Qantas Once Flew A Boeing 747 With 5 Engines

In 2016, Qantas needed to get a new replacement engine to Johannesburg, South Africa on rather short notice. While aircraft parts are often transported on cargo planes, the Australian carrier took a different approach. In this case, the quickest way to get the engine there was for it to catch a lift beneath the wing of another Boeing 747. Let’s take a look at how this unfolded...
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[@Gavdon100]

I was on the 747 that "broke" on take off where we were near V1 max take-off speed ... we heard a loud bang and felt the pilot immediately apply brakes and reverse thrusters. After about 20 minutes on the tarmac, the captain said we will be required to disembark and assemble in the airport.... A short while after that we learnt that we would be shuttled to 3 different hotels for a duration of approx 2 days until the plane got fixed .... We read of the inbound 747 fitted with 5 engines, (one of which was our replacement), in the papers. We took off 2 days later on the 8th Jan 2016 to Sydney

[@TheGenuineDriver]

Wow nice!

[@Tembel_Kopek]

Thanks for sharing!

[@ryanchetty1965]

I was on that flight too, although admittedly I was very young, maybe 12 or 13 at the time. What a small world we live in.

[@MonkeyMiata]

How scary was it when the heard the engine blow?

[@Gavdon100]

@@MonkeyMiata Very scary to be honest. What made it worse was that we were so close to actual lift-off and the thought of a 3 engine take-off wasn't that entertaining because we had a very full plane. It was the left side outer engine I believe. Apparently it involved the fan blades and valves etc in the engine.

[@flightmaster999]

The 747 was designed with the capability from the start. The engines on that beast were too large to be transported by most other planes (if not all, at the time) so having the 5th anchor point was necessary for the aircraft's maintenance. The 747 was designed to fly all over the world and Boeing knew that the capability to change an engine quickly was paramount. They came up with this clever idea (maybe even before the 747) as a simple way to transport the engines all over the globe.

[@wojomojo]

It makes much more sense that the aerodynamics has already been calculated and approved for this configuration beforehand, rather than Quantas having done the math for themselves.

[@wojomojo]

Oh, OK! Wasn't quite sure but your comment made me do it. I hope I don't regret this.

[@38911bytefree]

VERY CLEVER. This thinking made Boeing what it used to be, hell of a company back in the old days.

[@ashleystrout6651]

@@alunesh12345 cool story.

[@patrykkrzton5978]

That engine can actually fit on a 20ft pallet for a cargo plane , depending on the cost maybe it would be cheaper to fly it on a cargo plane but either way it looks spectacular on the wing

[@kurtglanzmann2537]

Yes, the fifth engine procedure is an old solution and I have had that with PanAm a few times in the 1980s. Relatively simple and fast solution.

[@commerce-usa]

Given the initial issues with the early P&W engines on the first 747s, adding that anchor point on the aircraft made a lot of sense. 👍

[@Kalvinjj]

Yes, but not only thinking about problematic engines themselves, rather, the difficulty of just carrying a huge high bypass one around. There just wasn't any other widebody aircraft before the 747 after all, plus the majority used low bypass turbofans or turbojets, so what else could carry it's engines other than ships and specialized aircraft? Nowadays you can just load it up on a 777-F's main deck (or freither 747s, MD-11s and so on), but back then it needed some way to not keep stranded.

[@tomatosoupwoo]

@@alunesh12345 it’s someone’s choice to be religious. I’m not religious but one thing I know.. well, the Bible says not too preach the way you are.

[@countryballs2005]

@@alunesh12345 dude, i'm a christian but the way you're preaching sounds like a cult man. God gave us freewill so we could decide to follow God or not on our own. Don't force your will on another

[@filledwithvariousknowledge2747]

@@countryballs2005 Well said. One of my friends is Christian whilst I’m not religious and we never bring up religion when we talk as that’s their private life for just between their family if you know what I mean

[@raymondcandiotes4639]

@@tomatosoupwoo I totally agree what does religion got to do with the subject of aircraft engines. He should get a life for God's sake.

[@alooga555]

Hats off to Boeing engineers for coming up with this ingenious idea when they designed the aircraft.

[@alooga555]

@@alunesh12345 Sorry but I'm agnostic.

