I'm not joking. It was a horrific incident. I'm just stating that Pan Am's first 74 has a hull loss in the 70's, so Pan Am's first 747 couldn't be used at all.
Pan Am had class and even though it isnt with us any longer,it still outshines the airlines of today..I had my first flight on a 747 with Pan Am in 1972 from JFK-San Juan and the airliner was the "midnight sun" the return was called "Derby hat",and I was so impressed that is had a "domino lounge" in economy class LOL
How I miss Pan American Airlines. To many in Latin America it was not only a US airline but a Hemispheric American continent airline. Since it's beginning its special relation to Latin America made it feel like the airline of the Americas. I remember flying as a child of 4 from LAX to GUA on a 747 Jumbo Jet and back. I remember my junior wings and my briefcase with coloring book and crayons.I remember being invited into the cockpit. I so miss Pan Am! Such great memories!
I am Clipper Juan T. Tripp. Over 20 years ago I was born, the first commercial 747 to fly. How proud I was to be delivered to Pan Am. Through the years my wings have spread over the oceans and distant lands. My wheels have felt the touch of foreign soil. Hands of many nations have tended to my needs. Many have walked my aisles in the service of those in my care. In countless ways, Pan Am have cared for me. Through endless night and days, you've guided me through the sky. Now my job is done, my task finished. I leave you as proudly as I came to you. My blood is blue, my heart a blue ball, farewell. We signed our names that morning with a heavy heart as a fond farewell. You were the first, and the last of the great Pan Am Clippers. We wish you godspeed on your journey, Clipper Juan T. Tripp.
1800 Times around the globe - a testament to Pan Am mechanics, pilots and Boeing quality. My mother was the 2nd most senior Flight Attendant - Stewardess actutally, well Sky Girl to be technical - when Pan Am ceased operations. It was a sad day for her, our family and many others. (Actually it started in the early mid-80's when PAA sold the Pacific Routes to United...I digress)
Thank you Pan American. Thank you very much Juan Trippe! My flight instructor had his first airplane flight on Pan Am DC-8. Although is not from Boeing, he remembers fondly about Pan Am. He was Continental captain and he had awesome experience in Pan Am and I talk with him to learn the good old days of jet travel, according to him "serving cold beer, heavy meal and junior wings as souvenir".
Juan Trippe, sure is legend in airline industry. Never been on Pan Am, but according to many people who I asked about PAA, they said they had great experience with PAA. Juan Trippe and Joe Sutter... Those people are legends in commercial air travel. Still 747s fly today. Mr. Sutter and Mr. Trippe did knew the future of air travel. A true entrepreneur in aviation.
Flew a Pan Am 747 from Panama straight threw to Hawaii back in the early 70s, exciting as a little kid, all I saw was puffy white clouds and a huge blue ocean, Ill never forget it.
I love Pan American. I love the Boeing B747 more than any other thing I've ever loved - even women. What a sad but glorious sight to see that first Boeing Jumbo take to the skies one last time...Long live Pan American World Airways!
Wait a minute, I thought the very first Pan Am 747 was the one they used for their London flight, the one they called Clippper Victor and the one involved in the collision with a KLM 744 in Tenerife.
chinitonamoreno Sort of. The plane in the video, N747PA, was the first plane PA received. As the launch customer, it was therefore the first 747 delivered. However, it did not get to operate the first flight as it went tech prior to the flight, so PA made some hasty changes and sent the backup plane to operate the flight. Also, the collision in Tenerife did not involve any -400s as they were still a decade away! I believe the KLM jumbo was a -200 model.
wow what great memories of flying Pan Am..it was the first 747 I flew back in 1972 from JFK-San Juan,and I think it was November 1991 when I flew Pan Am from Boston-San Juan..and on a 727..and a change in Miami at that..but right down to the last flight I took it was a class act..loved that airline
"Clipper Victor" N736PA was actually a backup plane to "Clipper Young America" when that aircraft had engine problems while attempting take off, and just too keep thing flowing "Clipper Young America" was stenciled over the "Clipper Victor" name....
Pan Am was not really technically bankrupt, the corrupt Washington politicians crippled the airline, as well as TWA later on and others, you don't know anything, someday I hope you will if you run across the right people and ask questions, but be careful.
DC10 Fomin wasn't just that, the oil crisis in '73 hit them pretty hard and they never fully recovered from as well as the mechanic strike in '85, the Chernobyl disaster in '86 and then the Lockerbie bombing in '88 which was pretty much the final nail in the coffin
The oil crisis is what made Pan Am go bust. They had too many 747s which comsumed alot of fuel and also during the 70s flights were almost empty. They tried turning it around by buying national and ordered some airbus planes but it was too late.
