Stories by Francis Zera

EDITOR-AT-LARGE / DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY - SEATTLE, WA Francis Zera is a Seattle-based architectural, aerial, aviation, and commercial photographer, a freelance photojournalist, and a confirmed AvGeek.

https://www.zeraphoto.com
The former American Airlines B727-223, N874AA, at Boeing Field in Seattle, now owned by the National Airline History Museum, Kansas City, Mo.

In early 2015, in preparation for the construction of its giant new Aviation Pavilion, Seattle”s Museum of Flight moved its Boeing 727 (former American Airlines N874AA) from the parking lot on the west wide of East Marginal Way where it had been displayed along with other large aircraft. Instead of being towed to the museum”s air park with the other planes, it was towed all the way across King County International Airport (also known as Boeing Field) to a parking stall.

A model of a Boeing 747-8 with a Skydeck installed sits in the offices of Windspeed Technologies in Everett. Wash.

By now, some of your might have seen some bit of news concerning Everett, WA-based Windspeed Technologies” new SkyDeck modification for large passenger aircraft. If you”ve managed to miss it, imagine adding a big fighter-jet cockpit canopy to the top of a jetliner, with a couple of first class seats inside, and you”ve got the idea.

”I travel a lot,” Windspeed Technologies President and CEO Shakil Hussain explained to AirlineReporter. ”I was trying to find ways to reduce the boredom of long fights and realized over the years that the offerings of in-flight entertainment have not changed much you”re watching a movie on a screen or something else while being confined to a relatively tight space. I was once invited into the cockpit of a 747 in flight the view was unbelievable. I thought that if I could design something to allow the public to access such an amazing view, that this could be even better than what the pilots could see.”