[@Supernaut2000]

The accountants who run Boeing now would not ever think of this, especially since it may save them $20.

[@Sterlingjob]

The Vc10 had this before the 747…nice try though

[@alooga555]

@@Sterlingjob Was the Vc10 as successful as the 747? Didn't think so.

[@Sterlingjob]

@@alooga555 what has that got to do with it? Innovation from the Vc10 is still used to this day by all aircraft manufacturers. More like the idea was copied by Boeing from Vickers

[@BoxInThisLapVR46]

Air India flight 182 flew with 5 engines aswell

[@ADRgman]

I was about to comment that

[@SmaranSastry5521]

And it tragically crashed along with that extra engine.

[@vedantpatil7839]

Hey lando how you doing, hope you'll be able to get podium in 2022. 😆lol 😆

[@guyunknown9123]

@@SmaranSastry5521 crashed due to ? Are you sure about what happened with flight 182?

[@spongebubatz]

@@guyunknown9123 Smaran didn’t say that it crashed because the extra engine was attached, he just said that it crashed while the engine was transported

[@edwardmyers1746]

That GE9X even looks massive on the 47 imagine 4 on it....

[@Kalvinjj]

This reminds me of Airbus testing the A380's Trent 900 on an A340, that looked hella funny

[@781David]

Rolls Royce bought an ex Qantas 747 at some stage, presumably to test engines for the 787 or A350. I don't know if they've started using it so far.

[@Tomcat01nj]

The B-747 was designed with this option. There are pictures of Pan Am, BOAC, TWA, British Airways, Qantas, Air India and Singapore Airlines all flying a 5th engine (which was not operational on jet) on their B-747 queens. I wonder if the A380 was designed with this option.

[@Kalvinjj]

From what I know, the A380 doesn't have an engine ferry option mostly because there's already cargo planes that can carry it's engines around the world, contrary to when the 747 was launched. Also they can be ferried (the empty aircraft) on 3 engines too, I wonder why Qantas couldn't do this.

[@magical_catgirl]

@@Kalvinjj Qantas has to follow rules made by CASA. CASA only recently allowed ETOPS over 180 when Qantas needed it for their then new 787s to fly across the Pacific.

[@CPMG2000]

747 operators have been doing this since the 70s. A plane is grounded somewhere and the Queen of the skies bails them out. 🙂

[@uzaiyaro]

@@alunesh12345 With all due respect, you’ve copied and pasted that at least several times. This is spam. This is not the video to be proselytising.

[@aussieaussieaussieoioioi9450]

@@alunesh12345 No one asked

[@bobdunstan5457]

The first time I landed in Sydney, there was a 747 with fifth engine mounted. Our pilot pointed it out the rather unusual sight. He also said that Qantas used it to ferry spare engines within Australia.

[@winemangv]

It is known as a 5th Pod, and is nothing new; has been around since the first B747 flew, way back in 1969. And many, many airlines - not just QF - transported their spare B747 engines that way. It was just the most economical and convenient way to move those engines, albeit with a little different flying and handling characteristics for the aircraft with the 5th Pod attached.

[@kenhoward2541]

Exactly.happend to me in1975. Air India Bombay to london.extra fuel stop in Tehran.

[@rgarri6396]

In us used a number of times

[@sinoperture]

You must be fun at parties.

[@somelokyguy6466]

@@sinoperture He's adding information to the comments section of a short informative video and the best response you could come up was some redditard-tier copypasta. He might not be fun at parties but at least he gets invited.

[@sinoperture]

@@somelokyguy6466 Derp

[@jamesweber1827]

This mounting point was also a design feature of the 707, DC8, and DC10.

[@ricahrdb]

You answered my question before I could post it. Thanks! 😉👍 Are there any more recent planes that have this ability btw?

[@donaldstanfield8862]

Yes, recall seeing it on at least one 707 and think it was also Quantas

[@Kalvinjj]

Wow didn't know about those, the 747 I did know, the DC-10 with the cover on top looks like it's carrying a bomb! EDIT: so does the Vickers VC10, when looking for the DC-10 carrying a 4th engine you stumble across the VC10 as well

[@barrygarland9953]

@@donaldstanfield8862 I flew on an Air India B707 from Singapore to Sydney via Perth in 1966 with the fifth engine attached. Apart from some severe turbulence over the Indian ocean the flight was quite normal.