DC10 Fomin I’ve can honestly say I’ve never heard anyone say Pan Am was not technically bankrupt. Towards the last several years before they stopped operations they were hemorrhaging millions of dollars a day and had already sold their most valued assets. Pan-Am invested heavily in the first generation 747’s fuel guzzlers and that coupled with strikes, gas crisis of the 1970’s, war, poor security which helped cause Lockerbie etc. just to name a few. Pan Am just made poor decisions after Juan Trippe and nobody after him was as smart and as innovative as him. Deregulation had something to do with it but dumb business decisions made it worse. They blew tons of cash they didn’t even have buying National when industry analysts told them to wait and not purchase it. They did it anyway. They got into a bidding war and lost big. Lockerbie finished Pan-Am off because the flying public didn’t trust them with their safety. Politicians didn’t have anything to do with that. That was all PA’s lax security because they were not able to pay for extra security measures and screening machines they need to make bomb detection more reliable. My dad was a pilot for them so our family had a ring side seat for everything Pan-Am. Fortunately my dad was still young enough in his career that he was able to fly 747’s for Delta. Employees lost everything. Medical benefits, pensions, retirement.......everything.
Pan am is the no. 1 world's airline in the year 70's and 80's.i first and last saw this jumbo jet in the mid 80's when my grandmother's siblings left the philippibes for America. At the old Manila international Airport.
Pan Am was the Cunard Line of Airlines, much like how TWA was the White Star Line of Airlines. All four were trend setters that set standards for customer service, comfort, and luxury, and that cared about those things in their respective industries.
No,I guess you could call me a fan.I did a lot of research on the Pan Am 747 history,and became very interested.I'm trying to collect memorobilia of these aircraft,and purchased a first-flight cover,and a very nice 747 photo so far.Wish I could have had an oppertunity to fly with them...
i wish PAN AM can come back first time toke PAN AM plane i was a little kid 1989 now i am 27 year old best airline every made PAN AM this year 2012 when i fly with taca airline to Guatemala i close my eye and think i am on a PAN AM plane thank you pass can never come back just memories
PanAm were the ledgends of the skies for so many years. Tragically all good things come to an end. Unfortunately they were involved in 2 of the most horrific accidents, Lockerbie 1988 and Los Rodeos crash of 1977.
1:38-1:48. I just graduated the 8 grade and I'll be saying goodbye to my friends. My friend Nina is moving as well and the plane to me represents my friends and my middle school is like pan am
Stupidity killed this airline, during the height of the travel season someone decided to force all the frequent fliers to use their miles. We were flying full 747's across the pond with non paying passengers. I remember a few of the faces in this video. I wonder if John remembers hooking up an air mask to the nitrogen bottles because it was so smelly back by the horizontal stabilizer and he almost killed himself.
Ahh... Looks like you're familiar with PAA round-the -world Flight numbers! I spent 26 years there and it have been longer if they didn't shut down in 91.
Why why did they do this tl pan American air lines I was 18 on this flight and I worked for pan am so it's 2013 and know one even now's what pan am is but we will always remember it beauty of aviation clipper of the seas
I was never a fan of Pan Am, but even I realize what a sad day this was. The 747 and PA were synonymous. The truly sad thing about this particular aircraft is what eventually happened to it. It would up as a restaurant in Korea that was never really successful. The restaurant closed and the aircraft languished for years before finally being demolished in Dec 2010.
That’s pretty terrible news coverage - Juan “Trip”? And that logo graphic? Yikes!! Still, it was the end of an era and that is absolutely true. PA was a hell of an airline. I flew on N747PA [Juan Trippe], the plane in this video, in 1984. I stepped through that door when she operated Pan Am flight 103 from London on that day, a flight number that was to symbolize another terrible day in Pan Am’s history a few years later. N747PA herself ended up with her wings clipped in South Korea, as a restaurant. When the restaurant failed, she was eventually scrapped, no doubt unceremoniously given her conspicuous place in history.
@clipper321 denying domestic routes? Pan Am bought and merged National Airlines into it's system and totally blew the merger. They pissed everyone off and failed miserably to feed each others flights. You don't make money sitting on the ground for hours waiting for a connecting flight.
Ye politics and bad management that was it, I started in 1960 saw it all bad recession fuel was 10 cents a gallon then we got rights to fly from Atlanta to London but Georgia politics took care of that. Even though Delta did not have the equipment to fly. Amen
UPGF54860 Because all government people are nothing but a bunch of selfish greedy assholes that benefit only big corporations that put millions of dollars in their pockets, my grand father was a captain with Pan American up to the end, and he always told me that the government helped ruin Pan American, by not allowing the to fly domestically in the 60's and 70's once deregulation came into play, Pan American was left with no domestic routes to feed their international routes.
UPGF54860 Because all government people are nothing but a bunch of selfish greedy assholes that benefit only big corporations that put millions of dollars in their pockets, my grand father was a captain with Pan American up to the end, and he always told me that the government helped ruin Pan American, by not allowing the to fly domestically in the 60's and 70's once deregulation came into play, Pan American was left with no domestic routes to feed their international routes.