Excellent report. I enjoyed reading it very much.

I flew regularly on the SQ 747 in its earliest days as a schoolboy/undergraduate in the UK, as my parents lived in Singapore.

It is/was a great plane. In those days, it was pretty good in the 'back' too.

It could manoeuvre too! One of my greatest memories is of a BA pilot on his very last flight ex-PLU, Mauritius in about 1984, who announced 'Just let me show what this bird can do'. He did a complete flyround of the island at maybe a hundred feet (the wingtips seemed almost to touch the water), banking left and right all the while. You could see the fish & coral. I was one of about only 3 pax up front, the FAs sat with us, all staring out of the windows in awe. It was magnificent.

When the pilot eventually decided to head home (which of course involved some pretty heavy acceleration and climbing), all aboard applauded big time!