[@洪梓恩-p7z]

don't forget Lockheed L-1011. It can also carry an extra one

[@lenako525]

this practice was common back in the 90s. but after the launch of 747-combi and several other cargo plane like 777F. airline are choosing to transport the engine with combi/cargo plane. in this case. combi and freighter are not that common for oceania to africa route. so 5th engine was the best option

[@spacehawker1337]

I'm not hating on any religion it's just that this spam bot is getting in me nerves

[@Milvus23]

I was on a Quantas classic in 1980, taking a spare engine to Frankfurt. Qantas were regulars at this means of transport

[@mangobaby_videos]

@@alunesh12345 i’m not religious but ok possible spam comment bot

[@jantschierschky3461]

Wow new airline, I know of Qantas but not that one

[@casey6933]

*Qantas

[@carolynnoelwhite5575]

I hope when the aircraft arrived in Frankfurt it not only dropped off the spare engine it unloaded the "U".

[@ChannelReuploads9451]

@@alunesh12345 Jesus could not fix the engine though hey.

[@kushshinde9018]

This was really good actually. Loved to know about it

[@paula200]

Its called a 5th pod mounting. I believe it was an option from build. In several decades working for a 747 operating airline, we did this several times - and long before this particular journey.

[@coredog64]

Correct: There’s a specific program pin for this called (IIRC) “engine carriage”.

[@sinoperture]

You must be fun at parties.

[@robertbaker1894]

I was in a TWA flight from Rome to NY and looking out the window, there was a 5th engine. I thought maybe they were trying a new configuration - but the mechanics were removing the engine.

[@philippgabler5835]

No one talks about the Airbus A340-300 (or -200) testbed for the A380 engines. Looks very impressive!

[@Rumbar57]

I started my apprenticeship with Qantas in 1975 and there was an engineering section at the Qantas Jet base in Sydney called "5th Pod" Many a P&W engine traveled this way. Fond memories of the Queen

[@robertheinkel6225]

When I was in the Air Force as a crew chief on the 135, we went TDY to Fairbanks AK. The base had no facilities for engine repair. Before we flew back home, they pulled all four of our low hour engines, and replaced them with high hour engines previously removed off other tankers stationed there. Upon departure, we diverted to Fairchild AFB WA, where they pulled off the recently installed engines and replaced them with new overhauled engines. We then flew back to IN. Fairchild AFB would overhaul the engines from AK, and put them in the next aircraft needing them.

[@flightmaster999]

That's one way to do it!

[@kdrapertrucker]

Based at Grissom I assume?

[@robertheinkel6225]

@@kdrapertrucker 13 years before they closed the active portion, and sent me to Malmstrom MT.

[@jtjames79]

I'm surprised it hasn't happened more often. That's the reason that anchor point is there, specifically for that situation.

[@RoyalMela]

It adds lots of drag so it is not very often viable solution.

[@erichhartmann1]

@@alunesh12345 Shut the hell up TODAY, confess how annoying you are. No one goes to comments to spam their beliefs but you CLEARLY do with your odd comment. PEOPLE find your comments soo irritating. 🤩❤️🤗😀😇🥳

[@spacehawker1337]

@@erichhartmann1 thanks

[@matthewjohns7212]

In June 1976, when flying to Nadi, FIJI on a 747 from Sydney, Australia, there was an extra engine attached to the wing. Whilst creating extra interest for a first flight in a 747, it was a little disconcerting for me as a ten year boy, but we landed without incident and had a happy time in FIJI.

[@apolloniaaskew9487]

The 5 engined Quantas and Air India 747s would be great Hogan and Gemini 1/200 scale models.

[@jantschierschky3461]

Qantas

[@joecrammond6221]

i knew that 747's can carry a spare engine underneath the plane, Air India 182 was carrying another when it was blown up

[@aryapatel1932]

When I saw the Air crash investigation animation, I thought the 5th engine was added in accidentally in the animation

[@johnridout8766]

On my first flight to Hong Kong in 1978 with British Airways, we had to take a 5th engine to Calcutta. The flight was London-Rome-Calcutta-Bangkok-Hong Kong. Once the direct flights came in, travel was so much easier and quicker.

