The last Qantas B747, VH-OEJ, departed Sydney, Australia on 22nd July 2020. It flew over Sydney Harbour twice, then flew south to Wollongong.

Qantas B747 Photo by Tim Bowrey
Qantas B747 Over Wollongong Photo by Alex Partridge

The celebration was not done yet, it surprised many by drawing an iconic kangaroo in the sky on its final journey to the airplane boneyard in Mojave, California via Los Angeles.

Flight QF7474 arrived in Los Angeles Int'l (LAX) at 1:23pm on July 22nd, 2020. Being in the US, I was able to visit the Qantas B747-400/ER at both LAX and Mojave.

Last look Inside the Qantas B747

Let's have a tour of the last Qantas B747-400/ER, VH-OEJ in LAX Qantas maintenance base.

Qantas B747-400/ER Cockpit
Qantas B747-400/ER Upper Deck

I must say the interior looks immaculate and look just out of the factory. It is evident that Qantas looked after well of their B747.

Qantas B747-400/ER Premium Economy

The B747-400/ER has the Boeing signature interior on overhead bins, comes with extra head room for passenger.

Some seats were removed in the rear section and these seats were retained for future crew training use.

Qantas B747-400/ER Economy Zone E
Qantas B747-400/ER Economy Zone E
Qantas B747-400/ER Crew Rest Bunks

Mojave

Qantas B747 made her final journey from Los Angeles to Mojave on July 24th, 2020. It touched down at Mojave around 11:50am after a 30 minutes flight flew at 13,000 ft.

At Mojave, she joined 5 other B747-400/ER sister-ship in storage. Four of them are pictured here.

Once the engines were shut down, I was allowed to board and meet up the pilots in the cockpit.

The last Qantas B747 log.

The last B747-400/ER flight was operated by 6 Qantas pilots. They are:

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  • Captain Sharelle Quinn
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  • Captain Ewen Cameron
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  • Captain Greg Fitzgerald
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  • Captain Owen Weaver
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  • F/O Quin Ledden
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  • S/O Owen Zupp

The last LAX to Mojave leg was operated by Captain Ewen Cameron and Captain Greg Fitzgerald, which both will be retired after this flight.

I took opportunity to take pictures with them and present them Qantas B747 T shirts as memorabilia.

747 Fleet Manager Captain Owen Weaver's daughter made this special Kangaroo mascot (with mask on!).

The 6 flight deck crew came down and pose photo for the memorable occasion.

It was my honor to sign on her fuselage at LAX. So much emotions have gone through my head, literally lost for words.

It was a bittersweet day with the last Qantas B747 at Mojave, Ca.

Not only I will miss the 747, I also miss the human stories around this plane; sharing the stories, the passion, different cultures and experiences through the shared love of B747 that brought us together! Thank you Qantas B747, forever Queen of the Sky!

This Saturday a grand farewell vlog of Qantas B747 will be released on my YouTube Channel.
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