I happened to see the second flight of the 747. The first was when they flew it from Everett, WA, to Boeing Field just south of Seattle. The second was from Boeing Field around the area.

I was driving north on I-5 just south of Boeing Field and saw an airplane flying VERY slowly east and climbing. Having been trained to fly small planes, I KNEW that plane was going to slow and was in too steep a climb to maintain, and was going to stall out and crash. It was inevitable, and while I didn't wish it any harm, at all, I remembered something my flying instructor said once.

We were standing outside on a very low overcast, drizzly day when an airplane came over the field barely visible. It looked to be a twin-engined something, we only had a brief glimpse.

"I don't wish you any harm, but if you're going to crash anyway would you do it where I could watch?", he said.

The airplane in Seattle didn't crash, and that night in a motel room I saw the news talking about the flight. It was a big airplane going fast enough to stay up, not a small airplane very close and slow.

Arf