Good Day 'in flight' week: Delta Flight Museum's 747 Experience

ATLANTA - It’s known as the “Queen of the Skies” – and more than 45 years ago, the Boeing 747 made its first commercial flight, changing the airline industry forever.  Now, the legacy of the 747 is being celebrated with a new experience at the Delta Flight Museum.

The newly-opened 747 Experience allows visitors to the Delta Flight Museum to get an up-close look at Ship 6301, the first 747-400 ever built by Boeing.

The 747-400 was an improved 747 model, with new interior and advanced engines.  Ship 6301 first flew in April of 1988, and was part of the Northwest Airlines fleet until Northwest merged with Delta; it boasted a 213-foot wingspan, a length of more than 231 feet, and seated more than 300 passengers.

The plane logged more than 61 million miles total and made its final flight from Hawaii to Atlanta in September of 2015.  Now, Ship 6301 is displayed in a new pedestrian plaza outside the Delta Flight Museum, where visitors ride an elevator to access the main deck.

All this week on Good Day Atlanta, Paul Milliken and photographer Blaze Meier have been exploring attractions dedicated to the flight of some kind – so, of course, they made a stop at this new 747 Experience a priority.