Wow! It’s been more than a year since I’ve posted on here.
Obviously, a lot has happened in the last year. The COVID-19 pandemic has placed untold strain on virtually everyone throughout the world. Public health crises place a disproportionate burden on lower-income populations — and I think we need far better solutions to help these people — but I believe the pandemic has been “a certain degree of hard” for everyone. I look forward to the continued emergence of the vaccines, and I can’t wait to be back in the sky hopefully in 2021.
One positive development that came partly as a result of COVID was my opportunity to learn Python, which has enabled me to develop my professional data and analytics skills. I’m already having a lot of fun tinkering with the FlightAware API, among others, and I’ve been able to simplify updating some of my flight spreadsheets — both with Python. I am eager to continue to evolve this new passion and see where it takes me, personally and professionally.
So what happened with aviation?
On a more reverent note, it’s clear that COVID has caused so much pain and suffering and absolutely wreaked havoc throughout the world. Amidst all of the economic turmoil it has caused, however, one of the most affected industries worldwide has been aviation, with passenger volumes down exponentially year-over-year.
With historic declines throughout the airline industry, it might surprise you to know that, conversely, cargo transportation has been up, as the delivery of PPE throughout the world has certainly provided volume on strictly-freight flights. I was fortunate enough to get to see the Cargolux Boeing 747-400F at Bangor in early May, and those up north got to see the Antonov AN-225 — the world’s largest aircraft — in July. 3315aviation wrote up the linked pair of nice blog posts on each of these developments, while I took the below image…didn’t think it was terrible for an iPhone.
The Jumbo retires
Perhaps the most unfortunate thing for me in the aviation industry was the hurried retirement of the 747-400, particularly British Airways’ decision to retire its fleet. The UK flag carrier had the largest 747 passenger fleet throughout the world, and still planned to keep its fleet of 20+ in service through 2024. That said, when the pandemic was first declared, all of its jumbos were in storage within about a month, so it was no surprise when the airline declared its intent to retire its 747 fleet in mid-July.
As it was, the last BA 747 movement was on December 11, a flight from Cardiff to St. Athan, its Welsh neighbor. From a spotter’s perspective, it was nice to have a few months in which we were able to bid farewell one of BA’s most iconic aircraft. The best result would have been to have them remain in service, of course, but you take what you can get — a point underscored by the nature of the last year.
I was fortunate enough to have 3 flights on BA 747s, once flying Boston to London Heathrow and twice the reverse. Two of those flights were on G-BYGD, pictured below, while the other was G-CIVF. I’ve had the opportunity to fly on a number of different widebody aircraft — I guess I spent my early 20s catching up for any perceived lost time, given that I didn’t travel a ton in my youth — but the BA 747 flights are hands-down my favorite, as it has always been my favorite civilian aircraft. The Union Jack on the tail and the iconic Speedmarque was instantly recognizable, and given that the plane brought air travel to the masses, it will not be forgotten.
A long climb ahead
Aviation faces significant challenges on the road back to normalcy. That said, I am hopeful that 2021 brings some improvement.
It’s funny — I used to think frequently about traveling: where I wanted to go next; where I thought I’d like to go back to; and what kind of aircraft I’d like to take. Since I’ve obviously not been traveling — I crossed into New Hamsphire for a day, and took a 400-mile road trip up the Coast of Maine in July, I haven’t really had much impetus to think about it.
With the impending arrivals of vaccines and the potential for a semblance of normality next summer, at least in terms of (hopefully) lower transmission and positivity rates, it does raise a prospect that I haven’t entertained for a while. I remain optimistic that I’ll be able to move about somewhat in 2021, and I hope you all are able to, as well.