Sometimes, even if a miniscule bit of inspiration from fellow simmers, here, touches your fancy, that might propel you do something similar...🙂...I am here referring to extra-long-haul flights with the B748 e.g., "Flight was from WMKK Kuala Lumpur to EDDF Frankfurt...with 747-8...took 12hr 18min and was flown in real lifetime and with no time compression!! The day I did this long-haul flight I woke up at 5'o clock in the morning and couldn't sleep anymore..."...🙂... Indeed, immensely admirable, and of course, it was clearly NOT me...🙂...

Anyway, I, at least, wished to fly the 747-8, if not on an extra-long-haul flight. Additional motivation for this post: I had a package delivered by UPS to my home yesterday. I offered to pick up the package from near the truck, but the driver politely said, "I need to take a picture of the delivered package against the backdrop of the house number..." Oh well...And, yes, those UPS Truck drivers, to save time, keep their driver's side door open even when behind the wheel. Now, it's already getting a bit chilly around here in Chicago, and I am wondering if that practice would continue into the dead of winter. I believe it will. In the delivery business, every second is valuable, and opening and closing door may take a few seconds, but when these drivers do this all day, those seconds add up. I just hope they wear insulated and weatherproof uniforms and accessories in the bitter cold days of Chicago winter. BTW, did you know this about UPS, "UPS drivers always turn right. While it might thus take technically longer routes, making right turns almost exclusively means faster driving times. Unless a left turn is unavoidable, the carrier saves millions of gallons of fuel each year and avoids emissions equivalent to over 20,000 passenger cars."
  
So, this post, you can guess, is about a UPS 747-8. I am always fascinated by the humble beginnings of today's giant corporations. Dell Computers started when Dell started working in a garage off campus in Austin, Texas. I understand garages (or/and basements) are known to be favorable starting points for many other mega businesses of today. Besides Dell, apparently, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, and Disney, to name a few, all originated from inside garages or basements. UPS also had a similar humble beginning. Two teenage entrepreneurs, starting in a Seattle basement with a $100 loan, had opened the American Messenger Company, the genetic root of today's UPS. UPS is now the world's largest package delivery service and the largest courier company by revenue, with annual revenues around US$85 billion. From foot messengers and bicycles, through its first motorized transport vehicle (a Ford Model T, what excitement it must have been for the company back in 1913...🙂...!), UPS evolved to be a master converter of discarded passenger jets into the freight business. That's how the 727-100s, 727-200s, DC-8s, 747-100s entered its fleet as their first aircraft of choice. 

Such adaptation continued until UPS began to acquire dedicated (modern) freighters such as the Boeing 747-8. Currently, it has ~30 748s in its fleet with an average age of only about 5 years, one of which is seen in my images below. 

My hometown Chicago played a role in the expansion of UPS after the company (initially) settled in Oakland, California. The first city for UPS to use common carrier status outside California was Chicago. In the early 1980s, UPS moved its operations to Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville International Airport (KSDF) is now one of the world's largest air cargo facilities. So, for this post, instead of an extra-long-haul flight, I've opted to simulate a short (but complete) flight from Louisville Airport (KSDF) to Chicago O'Hare (KORD). The (SimBrief) distance for my flight is about 380 miles.

I lift off (northward) from Rwy 35L of KSDF, overfly the Ohio River (see shot #s 6-7), that flows right through the city. Across this river that I spotted during my climb phase; I have driven several times in RW, during my visits from Ohio to Tennessee. At KORD, I land (westward i.e., from the lake side) into ILS Rwy 28R, as the evening sun is setting into the horizon in front of my approach path. I'm flying north of the main Chicago city line, but I could spot the (northern) section of Lake Shore Drive (US 41) and the buildings on it (shot # 15), from my vantage point. I am quite familiar with this part of the route that runs along Lake Michigan and through the South Shore neighborhoods, and then northwest into other older (and historic) suburban areas.

This (virtual) flight was delectable (and blemish-less) throughout, from takeoff to touchdown, of course, as perceived within the limited bounds and knowledge of this amateur (virtual) aviator...🙂...The Reg. ID (N570UP), you see below, actually belongs to a UPS B744F (not B748F). If you wish to see (and hear) the RW (N570UP) 744F taking off, rather impressively, please search for the 2m:54s YT Video, "UPS Boeing 747-400F N570UP Takeoff from Narita 16R | NRT/RJAA".

Hope you enjoy. Thanks for viewing...!

 

Great set of shots, and i always like to see the Queen flying around the world .

No matter whether it is a longer or shorter flight, the 747 is always welcome to see her in the sky for me !

cheers 😉

Great set of shots!  Cheers,

Calum

Very nice shots! 😉 

pmplayer, Calum, Will et al.:

Appreciated the enthusiastic responses...And, of course, it's easy for folks to like the Queen...🙂...