[@antonioavila3638]

I once flew on a 747 from Cape Town, South Africa to Accra, Ghana with a fifth engine on the left wing. Our final destination was Lagos, Nigeria. The plane vibrated throughout the flight in a very unusual way, probably due to the aerodynamics.

[@atilllathehun1212]

I've seen a picture of a Vickers VC10 carrying a spare engine in an underwing pod.

[@kirkquinn4854]

And the 707 could do it as well

[@christophermcnally8782]

The Air India flight that was bombed in 1985 was carrying a 5th engine back to India from Toronto. It was installed by Air Canada. When they found the wings way down in the Irish sea the engine was still attached to the wing.

[@TheRogerWyatt]

I actually saw that flight take off from Toronto Pearson standing on the roof of old terminal 1

[@stevesutton6093]

Dominic is correct as all 747 aircraft are capable of what is termed a “5th pod” engine carry position as up until the 747 SP witch had a suitably sized freight door no other aircraft was capable of transporting the Pratt and Whitney JT9 engine as air cargo.

Remembering how carrying 5 engines was considered one of the possible causes for the crash of flight Air India Flight 182 in 1985 and has been investigated before eliminating the possibility that the 5th engine caused the wing to break.

[@jacquesmit502]

@@alunesh12345 you lost ?

[@winstonchungath]

What? It was a terrorist attack.

[@StormTuber]

I've been to the Qantas Founders Meuseum in Longreach and the Qantas 747-200 had the 5 engine configuration, it was very cool!

[@fanelli57]

B707s, DC-8s DC-10s, L1011s, and VC10s also have this capability. Don't know about the IL-62. Not sure about the MD11 but I imagine it can also.

[@bachaddict]

I came across this story recently, I'm curious whether the bypass fan just had the blades removed and put inside, or the whole fan was removed.

[@ianmcinnes1012]

My daughter flew to SA on a Qantas 747 from Sydney in 2011….also with an extra engine slung under the LH wing..

[@stevemiller9299]

There was one delivered to South African Airways too, the original 747 with its 5th engine is on display at the SAA museum at Rand Airport

[@viscount757]

The subject and your description makes it sound like this was an unusual occurrence. Carrying a spare engine was common on 747s. Several other types could also do this, including the 707, DC-8, VC-10, DC-10 and L-1011. You'll find photos of all those types doing the same thing.

[@sinoperture]

You must be fun at parties.

[@johnyoung1128]

I have to take issue with the way this video was presented. Qantas did not suddenly decide to do something extraordinary that had never been heard of, the fifth pod feature was designed into the aircraft from the beginning and Qantas would have known that. Neither is it a particularly rare operation as it’s been done many times and with a variety of aircraft types. It’s not necessary to use a AN225 to transport one of these engines, if it will fit into the AN225 then it will also fit into a AN124. My belief is it will also fit into the main deck hold of a number of other cargo configured types. Using the fifth pod would simply have been the most cost effective means of transporting a spare engine to that destination.

[@skunkjobb]

It's strange to mention An-225 like if that was the only cargo plane that could take this engine internally. It's not, there are many far more common cargo planes that could do that.

[@zunaidzunaid]

Nothing special. ALL legacy carriers who operated the 747, had to one point in time do this. In my time at SAA, saw it at least 3 times.

[@fleipeg]

Interesting...I wasn't aware that Qantas had done this.

[@andrewfranklin4429]

It’s not that uncommon. We had an engine blow up on our Qantas 747 out of Honolulu years ago which necessitated us flying back to Hawaii and being put up all expenses paid at a hotel on Waikiki beach while they flew out another engine from Sydney under the wing of another 747. I wouldn’t complain if it happens again sometime! :-)

[@RonPiggott]

Interesting ... We just need "And now you know the rest of the story"!

[@terrybarrett2368]

It was done in 73 blow an engine on takeoff from Delhi to aust I was sub load at the time

[@a.a.p3254]

Season Greetings from the Great White North🇨🇦 Just Amazing !!!

