console is a jumble of old technology. Either by age or cooling economy airliners are either cannibalised for still-working parts or recycled for scrap, their aluminium fuselages worth more than their sum total. Elsewhere, assorted aircraft wrecks sit abandoned in the scrub minus their bellies, legs or wings like dying birds. After a lifetime of safe commercial flight, wings are clipped and cockpits sliced apart by huge guillotines, cutting through their once-magnificent engineering. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903..

  • In mid-day heat of the arid Sonoran desert sit the remains of a Boeing airliner sat the storage facility at Mojave, California. Here, the fate of the world's retired civil airliners is decided by age or a cooling economy and are either cannibalised for still-working parts or recycled for scrap, their aluminium fuselages worth more than their sum total. After a lifetime of safe commercial flight, wings are clipped and cockpits sliced apart by huge guillotines, cutting through their once-magnificant engineering. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903. .

  • Stored old airliners sit in mid-day heat of arid Sonoran Desert at Mojave airport facility, awaiting recycling for scrap value

  • Stored old airliners sit in mid-day heat of arid Sonoran Desert at Mojave airport facility, awaiting recycling for scrap value.

  • In mid-day heat of the arid Sonoran desert sit the remains of a Boeing 747 airliner at the storage facility at Mojave, California. Here, the fate of the world's retired civil airliners is decided by age or a cooling economy and are either cannibalised for still-working parts or recycled for scrap, their aluminium fuselages worth more than their sum total. After a lifetime of safe commercial flight, wings are clipped and cockpits sliced apart by huge guillotines, cutting through their once-magnificant engineering. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903. .

  • In mid-day heat of the arid Arizona desert, a complete set of main landing gear undercarriage stands upright amid a field of similar items from airliners at the storage facility at Davis Monthan, Tucson. Here, the fate of the world?s retired civil airliners is decided by age or cooling economy. Cannibalised for still-working parts or recycled for scrap, their aluminium is worth more than their sum total. Elsewhere, assorted aircraft wrecks sit abandoned in the scrub minus their bellies, legs or wings like dying birds. After a lifetime of safe commercial flight, wings are clipped and cockpits sliced apart by huge guillotines, cutting through their engineering. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903.

  • Fading, graduated light of the arid Sonoran desert shows the remains of airliners at the storage facility at Mojave, California, their silhouettes forming a line of aviation's by-gone era. Because of age or a cooling economy they are either cannibalised for still-working parts or recycled for scrap, their aluminium fuselages worth more than their sum total. After a lifetime of safe commercial flight, wings are clipped and cockpits sliced apart by huge guillotines, cutting through their once-magnificent engineering. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903...

  • British Airways jetty operator carefully manoeuvres towards arrived BA aircraft door at Heathrow's Terminal 5. .

When asked what is his favourite building of the Century, architect Sir Norman Foster offered the 747 the Jumbo has since carried 2.2 billion people: 40% of the world's population.

But the 747 has almost seen its day with the advent of more fuel-efficient and larger aviation workhorses such as the A380 and leaner, meaner machines in an era when operators need to save air-Dollars. Ten-year-old passenger 747-400s are worth a record low $36 million, about 10 percent less than...
more »
Licence
View: 100 | All