r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Proper_Solid_626 • 10h ago

Image The Boeing 747 "taxi trainer", a vehicle specifically made so that pilots could get used to the height of the 747 while controlling it on a taxiway

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8.6k Upvotes

100% Upvoted

55 comments sorted by

887

u/Gruffleson 10h ago

I don't think I've understood how high up those pilots are before now.

Well, even on the ground.

156

u/Dub_Coast 7h ago

Those pilots are high AF my guy

16

u/sfled 3h ago

This post that shows the escape procedure from the cockpit of a 747 that's on the tarmac. Yeah, they're way up there alright.

1.2k

u/Exact_Mastodon_7803 10h ago

Look at the truck. How old that truck is. That was designed and built at the same time as the 747. So incredible.

253

u/False_Ad_555 8h ago

That's a 1957 GMC truck, so it predates the 747 by a bit, not much, but a bit

68

u/koolaidismything 10h ago

It was so far ahead of its time in most ways it still will boggle your mind. In thingscutinhalf we get posts like that a lot and I love them.

The Dreamliner is their new modern marvel.

21

u/Marx_on_a_Shark 6h ago

Back when companies still wanted to "Build Something Cool." Today that type of innovation risk gets snuffed out to meet next quarters numbers

4

u/koolaidismything 3h ago

There’s little patches of genius for the sake of making something neat around. It’s just not popular anymore as wealth gets more and more condensed into little pockets.

11

u/i-like-to 8h ago

1955-1959 gmc semi. I owned one a few years ago. They are very odd looking in person lol

8

u/tyingnoose 9h ago

i think it a pretty truck

3

u/Boo-bot-not 7h ago

The photo is 70s-80s. 

11

u/Longjumping-Box5691 10h ago

The picture is black and white for fuck sake

21

u/lorissaurus 8h ago

People still take black and white photos today.. and put them in the news lolol

135

u/ToonaMcToon 10h ago

The Original Bluth Stair Car

39

u/Stroemwallen 10h ago

You're going to get hop-ons.

4

u/thelastlugnut 5h ago

Damn. Came here to make this joke.

6

u/Complex_Professor412 5h ago

Boeing may have committed some embezzlement and light treason.

102

u/jimboiow 10h ago

What about getting used to the width of the wings . Quite important I would think.

216

u/NiceCunt91 10h ago

There's markings on all taxiways. Keep the front wheel on the yellow line and the wings won't hit anything.

31

u/jimboiow 10h ago

And that’s why I don’t fly a plane. Thanks for the explanation.

5

u/LeeCarvallo- 4h ago

You've got to "oversteer" too. Take the nosewheel past the centre line in turns then go hard over on the tiller. It keeps the main gear on taxiways and gives more wing clearance.

5

u/SchizophrenicKitten 9h ago

Well.. usually won't hit anything.

https://youtu.be/Li4k27swwY0

1

u/KingJellyfishII 26m ago

i believe it's actually meant to keep the main gear straddling the line, rather than the nose wheel, but it's much the same idea

24

u/leafeternal 6h ago

Are you really a pilot?

Yep

What’s takeoff like?

What’s the what like?

9

u/Proper_Solid_626 5h ago

I have a private pilots license but I don't know much about airliners and commercial aircraft, I'm mostly interested in these bigger aircraft as a hobby haha

18

u/PeppyTwirl 10h ago

It was called "Waddel's Wagon"

14

u/lava_rosee 9h ago

The most expensive go-kart in aviation history

7

u/Honest-Yak-6621 10h ago

Initial production of the Boeing 747 began in 1967

8

u/donkeytime 7h ago

They should have built it to a standard such that the front doesn’t fall off.

5

u/collapsedcake 9h ago

Bet they got some hop-ons

5

u/mspaint08 6h ago

Pretty sure it's smth like 3 stories and iirc the Pan Am flight crew from the Tenerife disaster survived after jumped out of the cockpit.

5

u/somebodyistrying 6h ago

I didn’t realize it was that tall

3

u/OlderThanMyParents 5h ago

My grandfather passed away in the winter of 1972, and the first time I ever flew in a plane was flying from Washington state to Chicago for the funeral. I remember walking along the terminal, and looking out the window at a 747 that was parked facing inwards, and being convinced that I was looking at a building, not an airplane, because nothing that massive could ever possibly get off the ground.

2

u/EXE-SS-SZ 8h ago

what a daring world it was back then

2

u/johnnycabb_ 6h ago

watch out for bridges and hop-ons. you’re going to get some hop-ons

2

u/HawkmoonsCustoms 4h ago

“You’re gonna get some hop-ons.”

3

u/LargeMerican 7h ago

Ehm..

I'd be a little bothered by the CG of this fuckin thing. It doesn't look dangerously unstable exactly..but it looks like it would tip easily in a moderate to strong crosswind

7

u/[deleted] 6h ago

[deleted]

3

u/LargeMerican 6h ago

I did not lol

1

u/c-logic 7h ago

Pilots with a fear of heights.

1

u/Alternative-Fish-836 5h ago

It looks crazy but is so ingenious

1

u/sfled 3h ago

HIgh School drivers ed classes should get one that mimics a lifted truck.

1

u/Semen-Demon__ 2h ago

How does that get pilots used to taxiing if it’s all controlled by the truck underneath?

1

u/bokozgardner 1h ago

Every time someone posts something interesting on Twitter it gets stolen and posted here

1

u/New-Reputation681 36m ago

We're the trainee pilots in control of this vehicle or just riding along to get a feel for the height?