[@fracturedmind8124]

Air India 182 was also carrying a 5th engine when it blew apart.

[@StephenLuke]

You’re 100% correct!

[@louielouiepks]

Technically free shipping.

[@tinazill4870]

This was such a great design choice. It even allowed for Cosmic Girl to become a thing... It was probably easier to adapt because it was already designed to have a heavy object mounted on the wing...

[@nigelwatkins558]

I know that Air New Zealand used to do the same back in DC 8 days years ago

[@RyanKearney0]

2:57 The 747-400 can seat about 400 people. An average Australian male adult weights about 71kg. That's 28,400kg worth of people. Since Boeing is an American company, the plane was likely built to American specifications so you can safely double that weight in passengers. While the drag was likely something to consider, I can't imagine the imbalance was that significant.

[@nkt1]

Now there are zero Antonov An-225s in the world.

[@yuvegotmale]

I was on a Pan Am 747 from California to Manila in the early 70s when I was in the Navy. We made a quick stop in Hawaii at night. The plane had 3 engines on one wing...we were told it was transporting a new engine from the states to Hawaii.

[@bluecouchpodcast24]

Hawaii is in the States too 🙈

[@bobbrown8661]

And now sadly they're both probably sitting in the Mojave desert waiting to be dismantled for scrap.😔😔

[@NCTLLC24]

Good Job 👍 In Getting It There.

[@thomasfrench2012]

In 1987 my departure from Honolulu was delayed as they took off an engine that they had ferried there like this. I have to be honest, the fact that they were performing unusual work on the wing right before my flight, did not make me feel very comfortable about taking it. Obviously my fears were unfounded, but it was a very long eight hour flight, and I don't mean because it was eight hours long. And I can say with certainty that I was in the majority of the passengers when it came to how we felt about the flight. To their credit, at least the airline was honest about why there was a delay.

[@sfjones8827]

Having worked for UNITED AIRLINES for over 35 years yes I knew the capability of the 747 which makes it a very special airplane unlike other airplanes 747 is uniquely designed to be able to do this thank God somebody at Boeing have the wherewithal to design something with this in mind

[@matt8863]

Bait title...Nothing new, It's just an anchor point (pod) to ferry a jet engine...There are no connections or provisions supplied to that pod for that engine to be operational as a "fifth engine" on the B747.

[@freedomforever6718]

Very interesting. I did not know about this until now. Thanks.

[@madhusudhansrinivasan6517]

hi, Did you know Air India 182 ( it was a 747) which crashed as a result of a bomb over Atlantic ocean also carried a extra engine in its wing!

[@gaz8410]

The first 747 to land in Perth (1971) flew with a 5th engine, so nothing new. Still interesting to see how airlines keep their fleet operational.

[@vicv9503]

pretty normal for a 747 to fly with 5 engines, 4 main engines and an APU. this actually flew carrying a spare engine to ferry it.

[@thatguyalex2835]

Imagine if the spare engine fell off. Hopefully not over any crowded area, cos a large turbofan meteor into a crowded city would not be fun for any of us. :)

[@therichtershow]

Thats interesting! I never knew you can fly it with an extra weight on one side

[@reynaldoflores4522]

Why couldn't they attach an extra engine on each wing to balance out?

[@therichtershow]

@@reynaldoflores4522 or at least a counterweight in my opinion

[@steveb1739]

South African Airways (SAA) did this fairly often with the 747-100's (P&W JT9D) in the 70's. Saw this configuration several times flying over the house, and at the then Jan Smuts (FAJS) airport.

[@raymondcandiotes4639]

Yes I was an Aircraft mechanic at that time and was involved in many of these engine ferry jobs.

[@LucidDreamer54321]

As Rain Man would say, "Qantas never crashed. Qantas never crashed. Qantas never crashed."

[@jsp7202]

Years ago I flew on a Malaysian Airbus to Hong Kong that had an extra engine under one of the wings. That was the only time I have ever seen something like that.

[@Fatih-xl7yn]

Never heard of that airbus planes have this ability

[@jimmymcjimmyvich9052]

The Antinov was expensive)) Typical Aussie struggling to make some kind of 'Notice me!' drama.

