Sands Boeing 747SP for sale . . . VP-BLK

[robbreid]

157 seat capacity with 64 seats in commercial configuration.

[Sam300]

Shagginwagon

[Big Pistons Forever]

I bet if you look in the cockpit there is fuzzy dice hanging from the magnetic compass

[V1 Rotate]

That's hideous!

Looks ready to be a Sheikh's pleasure plane though.

[aileron]

Way, way, too many kleenex boxes around.

[Panama Jack]

Way, way, too many kleenex boxes around.

Simply a marketing tool to make it appeal to the Sheiks.

[bmc]

This paid a visit to our airport yesterday. Fairly regular visitor. Makes nice noise on departure with black airshow smoke.

[Inverted2]

I'd rather have the DC8, just because its sooooo noisy.

[Rockie]

Notice these two, and many other high end private aircraft are registered in the Cayman's. This is from the Cayman Island aviation authority website explaining why:

"The Cayman Islands Aircraft Registry is the registry of choice for many owners and management companies with corporate aircraft ranging from Cessna Citation, Gulfstream, Embraer, Airbus and Boeing Business Jets. Standards are rigid and specifications exact to qualify, but this has led to the register being highly respected and recognised throughout the aviation industry internationally. The Civil Aviation Authority of the Cayman Islands (CAACI) is the statutory body responsible for aviation regulatory oversight throughout the Cayman Islands and for aircraft registered in the Cayman Islands. The CAACI works in close partnership with a specialised group of legal firms and Cayman Islands Government authorities to ensure that clients have the most comprehensive counsel on every avenue of law, custom law, tax and insurance."

Yeah...it's the rigid standards and specifications to qualify.

[ei ei owe]

I'd make a bid for the cast horse ontop of the cabinet.

[kevenv]

VP-B is registered in Bermuda.
VP-C is the Cayman Islands

[Ogee]

It must be a handful operating that thing single pilot. Citation SP, I can see that, but a 747?

[yzfer]

I'd feel kind screwed if I got stuck in one of the passenger seats knowing whats upstairs.

[square]

I think you'd be more likely to get screwed upstairs.

[Joe Blow Schmo]

It must be a handful operating that thing single pilot. Citation SP, I can see that, but a 747?

In the 747s case, 'SP' stands for 'Special Performance'. It's 48' shorter and carries about 100 less pax than the original 747. It's not single pilot. Be fun to fly one single pilot though.

[sidestick stirrer]

Is that what "SP" stands for?
And to think that for decades I thought they were just regular 747's that had run into terminal buildings and compressed lengthwise because of it, and the pilots were warned about this tendency by labelling them SP for "Stops Poorly"...

[pelmet]

Here is a small Canadian connection to a VIP 747SP from 2019. Nicer interior than the Sands aircraft.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2ou0oq9Bz4

I actually did get to fly on the 747SP once. I was obsessed with the 747 like so many other kids back in the day. We were headed to New York for a few days and I was able to convince my mother to take a very circuitous route to get there, all in order to be able to fly on the 747SP of Royal Air Maroc to JFK from Montreal and then a regular 747 on Aerolineas Argentinas back to Canada using 5th freedom rights. She went to art museums while in NYC(how boring is that....although I did visit those many years later) and I hung out at JFK watching airliners, much of which was 747's back then in the era of Pan Am and TWA.

That is how kids are exposed to aviation and become pilots, not some DEI program.

[CaptDukeNukem]

Wait? You guys don’t hang dice on any airplane you fly?