[@spongebubatz]

They really are expensive and already the time it needs for the cargo aircraft to arrive in Australia, pick up the engine, then fly it to where it’s needed and after that fly the cargo aircraft back to its base simply is too much. Also, Qantas wasn’t the only airline operating such flights. According to your logic Pan Am would’ve been the most attention seeking airline since they had to make use of that feature many times throughout the years

[@azthegamer5966]

It flew with 5 engines because the 5th engine is gonna be delivered

[@enitalp]

This happened to “my” 747 in 82 or 83, Paris , marseille , Djibouti , la reunion. Airplane did eat ( or hit ;p) some birds while departing marseille, engine was noisy, but they decided to continue to Djibouti, upon inspection, they decided to change the engine, so we stayed there at the hotel, while the next day 747 flight did flight with 5 engines , to replace one of ours.

[@intuitivme]

What's more interesting than a 5th enegine is the existance of the anchor points under the wings to attach different objects including a bloody heavy engine.

[@TheRogerWyatt]

I believe that this was also accomplished by both 707's and DC8s in ferrying spare engines

[@jxtrosh6081]

So did many planes including air India it’s actually quite common

[@B777206]

There are also a two special switches in the main equip center, you can select “5th engine” or “gear down” both affect the max IAS (indicated airspeed) and limits the max speed of the aircraft making the passagiers in the aircraft to have a very long trip. A other option was to fly the broken aircraft on a so called 3 engine ferry flight. This is a flight without passagiers .

[@jerrynadler2883]

The top aerospace engineers go to engine manufacturers. I remember meeting Rolls Royce at a career fair they were like '4.0 gpa only' .

[@sylviaelse5086]

I was on a British Airways 747 that transported an engine this way from London to Singapore via Bahreïn. This was in about 1980.

[@LSC2001]

Click bait. It was just transporting the engine.

[@creazychannel]

Well, this is not reare! This is a common practice in airline companies!

[@timhinchcliffe5372]

In 2003, I was taught in an Australian aircraft maintenance school about Qantas doing this... so it's certainly not the first time they've done it. I was also taught that it's a requirement that these and other passenger jet aircraft be fitted with bomb mounts just in case they need to be commandeered for war. Probably the same mounts.

[@jcoghill2]

Qantas and Pan Am used this method to get engines where they needed to go back in the early days. Today you can find a 747 engine in every major city, in the early days you couldn't so they opted to fly them direct to where they are needed on a 5th pylon that bolts to the underside of the wing.

[@andrewrobinson5837]

The 747 on display at HARS in Australia (seen landing at 1:24) has the attachment fitting for carrying a spare on the wing for all to see. Apparently this was also a feature of the QANTAS 707s too.

[@donarrivas1675]

The middle powerful engine created more forward pushes to meet the flying demand. Australian folks knew it well.

[@titan4110]

Air India Flight 182 (which got bombed) was also doing the same thing. Investigators started by seeing if that extra engine had done anything. But it turned out to be a dead end

[@paulkirkland3263]

I flew in a SIA 747 from London to Singapore with a spare engine attached. I had no idea such a thing was possible, until I sat in my seat and looked out of the window.

[@erik_griswold]

This video is pathetic click bait. The capability to carry a fifth engine has long been used by the 747 for decades. P.S. Has Simple Flying ever heard of the AN-124? That's a commercial transport aircraft that can carry jet engines too. Why not consider deleting this video and revise it with more research?

[@aryapatel1932]

The AN-124 would’ve been more expensive to rent than flying the engine on a 747

[@spongebubatz]

@@aryapatel1932 his critique in that regard is how Simple Flying made it sound as if the An-225 was the only aircraft which could carry a spare engines. That’s not the case, 747 freighters and An-124s also can and have done so many times already

[@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935]

A cheap shock horror title will get more clicks.

[@JonatasAdoM]

Who else thought it was the last engine to the right? I swear it looks more inclined.

[@eugenecorera1330]

The Lockheed Tristar also has the same capability. I recall seeing a photograph on Facebook of an UL (Air Lanka) Tristar with an extra engine slung underneath the starboard wing. Perhaps someone could give more details.

[@JasonBlack66]

"Once" Flew? Are you totally lacking aviation knowledge? This was a design feature of all 747's so they could take spare or broken or even deliver new engines to various locations. This was/is not rare at all. It happened waaay more than once, possibly thousands of times for Qantas alone. so I don't know why your title features the word "Once". Also, I am new here but why is a brit commenting on Qantas business. I woulda thought you would be telling us how British airways "ONCE" transported the 5th engine on a 747. Bloody poms! :P

[@KEurobeatEnjoyer]

RIP AN-225, Slava Ukraine

[@bradmacley2722]

I was one of two cabin crew who flew this plan to deli with 10 engineers and pilots btw Qantas have done this twice

[@eternallearner8185]

"have done this twice"! You can multiply that by a hundred or so, it was a near weekly event in the 70's, I did numerous 5th pod carriage set ups back then.

[@RobertKhoe]

In 1994 I was on a Garuda 747 with five engines. At first I thought something was wrong with my eyes when it turned towards the gate. It flew from Jakarta to Amsterdam (hugely delayed) where I boarded. The first attempt to get airborne failed. We taxied back to the gate and immediately got a meal (so it would take some time till the next attempt). Then it flew to Berlin where they put the fifth motor on another Garuda 747 which was stuck there. Another huge delay, but I thought it was awesome.

[@jonmcfarmer6954]

Click bait. A normal 747 engine ferrying. 🤔 Nothing new here.

[@matt8863]

Ikr? They titled it like there's a 5th thrust lever up front...lol

[@shishirrao8410]

Air India also has once flown with 5 engines but it was blown up mid air by a bomb on board 🥲

[@StephenLuke]

You’re 100% correct.

[@j2simpso]

In other words, Qantas turned a Boeing 747 into a 757! 😂

[@NicolasEubanks]

One small correction: drag on one side of the aircraft requires you to increase thrust on *that* side of the aircraft to compensate … not “the other side” :)

[@KV-2-2-2]

They said adjust

[@IndianBoiReal]

Air india also had that😂

[@droneqld]

I was on a flight in 1977 from Honolulu to Fiji when we had a 6 hour delay on our stop over. When our family borded the Quantas 747 the pilot apologised for the delay explaining we had to transport another Rolls Royce 747 engine to Fiji for a crippled aircraft. He said it would slow us down about 20 knots. Because it was past midnight none of us saw the extra engine attached to the port side wing inboard of the other engines. I was 14 and kind of an aircraft Geek so I knew what I saw..

[@PushyPawn]

Surprisingly they didn't have a rounded cowling to attach on the front to reduce drag. That engine would have acted like a small parachute.

[@bennieviljoen291]

Interesting. How about the time Qantas flew two aircraft from Johannesburg to Sydney in a passenger 747?

[@loganbaileysfunwithtrains606]

I’d like to imagine what shower thoughts the engineers had for those anchor points on the wings. Sure it could carry spare parts but I’m sure someone must’ve thought about detectable fuel tanks at some point or some underwing glider that is used to fly mail to a drop point while en route without having to land, (similar concept to slip carriages)

[@Hamachingo]

Virgin is carrying an orbital rocket on that anchor point. Not really economical compared to regular modern rockets, but you're very flexible with weather and launch locations and orbits.

[@reynaldoflores4522]

" Detectable "? or detachable fuel tanks?

[@IIGrayfoxII]

Unusual to see planes with an odd number of engines McDonald Douglas DC-10: I'm I a joke to you?

[@matthew1hyndman]

Wait, didn't an Air India Flight explode over the Atlantic with 5 engine (not related, a bomb brought down an plane), nothing new here

[@discountdave4537]

To save the pilots the bother of dealing with an unbalance place caused by the 5th engine, they should have just stuck it on top of the vertical stabliser. The Lockheed Tristar and DC 10 had a similar configuration

[@spongebubatz]

That’s way to complicated that should and only was used a couple of times. The DC-10 needed a strengthened vertical stabilizer below its engine. You could argue that they also needed it for fuel but it mainly for the engine. The DC-10 had its engine very close to the fuselage, just imagine what is needed to stack an engine onto a vertical stabilizer

[@WildWildWeasel]

That kinda flight was a normal thing with 74s, they could transport another engine without its fan or covered with a shroud to another destination.